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Qass. 
Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



CENTENNIAL OFFERING 



REPUBLICATION OF THE 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS 



OF THE 



REVOLUTION IN AMERICA. 



DEDICATED TO THE 

YOUNG MEN OF THE UNITED STATES, 

FIFTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, BY THE LATE 



HEZEKIAH NILES, 

Editor of the " Weekly Register." 



A. S. BARNES & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

NEW YORK, CHICAGO, AND NEW ORLEANS, 

I 8 76. 



In presenting for the consideration of the young men of the United States, during 
this hundredth anniversary of American Independence, the republication of the "Princi- 
ples and Acts of the Revolution in America," published by the late Hezekiah Niks, Editor 
of the '■''Weekly Register," and dedicated by him to their predecessors fifty-four years ago, 
it is with the hope that, by the perusal of the speeches, orations, and proceedings of the 
Revolutionary period in the United States, embraced in this volume, they may be 
encouraged, as expressed by its Editor, " to adhere to the simplicity of truth, as set 
forth by the principles and acts of their fathers, and emulate the noblest deeds when 
the liberties of their country are endangered by foreign enemies, or domestic encroach- 
ments, so that the blessings which those patriots won, may descend to posterity, and 
our Republic forever continue to be the pride of humanity, and an asylum for the 
oppressed of all nations." 

As the work has been out of print for more than a half century, and its contents 
being regarded as an invaluable addition to our countrj-'s history during " the time that 
tried men's souls," (the collection of speeches, orations, and proceedings, with but few 
exceptions, not being found in any other compilation), and having been frequently 
solicited to republish the work with reference to its circulation, in the belief that its 
perusal, during this Centennial Celebration of our Independence, would to some extent 
result in cementing the bonds uniting us as a Nation, and " excite a love of freedom, 
and lead the people to vigilance, as a condition on which it is granted," the volume is 
respectfully submitted to the public, with the hope that the expectations of its friends 
may in part, at least, be realized. 

Samuel V. Niles. 
Washington, 1876. 

Note. — The work has been thoroughly revised, with classification of contents under the respective 
Colonies, and in chronological order. 



^^ 



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Copyright. 

SAMUEL V. NILES. 

1876. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



The following letters have been received from prominent statesmen and 
jurists of the country, strongly urging the republication of this work, believing 
that its circulation during the Centennial Year of our Independence, would go 
far toward fostering a feeling of national unity and patriotism : n ^ 

From the late Hon. Henry Wilson, Vice PreHdent of the United States. 

Natick, Mass., September 30, 1875. 
Samuel V. Niles, Esq., Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : Your proposed publication, it seems to me, is very important and very opportune, as the 
nation more than ever needs to be carried back to the "principles" of the men who inaugurated the 
movement that resulted in the formation of our Government, and to a study of the "acts which made up 
that great Revolution." Surely our young men can hardly go to a higher or better source for both in- 
formation and inspiration than that you propose to invite them to ; and I wish you all success in your 
undertaking. 

Ftvm the HON. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of the United States. 

Department of State, Washington, October i, 1875. 

For a longer period than falls to the lot of many men to be doing good to their race and generation, 
Hezekiah Niles was among the most valuable contributors of valuable information to the American 
people. 

I am very glad to learn that you propose to publish the " Principles and Acts of the American 
Revolution." 

It is well from time to time to examine the foundations of the structure in which we live ; and there 
can be no better time than the present to lay again before the people the honest inward heartfelt thoughts 
and motives and aims of the men who aided in laying the foundation stones of the Government under 
which so many live, thoughtless and heedless of the great principles essential to support the structure 
reared with such wisdom and such care. 

No greater public service can be rendered than to inoculate the generation living at the first Centen- 
nial Anniversary of our national existence with some of the forgotten, discarded " old-.''a5hioned " notions 
and principles of simple, honest, disinterested patriotism which moved and governed the men who 
brought the nation into existence. 

From the HON. Wm. Pinkney Whyte, U. S. Senator from Maryland. 

Baltimore, Sept. 15, 1S75. 
I am quite sure the publication afresh of the Principles and Acts of the American Revolution will 
produce a most beneficial effect on the rising generation at this period of time. Something should 
be done to arouse the youth of the land to the priceless heritage of liberty, and nothing could ba 
better calculated for that purpo.se than the republication of the speeches, orations, and proceedings of 
the heroes of the Revolution. 



From tfu Hon. Henry C. Carey, Political Economist, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Philadelphia, September C), 1875. 
I am very glad to see that you propose republishing your grandfather's admirable collection of the 
Principles and Acts of the American Revolution, and for these reasons; first, that our young men may 
be enabled to study, and to profit by the study of the sayings and doings of their predecessors ; and 
second, that they may have matter to call to mind my old friend, the editor, one of the very best and 
most useful of all the men I have ever known. No man who ever knew him can do otherwise than 
bold his memory in veneration. 



4 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

From the Hon. Henry A. Wise, late Representative in Congress and Governor of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 

Richmond, Va., September r), 1875. 

I have received and read the title-page of the Principles and Acts of the American Revolution, com- 
piled, &c. 

I always had the highest respect for " Niles' Register," as a full and generally accurate source of 
information. Hezekiah Niles, Esq., in spite of strong political prejudices, could as well be relied on for 
statement of facts as any other publisher I ever sought information from. He was warm in his Ameri- 
can affections, and sought to inspire a true republican patriotism, and fortified the national feelings and 
faith by las Register .ind all his works. I therefore confide much in any compilation of his or from his 
Register. Benjamin Elliot, Esq., in his letter in 1816 to him said : " The present (1816) is a most pro- 
pitious period for the compilation — the feelings and sentiments of '76 were never so prevalent as at pres- 
ent." This he offered as a reason for the compilation. And now at this present, I urge the very opposite 
reason for the republication ; that never were the feelings and sentiments of '76 less prevalent than now. 
What with the immense mass of immigrant population, naturally ignorant of our institutions and history ; 
what with the feelings embittered by the late civil war ; and what with what is called "Young America" 
and its tendency and influence — there has been an awful chasm cleft between '76 and this present time, 
and, not like the slip in mining, the veins of formation don't continue in the same direction. We are 
departing from republicanism, forgetful and ignorant of the safeguards of liberty, regulated by organic 
and statute law, and we are rapidly tending to the concentration of all power in the hands of one man, 
or an oligarchy in Congress. Even at a sacrifice of some pecuniary loss, I beg you to republish and cir- 
culate this work. It will not be read by a large majority in this generation, but it will be a magaiine 
for a few republican patriots, and if fitted for the schools and colleges will go far and do much to revive 
the sentiments and feelings of '76 in the next generation. We need a revival of " political religion." 
Patriotism is a religion, sacred and holy — the amor patria, founded on the amor loci, which broods like 
a dove over cradles, hearths, altars, and graves of home. It has its country, it has its fathers, it has its 
faith, it has its hope and love, and then it has its permanence and perpetuity. Revive us, O Lord ; 
revive us, I pray. 



From the Hon. Tho.mas A. Hendricks, Governor of Indiana. 

Indianapolis, Indiana, September 10, 1875. 

I am gratified to learn that you intend to republish the " Principles and Acts of the American Revo- 
lution," being a compilation of speeches, orations, and interesting articles of the revolutionary period, 
prepared and originally published by your grandfather, Hezekiah Niles. I suppose he was more gener- 
ally known to American readers as the editor and publisher of " Niles' Register," a periodical at one 
time universally, and, now, generally known, and highly appreciated for its varied and reliable informa- 
tion. 

In this enterprise, you will make a valuable and very interesting contribution to the literature of 1876. 

I cannot doubt that it will be received by the young men whose patriotism will be stimulated by the 
Centennial Celebration of our Independence, in the spirit and beautiful sentiment in which it was dedi 
cated to the young men of the United States in 1822. 



From the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, Attorney General of the United States. 

Department of Justice, Washington, September 15, 1875. 
I have read your preface to the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution." I believe it would be a 
great advantage, not only to the young men, but to all men of the country, to have the work repub- 
lished for the Centennial Anniversary. 



From the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, Baltimore, Md., late Attorney General and Senator of the United 

States. 

Baltimore, Md., September (j, 1875. 
Your note of yesterday is received. I am glad to hear that you contemplate republishing the " Prin- 
ciples and Acts of the Revolution " compiled by your grandfather, the late Hezekiah Niles. The work, 
when it first appeared, was justly esteemed a valuable contribution to the political history of our country. 
Its revival now cannot fail to be most advantageous. The men whose thoughts are there embodied 
were patriots of the purest type, and the principles they inculcated must find a ready response from the 
hearts of all their descendants who are true and enlightened lovers of liberty. This work, together with 
the Declaration of Independence, cannot be but highly cherished by the immense multitude who will be 
assembled on the fourth of July, 1S76, to celebrate the one hundredtti anniversary of our existence as a 
free and independent nation. 



RliCOMMENDATIONS. ji 

From General atid Ex-Representative Benjamin F. Butler. 

Boston, September 25, 1875. 
If every body had the same views of the publication of " Niles' Principles and Acts of the American 
Revolution," of which you send me the preface, that I have, there would be no doubt of the propriety 
and necessity for the public good of its publication. I hope you will go on with your enterprise, and 
bid you God speed in your work. 

From the HON. John Letcher, late Representative and Ex-Governor of Virginia. 

Lexington, Va., Sept. 16, 1875. 
It gives me great pleasure cordially to commend your publication to public favor. The time for its 
appearance is most judiciously selected. 

The only complete copy I have ever seen was owned by the venerable Andrew Alexander, now de- 
ceased, and was purchased by myself at the sale of his property. The facts embodied in it were of the 
most valuable and interesting character, and I am gratified that you propose to reproduce them in a 
shape for permanent preservation. 

From Justice W. Strong, U. S. Supreme Court. 

Washington, Sept. 17, 1875. 
I learn with much pleasure that you contemplate a republication in 1876 of the " Principles and Acts 
of the American Revolution," compiled and published in 1822 by your grandfather, Hezekiah Niles. 
The work was invaluable when it was first published, and its republication will be doubly valuable in 
our Centennial year. What every true patriot must ardently desire is a new birth of the spirit which 
prevailed in the days of the Revolution. What that spirit was, and what were the feelings that con- 
trolled the action of the revolutionary fathers, we can best gather from the few remains that are left of 
their speeches and acts. Your grandfather was a most industrious and accurate compiler, and the work 
which he published in 1822, long since out of print, more than any single book with which I am 
acquainted, may be expected to reveal the revolutionary spirit, and awaken in the hearts of young men 
the love of constitutional freedom and an attachment to those principles which are essential to its 
preservation. I hope nothing will deter you from carrying out your design. 



From Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, Judge Supreme Court United States. 

Stowe, Vt., Sept. 23, 1S75. 
The republication of the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution," I should think, would be emi- 
nently calculated to foster a feeling of national unity and patriotism. 



From Justice Nathan Clifford, United States Supreme Court. 

Portland, Maine, Sept. 18, 1S75. 
I am of the opinion that the republication of the "Principles and Acts of the American Revolution" 
would present a useful compilation to the present generation, both young and old, as tending to revive 
the recollection of the Principles and Acts of the American Revolution, which ought to be cherished 
and revered. 



From the Hon. M. C. Kerr. Speaker of the House of Representatives from Indiana. 

Denver, Colorado, Sept. 17, 1875. 
It gives me great pleasure to learn that you are about to republish that very interesting, instructive, 
and useful work of your patriotic and distinguished grandfather, Hezekiah Niles, entitled " Principles 
and Acts of the Revolution." It is not creditable to the country that it has been suffered to go out of 
print. You have chosen a most opportune period for its reproduction — our Centennial year. It will 
add profitable store to the beneficent and patriotic literature of that year. 



From Justice N. H. Swayne, U. S. Supreme Court. 

Washington, Sept. 27, 1875. 
I am familiar with the work entitled "Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America," edited and 
published by Hezekiah Niles. It is a book of high character and great historic interest and value. It 
is out of print, and in my judgment ought to be republished. There can be no more suitable time for 
doing this than now. The volume will be an apt centennial offering to the nation. 

From Justice David Davis, U. S. Supreme Court. 

Bloomington, Illinois, Sept. 27. 1875. 
From an inspection of the title-page of the "Principles and Acts of the American Revolution," com- 
piled by your grandfather (which you were kind enough to send me), I should judge that their republi- 
cation at this time would be of advantage to the young men of the country. 



6 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

From Hon. Geo. W. Jones, laU U. S. Senator, Iowa. 

Dubuque, Iowa, Oct. lo, 1875. 
I am very clearly of the opinion that a republication of the " Principles and Acts of the American 
Revolution," as compiled by your distinguished and learned grandfather, the late Hezekiah Niles, Esq., 
would not only be of advantage to the young, but to old, and every person in our country who has left 
one spark of " amor patri£e " in his heart. Republish it by all means, and set me down for at least one 
copy for myself and one for each of my three sons. 

From James F. Harrison, M. D., Chairman of the Faculty. 

University of Virginia, Chairman's Office, October 8, 1875. 
I have read the preface to the " Principles and Acts of the American Revolution," and I entertain 
the opinion that the republication of the work, and its reading during the Centennial Celebration, would 
be highly advantageous to the rising generation of young men of our country. In fact, I do not know 
of a work whose perusal during the time of the Centennial Anniversary would so largely contribute to 
the advantage and benefit of our young men generally as the one in question. 

From Hon. W. W. Corcoran. 

Washington, September 20, 1875. 
The proposed republication of the " Principles and Acts of the American Revolution," compiled by 
your grandfather, in my judgment, will prove of great advantage to the young men of the country. I 
entertain the belief that the present, and, indeed,' the next generation, would be materially benefited by 
a more extensive circulation of these valuable documents. 



From the Hon. Columbus Delano, late Secretary of the Interior. 

Department of the Interior, Washington, September 18, 1875. 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 13th instant, enclosing the title page 
of the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution," a work dedicated by your grandfather, Hezekiah Niles, 
in 1822, to the young men of the United States, which you propose to republish during the Centennial 
Anniversary of our Independence. 

In response to your request for my opinion, touching the benefit that the young men of our country 
would derive from its perusal, I will remark that a more familiar knowledge of the history of the Ameri- 
can Revolution to be derived from said publication, cannot fail to be of great advantage to the class 
of readers for whom it is especially intended. 



From the Hon. John M. Brodhead, late Second Comptroller, U. S. Treasury. 

Treasury Department, Second Comptroller's Office, Sept. 18, 1875. 

I have your note of the iSth instant, enclosing the title page of the " Principles and Acts of the 
American Revolution," compiled by your honored grandfather. 

In my opinion, there is no work connected with American history the republication of which would 
be more interesting and advantageous to the young men of our country than this production of Hezekiah 
Niles, one of the most eminent and accurate journalists of the age. He was '* primus inter pares : " his 
judgment in selections, and the careful way in which he sifted facts, with his regard for the exact truth 
made his publications an authority that did not mislead, as I have had occasion to prove by frequent 
reftrence. I hope the compilation may be republished in time for the Centennial. 



From the Ho.s'. Samuel S. Cox, Representative in Congress from A'ew York. 

New York City, September 17, 1875. 
My father, who was an editor in the early days, used Niles' Register as a mechanic — the very tools 
of his trade. As a public man, anxious for truths and facts, I have been familiar with its pages. Your 
proposition to reproduce the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution" is eminently wise. I commend 
it from my limited standpoint, and wish your enterprise success. 

From the Rev. W. Pinkney, Bishop Episcopal Church, Maryland. 

Washington, D. C, September 16, 1875. 
The publication you propose would be peculiarly appropriate at this time, and I fully appreciate its 
value to the young men of the country, who need to be carried back to the elder years of the Republic — 
its truly golden era. I shall hail the republication with pleasure. 

From Hon. Ward Hunt, Judge Supreme Court, U. S. 

Utica, N. Y., September 25, 1875. 
I am of the opinion that the republication of the " Principles and Acts of the American Revolution " 
will be wise and timely. I possess the " Weekly Register," by Mr Niles, and should be much pleased 
to obtain a copy of the work you propose to republish to place beside it. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. '^ 

From General Fitzhugh Lee, late of tht Confederate Army. 

Richland, Stafford Co., Va., September 2^, 1875. 

I sincerely hope you may carry out your purpose, and republish your grandfather's " Principles and 
Acts of the Revolution." 

Mr. Benjamin Elliott, of Charleston, S. C, in writing to him in November, 1816, used these words 
in urging its first publication : " The present is a most propitious period, the feelings and solemnities of 
'76 were never so prevalent as at present. The moment and opportunity may pass and not immediately 
return. Let us, then, avail ourselves of the circumstance to make some deep impression. What better 
impression can we make than by rendering the opinions and conduct of our fathers familiar ? " Is it 
possible to do more than to recall the present applicability of Mr. Elliott's words to the grandfather to 
the grandson ? 

From General E. D. Townsend, Adjutant General United States Army. 

Washington, September 20, 1875. 
I take pleasure in saying I think it highly desirable on many accounts that the work should be repub- 
lished. The people of this country are beginning to realize that we have some antiquity as a nation. 
Great pains are taken to collect and to exhibit any relics of the past, and a growing interest is centering 
around such relics. Whatever contributes to such a taste, certainly will not diminish the love of country 
which just now we are all so anxious to develop. 

I really think your proposed contribution to this stock of relics will prove of inestimable value. It 
is a pity such a work should be suffered to lie hidden from view. 

From Commodore Samuel Barron, late Confederate States Navy. 

LoRETTA, Essex Co., Va., Oct 11, 1875. 
Your design to republish the Principles and Acts of the Revolution I think most highly of, and believe 
that you could not present a more acceptable offering to the present and rismg generation of the country. 

From the HoN. Charlks Francis Adams. 

QUINCY, Mass., September 23, 1875. 
I know of no single volume (the "Principles and Acts of the Revolution," edited by your grand 
father more than fifty years ago) which contains a more curious and interesting collection of early papers 
not readily to be found in these days without much search anywhere else. For the young people of the 
present generation, having their curiosity raised by the recurrence of the Centennial next year, I should 
think it a very excellent fund of instruction. 



From Hon. George W. Williams, late Attorney General of the United States. 

Washington, September 28, 1875. 
Your proposed republication of the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution " will be a valuable con 
tribution to the literature of the times. Our approaching Centennial Anniversary is intended, among 
other things, to revive for our guidance and instruction the examples and events of the early days of the 
Republic. Your proposed work, in this point of view, wUl be interesting and useful. 

From the Hon. Joseph Segar. late Member of Congress from Virginia. 

Washington, November 23, 1875. 

1 have not a doubt that the whole American people will hail with lively satisfaction the republica- 
tion of the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution," gathered half a century ago by your distinguished 
grandfather, and all must agree that the Centennial Anniversary of our Independence is the most befit- 
ting occasion for the reissue of these liberty-inspiring productions of our patriot fathers. 

It was an immortal sentiment of one of the great statesmen of our revolutionary era, George Mason, 
of Virginia, whose statesmanship illumines many a page of the volume proposed to be republished, thai 
" no free government, or the blessings of liberty can be preserved to any people but by frequent recur- 
rence to fundamental principles." If this be so, how unexpressibly valuable will be the reproduction of 
the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution " you propose to reprint. Where else can we find so bright 
expositions of the fundamental principles of free government. 

That great people, the English, recur all the time to " Runnymede," and take counsel of the old 
barons that there laid down liberty's law, and announced to the people of England the fundamental 
principles of civil liberty ; and it is this " ever and anon " worship at that holy altar that makes that 
people practically as free as any on the earth, and that renders it impossible for any man or set of men 
to encroach a hair's breadth upon the liberties of England. 

If we would continue imbued with the genuine spirit of freedom, and remain steadfast in our rever- 
ence of constitutional liberty, we must go back often to the revolutionary sources ; in the language of your 
patriotic ancestor, we must "catch a spark from the altar of '76, and enter into the spirit of past times." 



8 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

From the Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, late Attorney General, United States. 

Windsor, Vt., Sept. 22, 1875. 
It seems to me that it would be a timely contribution to the Centennial memories of the next year, 
and would have a beneficial and extensive influence upon the opinions and sentiments of the young men 
of the country, for whom it was especially prepared, and to whom the original publication was dedicated. 

From Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter, late U. S. Senator from Wisconsin. 

Milwaukee, Wis., Sept. 18, 1875. 

I have received the title page of the " Principles and Acts of the American Revolution," compiled by 
your grandfather, Hezekiah Niles, editor of the " Weekly Register," which you propose to republish as a 
contribution to the Centennial Celebration of that glorious event. 

I cannot refrain from expressing my satisfaction at your determination to publish this work. As far 
as reason excels physical force, so far the "principles" of the Revolution ought to be exalted above its 
mere material events. The young men of the country cannot fail to derive benefit from perusing this 
work, and they must be dull indeed if they do not draw therefrom a new inspiration in favor of liberty 
•and government founded upon free principles. 



From the HON. George M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy. 

Navy Department, Washington, Sept. 20, 1875. 
1 have received your letter enclosing the prospectus of your proposed work. I need not say that I 
heartily approve of the idea, and am sure it will be a most valuable contribution to the literature of our 
Centennial time, most instructive to the young, and of interest to the more mature. It is only by fre- 
quent comparison of the opinions of the past with the sentiment of the present that we are able to real- 
ize the full extent to which progress has come, and reminiscences of this character, at once comprehen- 
sive and unimpeachable, mark most accurately the real path of our history and teach its lessons most 
truly. 

From Chief Justice Waite, Supreme Court of the United States. 

Washington, D. C, Oct. 19, 1875. 

The coming Centennial ought to furnish, as it undoubtedly will, many students of the " Principles 

and Acts of the Revolution," and the republication now of your grandfather's book with that title would 

certainly be most timely. No one could have better opportunities for compiling revolutionary papers, 

speeches, etc., than the editor of " Niles' Register," and few, if any, have been better fitted for such a work. 



From Gen. S. V. Benet, Chief of Ordnance. 

Washington, September 30, 1875. 
The republication of the "Principles and Acts of the American Revolution," compiled by the distin 
guished editor of the "Weekly Register," during the Centennial anniversary of our Independence, will, 
I am sure, be received with great satisfaction by the whole country. I am profoundly impressed with 
the value of the work as a means of educating our youth in the principles that actuated the Revolu- 
tionary Fathers, and impressing upon them the necessity of so acting as to perpetuate the blessings we 
enjoy to the latest posterity. 

From Hon. D. W. Voorhees, late Member vf Congress from Indiatm. 

Terrk Haute, Ind., December 10, 1875. 
I can imagine nothing more appropriate, and few things as useful at this time, as the publication you 
contemplate. I place myself at your service in any way that I can aid you in the undertaking. 

From Hon. A. G. Thurman, United States Senator, Ohio. 

Washington, December iS, 1S75. 
In my opinion, the republication of Niles' " Principles and Acts of the Revolution " would be a very 
yaluable contribution to the public and private libraries in the United States ; and I am glad to learn 
that you contemplate such republication. 

From General Geo. Washington Custis Lee, President of " Washington and Lee University," 

Lexingto)i, Va. 

President's Office, Lexington, Va., March 27, 1876. 
I venture the opinion that the republication of the " Principles and Acts of the Revolution in 
America," published in 1822 by the late Hezekiah Niles, editor of the " Weekly Register," and dedicated 
to the young men of the United States, will prove a valuable and acceptable addition to the literary 
productions of 1876. 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS 

OF THE 
OB, AN ATTEMPT 

TO COLLECT AJ{D PRESERVE SOME OF THE 
WITH SKETCHES AND REMAEKS 

ON 

MEN AND THINGS, 

AJfD OTHER FUGITIVE OR NEGLECTED PIECES, 

BELONGING TO THE 

REVOLUTION AEY PERIOD IN THE UNITED STATES; 

WHICH, HAPPILY, TEBMINATED IN THB 

ESTABLISHMENT OP THEIR LIBERTIES: 

WITH A VIEW 

TO REPRESENT THE FEELINGS THAT PREVAILED IN THE " TIMES THAT TRIED 

MEN'S SOULS," TO EXCITE A LOVE OP FREEDOM, AND LEAD THE PEOPLE 

TO VIGILANCE, AS THE CONDITION ON WHICH IT IS GRANTED. 



DEDICATED TO THE 



BY H. NILES. 



-" Collecta revtrescunt." 



BALTIMORE: 

PBOTED AND PUBLISHED FOB THE EDITOR, BY WILLIAM OODEN NILES. 

1822. 



TO 

OF THE 

UI^ITED STATES, 

THIS VOLUME OF 

mi¥@ifiWf i@if^s¥ wAwmm% mwrnm^WMBo &c., 

IS, RESPECTFULLY, DEDICATED; 

IN THE HOPE 

That they may be encouraged to adhere to the simplicity of Truth, 

AS SET FORTH BY THE 

PEIKCIPLES AND ACTS OF THEIK FATHEKS, 

AND EMULATE THE NOBLEST DEEDS WHEN THE 

LIBERTIES OF THEIR COTJKTRY ARE EKD ANGERED, 
BY FOEEIGN ENEMIES OR DOMESTIC ENCROACHMENTS, 

so THAT 

THE BLESSINGS WHICH THESE PATRIOTS WON 

MAT DESCEND TO POSTERITY. 

And our Republic forever continue to be the pride of Humanity, and an Asylum for the 

BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND, 

H. mLES. 

Baltimore, AprU, 1823. 



PREFATORY- 



It is with unaffected diffidence, that the editor now presents his long-expected volume to 
the people of the United States, from an apprehension that its contents will not accord with the 
hopes entertained by those who felt interested in the publication. Self-love, or self-respect, 
seems to demand that some account of the origin and progress of this work should be submitted, 
that the real merits or demerits of the case may be understood. 

On the z-i^d of November, i8i6, a letter was published in the Weekly REGISTER (of which 
the editor of this work is also the editor and proprietor), from an anonymous correspondent.* 
from which the following is an extract : 

*' Among the patriots whose efforts have tended to give stability to our institutions, no one is more entitled to the 
best wishes of his fellow-citizens, and no one has rendered himself more honorably known, than yourself. The steady 
zeal with which you have prosecuted your valuable worlt, has made it as a light to the people, by which they see 
their true interests, and discover the certain means of preserving and improving their unparalleled freedom and its 
attendant blessings. I am satisfied that you take pleasure in an American offering you his thoughts on any subject of 
a public nature, however little merit may be in his suggestions. I am, therefore, led to propose to your consideration 
an undertaking which no one is so well qualified to accomplish as yourself— it is to collect and print handsomely a 
volume of speeches and orations of our revolution : you can make the supplement to one of your volumes such a 
book. The present is a most propitious period : the feelings and sentiments of '76 were never so prevalent as at 
present. The moment and opportunity may pass and not immediately return ; the events of the late war have im- 
parted a glow of national feeling for every thing republican. Let us then avail ourselves of the circumstance to make 
some deep impression. IVhat better impression can we make than by rendering the opinions and conduct 0/ our 
fathers familiar ^ An opportunity for such a work exists now — which, we know, is but transient, as but six Ameri- 
cans who witnessed the great debate remain. Now, can a doubt arise that Mr. Jefferson, or Mr. Adams, or Mr. 
Thompson, would not take delight in furnishing materials? — the speeches themselves, and a view of the proceedings 
and different characters of the speakers. We have one selection of American speeches— made by a British emissary— 
if such men are to select our political lessons, I need not \.€^ you what must be the opinions of the rising generation, 
nor of their certain degradation." 

Then followed a promise to communicate sundry articles, and some hints of the writer to 
obtain others. 

This letter was spread before the readers of the Register to gather public sentiment on the 
subject, and form some opinion, through communications solicited, of the supply of materials 
that could be obtained, with very little prospect, at that time, of accomplishing the wishes of my 
correspondent, though there was not any want of zeal to satisfy them. I apprehended that the 
supply of matter would be short — for I had, myself, been an eager collector of such things for 
many years, and seemingly had some right to judge of the quantity that remained for edification 
and improvement, in a recurrence to first principles. But it soon appeared that many were 
desirous that the collection should be attempted, and certain distinguished persons held out 
flattering prospects of success, urging me forward by the presentation of motives which they 
were pleased to think had an irresistible influence on my conduct ; but I still hesitated, because 
of the deficiency of materials, until January, 1819, when it was announced that the volume 
would be put to press in an address that contained the annexed remarks : 

'* It is much to be regretted that very few of the soul-stirring orations and speeches of the revolutionary period 
remain to claim the admiration of a blessed posterity. Still, some good things are left to us,— and, by a liberal 
enlargement of the plan originally proposed, we feel pretty confident of presenting an acceptable gift to the American 
people, by rescuing from oblivion a great variety of fleeting, scattered articles, belonging to the history of our country 
anterior to the sublime epoch of the revolution, during its continuance, and immediately after its glorious termination, 
whilst its feelings were fresh upon the heart and understanding of our heroes and sages. As heretofore observed, 
our collection of materials is somewhat extensive, our resources promise some rich additional supplies, — and no effort 
shall be left untried to increase our store : so that, on the whole, though the collection will doubtless be defective, 
and, perhaps, not equal the expectations of some, we are consoled with a belief that it will not be unworthy of the 
patronage of an enlightened public — zealous to catch a " spark from the altar of '76/' ^^^ prepared to enter into the 
spirit of past times. 

• Since ascertained to be Benjamin Elliot. Esq., of Charleston, S. C, whose name I take the liberty to mentioa 
a£ the projector of the undertaking, and the merit of it belongs to him. 



12 PREFATORY. 

*' The volume will be slowly printed as the matter presents itself, and be concluded as soon as the nature of things 
will admit of— but shall not be hurried. Order in its arrangement can hardly be hoped for j but it will not, oa that 
account, suffer much depreciation of value.'* 

Still, it was not until September in the same year that a regular prospectus was offered, for I 
yet feared the want of matter, as well as the severe labor that I was sensible would become 
necessary to obtain it, if to be obtained at all. This prospectus contained these paragraphs : 

*' Believing, as we do, that the simplicity o/ the truths as held forth by those who devised and executed the sever- 
ance of this country from the power of a despot, has been widely departed from, no effort on our part shall be wanting 
to encourage a spirit to seek after and hold on to the principles tvhich appear essential tc the preservation o/ the 
rights and liberties o/ the people o/ the United States ; under an assurance that vigilance is the condition en which 
Jreedom is granted to us. But we enter upon the undertaking before us with considerable diffidence — fearful of the 
want of a just discrimination, and also of time for research and reflection to do justice to the weighty concern. li 
ieemed^ however^ to be iinposed on us as a duty, and we wilt execute the task as ivell as we can. 

" The materials, though the stock is pretty large, are not yet sufficient for the extensive work contemplated. The 
editor of the Register has, for several years, been a collector of scraps and rare things— several gentlemen have lib- 
erally contributed articles which they would not have parted with except on an occasion like this ; and others have 
promised us liberty tc overhaul their neglected stores of old papers : but much useful matter must be in the hands of 
those with whom we have not yet communicated on the subject ; and ever>' patriot is invited to give his aid to this 
collection, designed to record the feelings of" the times that tried men's souls." Letters may be sent to the editor at 
his cost tor postage, and originals will be carefully returned, if requested. When copies from manuscripts are pre- 
sented, it might be well to permit us to state the source from whence they were derived, if necessary." 

The terms were also set forth — it was promised that the volume should contain between four 
and five hundred pages, and cost, in sheets, the sum of three dollars. A view to pecuniary 
profit was disavowed— it had nothing to do with the origin or progress of the work, and if a 
reasonable allowance for money and time expended is afforded by its sale, it will be as much as 
ever has been expected. 

I had no sooner fairly committed myself than I regretted it — the patriots of the revolution 
did not make speeches to be unattended to by their brethren in congress and fill up the columns 
of newspapers.* They only spoke when they had something to say, and preferred acting to 
talking — ver)' unlike the legislators of the present time. I plainly saw that great difficulties 
would oppose themselves to the fulfillment of my promise — I feared that more was expected of 
me than any man could do — for the facts that were manifest to my mind could not be appre- 
ciated by all : my pride (an honest one, I trust) was alarmed, but, in obedience to a fixed rule 
that I have adopted for my own conduct, I resolved to meet the difficulty presented and conquer 
it by perseverance — if I could. To give some idea of the quantity of books and papers that 
have been looked into to effect this compilation, I think that I do not exaggerate when I say 
that they were sufficient to load a cart, and hours on hours have been spent in the service with- 
out the least profit. Perhaps, I was unlucky or unwise — that my attention was not directed to 
the proper sources ; it may be so — but of this I am satisfied, that very few of the " soul-stirring " 
speeches of the revolutionary period remain to warm the hearts of a grateful posterity : they 
were pronounced to be heard, not published. 

With this brief narrative, I submit the work to the liberality of my countrymen, American 
republicans — in the firm belief that, if I iiave not accomplished all that was hoped for by some, 
it will appear that others are agreeably disappointed ; and I am satisfied that good will result 
from the publication of this collection : it will rescue from oblivion many things that were has- 
tening to it, and lay the foundation, perhaps, of a more extensive and much more perfect work, 
which I shall always keep in my view. 

In explanation it is necessary further to observe, that the leading object of this volume was 
to show the feelings that prevailed in the revolution, not to gfive a history of ezients ; hence, all 
matters of the latter class have been rejected, except as immediately necessary to show the 
effects of feeling. The volume, also, might have been more acceptable if a greater degree of 
order had been observed as to dates, etc., but it was almost impossible to approach regularity, 
in this respect, as well from the nature of things as from the occasional attentior , only, that I 
was able to give to the work — but any inconvenience on this account is obviated by the copious 
index, or table of contents prefixed. Two articles have been, unfortunately, inserted twice — but, 
as they are of an excellent quality, I shall not be sorry for it, if the error causes them to be twice 
read. Many notices of proceedings, etc., are given only to indicate the general conduct of the 
people on such occasions as they have reference to. 

* The earl of Dartmouth asked an American in London (whose name we cannot call to mind at present), of how 
many members the congress consisted ? The reply was " fifty-two." *' >Vhy that is the number of cards in a pack," 
said his lordship — " how many knaves are there ? ^' " Not one," returned the republican — " please to recollect that 
knaves are court cards." 



CONTENTS. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

PAGE 

Patriotic Proceedings of the Convention of Deputies 
appointed by the several towns in the Province, held 
at Essex, Jan. 25, 1775, and address to the people.. 13, 14 



MASSACHUSETTS. 

Reminiscences relating to the massacre of citizens of 
Boston by British troops, March 5, 1770.15 to 17, 112, 113 

Boston Orations delivered at the request of the inhabi- 
tants of the Town of Boston to commemorate the 
evening of the 5th of March, 1770, when a number of 
citizens were killed by a party of British troops 
quartered among them in time of peace 17 /<? 79 

iaraes Lovell, 1771, An oration of -ly to 10 
oseph Warren, 1772, 1775, Orations of. . .20 to 30. See 113 
'erez Morton, 1776, Oration delivered at the reinter- 
ment of Joseph Warren 30 /<? 32 

Reminiscences of General Warren 32, 33 

Eulogium on Warren 33, 34 

Dr. Benjamin Church, 1773, Oration of 34 to 37 

John Hancock, 1774, Oration of 38 ^0 42. See 112 

Peter Thatcher, 1776, Oration of 43 to 46 

Benjamin Hickborn, 1777, Oration of; 46 to 51 

Jonathan W. Austin, 1778, Oration of 51 to 56 

William Tudor, 1779, Oration of 56 to 61 

Jonathan Mason, Jr., 1780, Oration of. 61 to 67 

Thomas Dawes, Jr., 1781, Oration of. 67 to 72 

George Richard Minot, Jr., 1782, Oration of. 72 to 75 

Dr. Thomas Welsh, 1783, Oration of 75 '(^ 79 

Important Letter of Gov. Hutchinson, July 20, 1770. . . 79 
Speech of Gov. Hutchinson to the Council and House 

of Reps., February 16, 1773 79 toZ-j 

Answer of the House of Reps, to Gov, Hutchinson, 

March 2, 1773 87 /<? 94 

Resolutions Adopted by the House of Reps, 1773 94, 95 

Letter from the House of Reps, to the Speakers of the 
several Houses of Assembly on the Continent, 1773, 

95, 96 

Destruction of tea in Boston Harbor, Dec. 16, 1773. . .96, 97 
Interesting letter relating to its destruction by the 

Mohawk Indians 97 

Recollections of the same, and song commemorative 

of the destruction of tea 97 

Gov. Hutchinson's message to the Assemby, 1774... 97, 98 

Answer to same by the House of Reps., 1774 gS, 99 

Election of Delegates by the General Court, 1774 99 

Message from Provisional Congress to Gen. Gage.. .99, 100 

An honest jury 100^ loi 

Interesting correspondence of John Adams, second 

President of the United States loi to ro8 

Containing the broken hints written by Major John 
Hawley, author of the declaration, " We must 

fight " 107, 108 

Address of the Provincial Congress to the inhabitants 

of Massachusetts, 1774 108 to no 

Do, recommending manufactures, and home industry, 

1774 "O 

The proscribed ot Boston, 1774 in 

Interesting letter from a gentleman in Mass. to a friend 

in London, Jan. 21, 1775 in, 112 

OccuiTences at "Old South Church," Boston, 1775, 

112, 113 

Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, interesting reminis- 
cences of. n3 to 116 

Female patriotism, Battle o^ Lexington 116, 117 

Address of Provincial Congress to the inhabitants of 

Great Britain, 1775 117, n8 

Resolutions of the Provincial Congress deposing Gen. 

Gage, 1775 118 

Correspondence between Gen. Lee and Gen. Bur- 

goyne, June, 1775 118 ^o 122 

proclamation of Gov. Thomas Gage, June 12, 1775, ex- 
cluding Samuel Adams and John Hancock from the 
beae&t of pardon 122 ^<7 124 



PAGB 

Gen. Horatio Gates' instructions for recruiting troops, 

1775 "4 

Proclamation of thanksgiving. Nov. 4, 1775 124, 125 

Proclamation by the great and general Court, Jan., 
1776 125 ^i? 127 

Declaration of resistance to the authority of Great 
IJritain, 1776 127 

Recollections of a Bostonian of the evacuation of 
Boston by British troops, March 17, 1.776 laS 

Proclamation of Gen. Washington on taking possession 
of Boston, March 21, 1776 128, 129 

Address of the Hon. Council and House of Reps, to 
Gen. Washington 129, 130 

Reply of Gen. Washington 130, ^3^ 

Degree of Doctor of Laws conferred by Harvard Col- 
lege on Gen. Washington, April 3, 1776 131 

Instructions of the inhabitants ot Maiden to their 
representatives in Congress, 1776 13^, ^32 

Do of the inhabitants of Boston, 1776 132. 133 

Address of the Independent Sons in Massachusetts, 
Boston, Nov. 14, 1776 133, 134 

Address by the Stale ot Mass. Bay, Jan.. 1777, recom- 
mending that it be read bv each Minister of the 
Gospel in their respective churches 134/*' ^3^ 

Declaration addressed to all the ancient P'rench in 
America by Count De Estaing, commander of the 
French squadron, Boston, Oct. 28, 1778 136. 137 

Interesting letter from Major Jos<^ph Hawley, author 
of the declaration, " We must hght," Oct., 1780.137. 138 

Reminiscences of the olden time, Boston 138 to 140 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Oath exacted by Gen. Lee, of the people, Dec, i775-* 140 
Proceedings of a Court Martial held at Providence, 

July 24, 1778 140 

Interesting account of the death of William Ellery, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, March, 1820 ' i4> 

CONNECTICUT. 

Domestic manufactures recommended, Feb. 22, 1768.. 141 
Letter from Gov. Jonathan Trumbull to Gen. Gage, 

April 28, 1775 141, 142 

Reduction in value of staple articles. New London, 

Aug., 1776 14* 

Correspondence between William Tryou and Gov. 

Trumbull, 1778 142* ^43 

Massacre of troops at Fort Griswold, or Groton, by 

the British. Sept. 6. 1781 143 

The traitor Benedict Arnold's connection with the 

massacre 144 

Election Sermon delivered by President Stiles, before 

the Legislature, May, 17S3 i45 

Oration delivered by Joel Barlow to the Society of 

Cincinnati, July 4, 1787 i45. 150 

Interesting gathering of Revolutionary Pensioners at 

Hartford. Aug. 7, 1820 150, 151 

Proceedings relating to same :'.^5'' ^5^ 

Capt. Nathan Hale executed as a spy, by the British. 153 
Tribute to his memory by the late President Dwight.. 153 
Revolutionary soldiers, interesting reminiscences of.. 154 
Capt. Ezra Lee, interesting sketch of his attempt to 

destroy the British fleet, then in North River, New 

York, by a submarine battery 1541 <55 

NEW YORK. 

Journal of the Stamp Act Congress, held in the City 
ofNew York, 1765 155/0168 

Address of the Sons of Liberty to the public, Dec, 
1773 169, 170 

Meeting of the inhabitants of the City of New York, 
July 6, 1774 170. »7» 



u 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Letter from tne Committee of New York City to the 
Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of 
London, June 23, 1775 17^1 173 

Pastoral Letter ot the Synod of New York and Phila- 
delphia, June 29, 1775 173 

Address ot Provincial Congress to Gen. Washington, 

July 3i 1775 173 

Reply of Gen. Washington 173, 174 

Address of the Mechanics of New York City to the 

Colonial Congress, June, 1776 174, 176 

Resignation of Militia Officers, Aug., 1776 177 

Proclamation of Gen. M'ashington, recommending 
ilie retirement of the women, children, and infirm 
persons, from the City of New York, on account of 
the expected bombarclment of the city by the British, 

Aug. 17, 1776 177 

Action of the Convention upon Gen. Washington's 

recommendation 177 

Letter from Gen. Robinson, of New York, to Gov. 

Livingston, of New Jersey, 1777 177, 178 

Gov. Livingston's reply, 1777 177, 178 

Proclamation of Gen. Burgoyne, July 2, 1777 178. 179 

Reply to Burgoyne's Proclamation, July 10, 1777. .179, 180 
Charge of Chiel Justice Jay, to the Grand Jury of the 

Supreme Court, Sept. 9, 1777 180, 182 

Address of the Legislature to their constituents, March 

13, 1781 182 /i> 186 

Address of the Citizens of New York City who have 
returned from exile, to Gen. Washington and Gov. 
George Clinton, after the evacuation of the city by 

the British, Nov. 25, 1783 187, 188 

Gen. Washington's reply thereto, Nov. 25, 1783 187 

Address to Gov. Clinton, and his reply thereto 18S 

Interesting sketch of Dr. Tustin, of Long Island.. 188, 190 

Churches of New York during the Revolution 190 

Middle Dutch Church 190 

NEW JERSEY. 

Appropriation of money in the Public Treasury by the 
people, May 23, 177^ 191 

Vote of censure on Gov. Wm. Franklin, by the Pro- 
vincial Congress, June 14, 1776 191 

Address to the Inhabitants by the Provincial Con- 
gress, June 15, 1775 191 

Speech of Gov. William Livingston to the Legislature, 
Feb. 25, 1777 igi, 19s 

Instructions from the Legislature to the delegates in 
Congress, Dec. ^, 1777 195, 197 

Proposals presented Dec. 8, 1777, for an exchange of 
Gen. Burgoyne. after his surrender at Saratoga. 197, 198 

Correspondence between Col. Charles Mawhood, 
British forces, and Col. Elijah Hand, American 
militia, March. 177S 198, 199 

Remarks on the liberty of conscience, by Gov. Living- 
ston, 1778 200, 20I 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Proceedings of the citizens of Philadelphia in oppo- 
sition to the importation of tea, Jan. :;, 1774 201, 203 

Proceedings of the City and County of Philadelphia 
on the Boston Port Bill, June iS, 1774 203, 204 

Address of the County Committee to the Assembly, 
July 23, 177.1 204, 208 

Action taken by the Citizens of Philadelphia to estab- 
lish domestic manufactures, March, 1775 308, 211 

Enthusiasm of the people in support of the Revolution, 
June, t775 211 

Interesting letter relating to same, July 10, 1775. ..211, 212 

Patriotic Sentiments of an American woman (Philadel- 
phian) in advocacy of the Revolution 212, 313 

Sermon delivered in Christ's Church by the Rev. Wm. 
Smith, D. D., on the present situation of American 
Affairs, June 2 j. 1775 213, 319 

Act of the Assembly relative to persons scrupulous of 
bearing arms. Jan. 29, 1775 3ig, 220 

Memento to Americans, March 17, 1776 220 

Spirited speech of an honest and sensible farmer to his 
neighbors, May, 1776 220, 222 

Declaration of the Deputies of the State, met in Provin- 
cial Conference, June 24, 1776 223 

Patriotic address of the Deputies to the people, June 

„ 36, 1776 223, 224 

Proceedmgs relative to the monopoly of salt, Aug. 24, 
1776 224 

Treason ; Ordinance defining the same, Sept. 5, 1776 
224, 225 

Remonstrance of certain citizens arrested, and confined 
in the Free Masons Lodge, Phila, Sept. 4, 1777. .225, 227 

Interesting correspondence of lirig. Gen. Lacey, with 
Gen. Washington and others. 1778 227, 229 

Eulogium by Judge Breckenbridg-e. of the brave men 
who have fallen in the contest with Great Britain, 
delivered July 5, 1779, in the German Catvinist 
Church, Phila 229, 23a 



FAGB 

Burning in effig\' the traitor Benedict Arnold, by the 

citizens of Phila., Sept., 1780 33s 

Address delivered Nov., 1781, in the Roman Catholic 
Church, Phila., by the M. L'Abbe Handole, during 
the celebration ot divine service, and thanksgiving 

for the capture of Lord Cornwallis 332, 233 

Address by Dr. Benjamin Rush to the people of the 

United States. 1787 234, 336 

Patriotic j;ifts ( f *he citizens , 336 

Private beneficen';e 337, 238 

Revolutionary reminiscences of Philadelphia 338, 339 

DELAWARE. 

Proceedings of the committee of inspection of Kent 

County, in relation to certain tea, Jan. 36, 1775 339 

Letter from Dr. James Tilton to Dr. Elmer upon the 

condition of aflairs in the state, 1775 339, 340 

Petition of the inhabitants of Kent County to establish 

a militia, March, 1775 340 

Recantation of an article reflecting upon the Patriots 

of Kent County, May, 1775 340, 341 

Action of the committee of inspection in relation to 

same. May 3, 1775 340, 341 

Letters to the committee of inspection of Kent 
County, assigning reasons for release from military 

service. June. 1775 341, 343 

Correspondence upon the subject of Toryism in Suffolk 

County, Nov., 1775 2^3, 343 

Arrest of a member of the Legislature by the Light 
Infantry, company of Dover, and the petition and 
remonstrance of the company to the House of Rep- 
resentatives, March, 1776 343, 344 

Response of the members of the Assembly to the peti- 
tion, March, 1776 244, 345 

Interesting selections from the correspondence of Gen- 
eral Cxsar Rodney and Capt Thos. Rodney. Let- 
ter from Cssar to Thomas Rodney relative to Stamp 

Act Congress, Oct. 20, 1765 245, 346 

Letter from Caesar to Thos. Rodney, Sept. 17, 1774 — 246 

Same, Sept. 19, 1774 246 

Same, Sept. 34. 1774 247 

Same, Oct., 1775 247, 348 

Thomas to Caesar Rodney, August 30, 1776 248 

Col. John Haslett to Gen. Csesar Rodney, Oct. 5, 1776 248 
Thos. Rodney to Csesar Rodney, Dec. 30, 1776.. . .248, 349 
Interestmg letter from Gen. Washington to Gen. Caesar 

Rodney, Sept. 34,1777 350 

Gen. Washington to same, Aug. 26, 1779 351 

Gen. Washington to same, Dec. 16, 1779 251 

Gen. Washington to same. Aug. 37, 1780 351, 353 

Thos. Rodney to Csesar Rodney, Jul)' 20, 1779.. . .352, 253 
John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, to Thos. Rodnej', 

July 23, 1779 ^53 

Thos. Rodney to Caesar Rodney, June 14, 1781... .253, 254 
Dr. James Tilton, Williamsburg. Virginia, Dec. 16, 
1781, to Thos. Rodney, relating to the American and 
French soldiers 354, 25S 

MARYLAND. 

Proceedings of the people assembled at Annapolis re- 
specting the importation of British goods, June 39, 

1769 255-257 

Proceedings of the merchants and others of Baltimore 
county, relative to the importation of European 
goods, Nov. 14, 1769 357, 358 

Action of the people of Queen Anne county upon the 
subject of the Boston Port Bill, May 30, 1774 258, 259 

Action of the people of Baltimore county upon the 
subject of the Boston Port Bill, May 31, 1774 359 

Action of the people of Anne Arundel county upon the 
subject of the Boston Port Bill, June 4, 1774 359, 260 

Patriotic recommendation of the people assembled at 
.■\nnapolis respecting manufactures and home in- 
dustry, Dec. 15, 1774 260-262 

Memorial of James Christie to the Provincial Conven- 
tion, July 27, 1775. explanatory of his letter to Lieut. 
Col. Gabriel Christie of the British forces, and dis- 
claiming any act of treason to the colony 262, 363 

Action ot the convention in the case of the said James 
Christie, Aug. 7, 1775 263, 364 

Patriotic letter from a minister of the Church of Eng- 
land to the Earl of Dartmouth, Dec. 20, 1775 264-268 

Patriotic address of the General Assembly to the 
people of the state, July 7, 17S0 268, 369 

Address of the citizens of Baltimore to Gen. La 
Fayette. Nov. 15. 1 781 270 

Replv of Gen. La Fayette, Nov. 15, 1781 170 

Address of the merchants of Baltimore to Count De 
Rochambeau, Jnly 39, 17S2 270, 271 

Reply of Count De'Rochambeau, July 30, 1782 371 

Address of the Governor of the State to Count De 
Rochambeau, Au^ 11, 1782 271, 37« 

Reply of the Count De Rochambeau, Aug. ix, 1782... 37* 



CONTENTS. 



IS 



VIRGINIA. 

PAGE 

Patriotic proceedings of Delegates assembled at Will- 
iamsburg, Aug. I, 1774 -- i.V'.v''^'^" 

Instructions to the Delegates to Congress, V, illiams- 
burg, 1774 275, 276 

Instructions of the Free-holders of Cumberland county 
to John Mayo and William Flemmg, their delegates 
to the convention, March, 1775 376 

Interesting debate in the Legislature on the motion of 
Patrick Henry to place the colony in a state of de- 
fence, March 20, 1775 277-280 

Resolution of the convention recommending a stay of 
proceedings in civil suits, March 25, 1775 280, 281 

Resolutions for the encouragement ot home manufac- 
tures March 27, 1775 ....281, 2S2 

Patriotic action of the town council of Fredencksburg, 
April 29, 1775 282 

Important letters from Thomas Jefferson, relatmg to 
the causes resulting in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence 282-284 

Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Small, May 7, 1775 283 

Thomas Jefferson to John Randolph, Aug. 35, 1775.283, 284 

Action of Common Council of WilliamsBurg relative 
to the removal of arms belonging to the king, May 
8, 1775 ■••••■,■'■■■•"'■• 

Proceedings in Hanover county relative to hostilities 
committed by the king's troops, May 9, 1775 284, 285 

Patriotic address of the Baptists to the convention, 
and the action taken thereon, August 16, 1775... 28s, 286 

Address of the Free-holders of Botetourt to Col. 
Andrew Lewis and Mr. John Boyer, Oct., 1773 286 

Proclamation of Lord Dunmore offering freedom to the 
slaves belonging to the Rebels, Nov. 7, 1775 286, 3S7 

Letter from Lord Dunmore to Gen. Howe referring to 
his Proclamation offering freedom to slaves of the 
rebels in Virginia, Nov. 30, 1775 2S7, 288 

Proceedings in convention relating to the Proclamation 
of Lord Dunmore. Jan. 25, 1776 288-390 

Outrages committed by British troops, 1776 290 

Oath extorted from the people of Norfolk and Princess 
Anne, by Lord Dunmore, 1776 290, 291 

Instructions of the convention to their delegates in 
Congress, May 15, 1776 291 

Patriotic demonstrations of the members of the Con- 
vention at Williamsburg, toasts drank, and the 
Union flag unfurled. May 15, 1776 292 

Test oath prescribed by the committee of the state, to 
be taken by the inhabitants thereof, 1776 292 

Virginia called to arms. Proclamation of Gov. Patrick 

ffenry. May 14, 1779 V-'''^' "'' 

Interesting incidents relating to the Battle of \ ork- 
town. and surrender of Cornwallis, Oct. ig, 1781.293-295 

Description of surrender 295, 296 

Anecdote connected with surrender of same 296 

Effect of the intelligence of the surrender of Corn- 
wallis. when received in England, Nov., 17S1 296-298 

Important letter from Gen. Washington bearing upon 

the subject, July 13, 17S8 299 

Interesting sketch of the patriot George Mason, the 

author of the celebrated Bill of Rights 300, 301 

Copy of the first draught of the Declaration of Rights 
by George Mason, and adopted by the convention, 

June 12, 1776 301-303 

Interesting letter from George Mason, Oct. 2, 1778.303, 304 

Letters to his son, 1781-1783 304. i°i- 3°* 

George Mason to a friend, June, 1787 306, 307 

Noble sentiments expressed by George Mason in his 

last will and testament 307 

Interesting sketch of Gen. George Rogers Clarke 307 

Sketch of John Champe, who attempted the seizure of 
the traitor, Arnold, at the instance of Major Lee, 

acting under orders from Gen. Washington 307-310 

Sketch of Gen. John Cropper, a distinguished officer 
ot the Virginia Continental Line 310, 311 

NORTH CAROLIN.A.. 

Address of the Assembly to Governor Josiah Martin, 

April, 1775 .......312, 313 

Declaration of independence declared by the citizens 

of Mecklenburg county. May 20, 1775 313, 314 

Incidents relating to same 314, 3' 5 

Statements as to the authenticity of the same 315, 316 

Address of the Provincial Congress to the British 

Empire, Sept. 3, 1775 3161 3*7 

Royal Proclamation of Governor Josiah Martin to the 

people, Oct. 3, 17S0 3'7, 3"8 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Action of the inhabitants of Charleston to resist the 
Stamp Act, 1775 3'9 

& ddress of the Provincial Congress to Lord William 
Campbell, Governor of the Province, June 20, 1775. 320 



PAGB 

Resolutions passed by the Provincial Congress, June 
21,1775 .320, 321 

Association formed for resistance to the aggressions 
of Great Britain, June, 1775 321 

Determination of the people to resist the aggressions 
of Great Britain, Aug. 5, 1775 •. 321 

Complimentary Resolutions ot the Provincial to the 
Continental Congress, Feb. 8, 1776 321 , 322 

An Act to prevent sedition and punish insurgents and 
disturbers of the public peace, March 26, 1776 ^2-324 

Address of the Assembly to John Rutlcdge, April 3, 
1776 325 

Reply of John Rutledge to the address, April 3, 1776 . 335 

Resolutions passed by the General Assembly, April 6, 
1776 335. 336 

Speech of John Rutledge, President, to the General 
Assembly, April 11, 1776 326, 337 

Chief Justice William Henry Drayton. His patriotic 
charges to the Grand Jury, and their presentments 
.337-353 

His charge, April 23, 1776, commending the constitu- 
tion established by Congress, March 36, 1776 337-334 

Presentments of the Grand Jury of the General Ses- 
sion upon the charge of Judge Drayton 334, 335 

Charge delivered by Judge Drayton, The rise of thK 
American Empire, October 15, 1776 336-34^ 

Presentments of the Grand Jury of the Courtof General 
Session upon the charge of Judge Drayton 346, 347 

Charge delivered by Judge Drayton, Oct. 31, 1777, on 
the i>iilitical affairs of the country 347-35' 

Presentments of the Grand Jury 353 

Judge Drayton's address to Admiral Richard Howe 
and General William Howe, commanding his Britan- 
nic majesty's forces in America, Oct. 33, 1776 353-357 

Judge Drayton's speech upon the .\rlicles of Confed- 
eration of the United States oi America, Jan. 20, 
1778 357-37« 

Oration of Dr. David Ramsey on the advantages of 
the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1778 374-383 

Oration delivered by Dr. Ladd, before the Governor 
and others, at Charleston, July 4, 1785 383-385 

Patriotic charge of Judge Pendleton to the Grand 
Juries of Georgetown, Chowan, and Camden Dis- 
tricts upon the condition of society, 17S7 385-387 

General Marion. Interesting sketches relating to his 
services 387-389 

Marion's escape from the British dragoons 389 

Interesting account of the escape of Mr. Hunter, of 
Darlington District, from the Tories 389,39° 

GEORGIA. 

Interesting extracts from letters written to the Home 
Government by Sir James Wright, Governor, and 
Captain General, relating to the Revolutionary 
movements of the colonies 390 

Letter recommending that some concessions should 
be made by the people, looking to the restoration 
of cordiality and harmony with the Home Govern- 
ment, Aug. 34, 1774 390 

Letter to the Home Government transmitting copy of 
the '* Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence," 
June 30, 1775, which confirms the genuineness of 
that Instrument 390; 313, N. C. 

Address to Governor Wright by the Provincial Con- 
gress, requesting that he appoint a day for fasting 
and prayer, July S, 1775 39' 

Gov. Wright's answer to the address, July 9, 1775 391 

Gov. Wright to the Home Government relative to the 
action of the people in sympathy with the Revolu- 
tion, Oct. 14, 1775, Jan. 3, 1776, and March 10, 1776.. 391 

Speech of Governor Archibald Bullock to the Provin- 
cial Congress, June 3c, 1776 391-393 

Sergeant Jasper. Interesting account of his gallant 
deeds and signal service during the Revolution .393, 394 

CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 

An eloquent speech made by one of the delegates, 
name unknown, in 1775 395t 39^ 

A day of humiliation and praj'er ordered, March 16, 
1776 ■, 396 

Exciting debate upon the subject of separation Irom 
England 397, 39' 

Eloquent speech of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, 
urging an immediate declaration of Independence, 
June 8, 1776 397-400 

John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, favoring a condition 
of union with England. July i, 1776 400-40J 

Discussion for and against retaliation on prisoners of 
war. Speaker unknown, 1778 402,403 

Resolutions passed October 31, 1776, urging the people 
to retaliation, and copy after their enemies, their 
German, negro, and copper-colored allies 403 



i6 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Patriotic manifesto adopted, Oct. 30, 1778 404,405 

Address to the inhabitants of the United States upon 
the condition of the country, urging united earnest 
efforts to defeat their enemies, May 36, 1779 405-408 

Proclamation recommending to the people the observ- 
ance of the 13th day of December, 17S1, as a day of 
thanksgiving and prayer, October 36, 1781 408, 409 

History of the adoption of the Coat of Arms of the 
United States by Congress, June 36, 1783 409, 410 

BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 

Interesting proceedings, speeches, and discussions 

relating to the American Colonies 410 

Speech of the Earl of Chatham, March, 1774, on the 
declaratory bill of the sovereignty of Great Britain 

over the American Colonies 410, 411 

Speech of Governor Johnston, in the House of Com- 
mons, March, 1774, on the bill for blockading the 

town of Boston 411-414 

Interesting debate in the House of Commons, April, 
1774, <m the bill regulating the civil government of 

Massachusetts Bay 414-418 

Remarks of Mr. Fuller 414 

" *' Sir George Saville 414 

** *' Sir Wilbore Ellis 415 

•* '* Gen. Conway 415, 416 

*' " Lord North 416 

*' " Gov. Johnston 416 

** " C. Jenkinson 416, 417 

**■ " Mr. Harris 417 

*' " Sir Edward Astley 417 

** *' Mr. Ward 417 

'* " Governor Pownal 417, 418 

** " Mr. Rigty 417 

" '* Mr. C. Fox 41S 

" " Sir Gilbert Elliott 41S 

" ■' Sir Richard Sutton 418 

Speech written by Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shipley, late 
Bishop of St. Asaph, 1774, for delivery in the House 
of Lords on the bill for altering the charter of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay 419-434 

John Wilkes, extract from his speech, Feb. 6, 1775, in 
House of Commons, oa Lord North's proposition 
to declare that a rebellion existed in the colony of 

Mass 435, 436 

Speech delivered in the House of Commons by Capt. 

Harvty, Feb. 6, 1775, in reply to John Wilkes. . .427, 43S 
Celebrated speech of Edmund Burke, March 33, 1775, 
in House of Commons, in moving his Resolution for 

conciliation with the American Colonies 429-453 

Examination of Governor Penn, late of Pennsylvania, 

by the House of Lords, November 11, 1775 453-455 

William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. His celebrated speech, 
delivered in the House of Lords, Dec. 30, 1775, on a 
motion for removal of troops from Boston. Mass.455-459 

His opinion on the Declaration of Independence 459 

His speech, delivered in the House of Lords, 1777, in 
opposition to the proposition of Lord Suffolk to 
employ Indians against the American Colonists.... 460 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

His speech to Congress on accepting his Commission 
as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, 
June 15, 1775 461 

His address to the inhabitants of Canada, 1775 461, 463 

His correspondence with Gen. Gage, August, 1775, 
upon the treatment of prisoners of war 462, 463 

His letter to the Presi. of Congress. Sept. 34, 1776.464 466. 

His general orders to the army, April iS, 1733.. ..466, 467 

His circular letter to the Governors of the respective 
States, June 18. 1783, announcing his retirement from 
the army, and referring to the future of the country, 
and the duty of the people looking to the mainte- 
nance of their liberties 467-473 

Resignation of his commission as commander in chief 
of the army, to Congress, Dec. 33, 1783 473 

His first speech as President of the United States to 
the ist Congress, April 30, 17S9 473-474 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

Interesting letters written by him from London to a 
frienu in Philadelphia, Pa., 1761, 1765, & 1766.... 474, 475 

Extract of a letter from Silas Deane, at Paris respect- 
ing Dr. Franklin 476 

Interesting extract from a letter written while in Lon- 
don, Nov. 9, I76^, to his son, William Franklin. .475, 476 

His correspondence with Lord Howe upon the con- 
dition of affairs in the Colonies, 1775 476-478 

His address to the People of Ireland, written while at 
Versailles, France, October 4, 1778 478-480 

Account of his introduction to the Academy of France 
and his association with Voltaire 4S0, 481 

Interesting^ notice in relation to him ; and extracts 
from Articles printed by him in London in 1779 .... 4S1 



Interesting account by Thomas Jefferson (Franklin's 
successor at Versailles) of the veneration and 
esteem of the French people for Dr. Franklin.. .481, 481 

Action of the French Assembly on his death, and 
glowing eulogy pronounced by the Abbe Fauchett.. 4S3 

CONTINENTAL NAVY. 

First sea fight. Action between the Continental brig 
of war Tyrannicide and the British sloop of war Dis- 
patch, 1776 482,483 

List of naval forces, British and Continental, on Lake 
Champlain, October, 1776 483 

List of seamen from the king's ships andvessels in the 
River St. Lawrence to serve on LakeChamplain.483, 484 

Paul Jones, sketch inrelation to his services 484 

His letter to Lady Selkirk, May 8, 177S 484, 485 

Sketch relating to the services of Commodore Samuel 
Tucker, of Mass. Continental Navy 485, 486, 4S7 

Letter from John Adams to Mr. Crowninshield, Sec. 
of the Navy, in relation to his services, Jan.r8, 1816. 487 

Anecdote relating to Commodore Tucker and John 
Adams, in connection with the engagement of the 
Boston and the British ship Martha 487 

Commodore Joshua Barney, of Maryland. Continental 
Navy. Account of the capture of the British sloop of 
war Gen. Monk by the Hyder Ally, April 8, 1783.487, 488 

The General Monk : account of her capture 48S 

Naval powerof Salem, Mass., from March i, to Nov. i, 
17S1.... 489 

The Marine Turtle. A submarine battery, invented 
and first used for the destruction of British ships in 
New York harbor 154, 489 

Naval engagement in Chesapeake Bay, between Vir- 
ginia naval vessels and British barges, 1783 310, 489 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Introductory notice of Boston Orations, and address of 
Peter Edes, of Boston, Mass., the original publisher, 

Jan., 17S5 490 

Recollections of a soldier's daughter 490-493 

Interesting account of Mrs. Gannett, of Sharon, Mass., 
who served as a soldier in the Continental Army. 492, 493 

Estimate of the British forces in America, 1775 493 

Estimate of Continental troops in the field. May, 1776. 493 
Expense of the American Continental Army, sterling 

money, May, 1776 494, 495 

Orders of Gen. Wayne, issued on the evening previous 

to the attack on Stony Point, July 15, 1779 495, 496 

Gratitude of Gen. Gates 496 

Capt. Cheeseman. His death at Quebec 496 

Gallantry of Rev. Mr. Payson, of Chelsea, Mass.. 496, 497 

Col. Gardner. His death at Bunker Hill 497 

Bravery at the Battle of Germantown 497 

Benedict Arnold. His letter to Gen. Washington, 

Sept. 35, 1780, palliating his treason 497 

Ann Seward on the character of Washington ....497, 498 

History of the origin of " Yankee Doodle ' 498, 499 

Tarring and feathering originally a Yankee trick 499 

Letter of Lord Effingham to the British Secretary of 
War, resigning his commission in preference to 
taking arms against the American Colonies, April 

12, 1775 499. 500 

The guild of Merchants of Dublin, Ireland, tendering 

their thanks to Lord Effingham, Juljr 17, 1775... .500, 501 
Resolution of thanks tendered Lord Effingham by the 

sheriff and commoners, July 31, 1775 501 

Lord Effingham's answer, Aug, 14, 1775 501 

Interesting letter from a gentleman in America to a 

member of the British Parliament, Dec. 34, 1774.501, 503 
Petition of the Native Americans residing in London 

to his Britannic Majesty, 1774 503 

Letter from a late London paper, copied from the 
Maryland Gazette of date 1776, ridiculing the idea 
that manufactures could be carried on in America.. 503 
Address of American loyalists to the King and Parlia- 
ment , 1 7S3 503-507 

History of John Bull's children 507-509 

Case of Asgill, an officer in the English Guards, con- 
demned to death by the Americans in reprisal for 
the execution by the British of Capt. Hale as a spy 

509,510 

Confession of Capt. Wm. Cunningham, formerly 

British Provost Marshal, New York City 510 511 

Advance of Insurance in London, 1776 511 

Washington in search of a Pen-Knife, 1779 511 

Weight of great characters, 1783 513 

Interesting incidents relating to Ticonderoga 51a 

Independence of the Yankees 513 

Gen. Putnam in the Colonial War with the French... 513 

Eulo^ium on Kosciusko 514-516 

Recollections ol Gordon's History of the American 
Revolution 516, S17 



Principles and Acts 



OF THE 



Revolution in America. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
Patriotic Proceedings and address to 

THE PEOPLE, 25TH day OF JANUARY, 1775. 

At the convention of the deputies appointed 
by the several towns in the province aforesaid, 
held at Exeter, on the 25th day of January, 
1775. Present 144 members. 

Hon. John Wentworth, esq., president. 

Voted unanimously, That we heartily ap- 
prove of the proceedings of the late grand con- 
tinental congress respecting the just state of 
the rights and liberties of the British colonies ; 
and of the means recommended to restore, 
secure, and protect the same ; and that we 
return our most unfeigned thanks to the late 
members of that congress in general, and to 
those of this province in particular, for the 
faithful discharge of the important trust re- 
posed in them. 

Voted, That John Sullivan, and John Lang- 
don, esqrs., be delegates to represent this prov- 
ince in the continental congress, proposed to 
be held at Philadelphia, on the tenth day of 
May next, and that they and each of them in 
the absence of the other, have full and ample 
power, in behalf of this province, to consent 
and agree to all measures, which said congress 
shall deem necessary to obtain redress of 
American grievances. 

Voted, That two hundred and fifty pounds, 
lawful money, be raised for defraying the ex- 
penses of said delegates. 

Voted. That the hon. John Wentworth, col. 
Nath. Folsom, hon. Meseach Weare, esq. col. 
Josiah Bartlet, col. Christopher Toppan, Eben- 
ezer Thompson, and William Whipple, esqrs. 
be a committee, in behalf of this province, to 
call a provincial convention of deputies, when 
they shall judge the exigencies of public affairs 
require it : And that they, together with Sam- 
uel Cutts and John Pickering, esqrs. be a com- 
mittee of correspondence for this province. 

Voted, the following address : 



To the inhabitants of the province of New 
Hanipshire. 

Brethren — When we consider the unhappy 
condition to which you and your American 
brethren are reduced ! when we reflect that, for 
near ten months past, you have been deprived 
of any share in your own government, and of 
those advantages, which flow to society from 
legislative assemblies ; when we view the low- 
ering clouds, charged with ministerial ven- 
geance, fast spreading over this extensive con- 
tinent, ready to burst on the heads of its 
inhabitants and involve the whole British 
empire in one common ruin — at this alarming 
juncture, duty to Almighty God, to our country, 
ourselves, and posterity, loudly demands our 
most strenuous exertions to avoid the impend- 
ing danger. 

Such are the measures adopted by the 
British ministry, for enslaving you, and with 
such incessant vigilance has their plan been 
prosecuted, that tyranny already begins to 
wave its banners in your borders, and to 
threaten these once happy regions with infa- 
mous and detestable slavery ! 

Shall we, knowing the value of freedom, 
and nursed in the arms of liberty, make a 
base and ignominious surrender of our rights, 
thereby consigning succeeding generations to 
a condition of wretchedness, from which per- 
haps, all human eflbrts will be insufficient to 
extricate them ? 

Duty to ourselves, and regard for our coun- 
try, should induce us to defend our liberties, 
and to transmit the fair inheritance unimpaired 
to posterity. 

Should our restless enemies drive us to 
arms in defence of every thing we hold dear. 
we should be reduced to a state, dreadful even 
in contemplation ; for should we prove victo- 
rious, the blood of our brethren, shed in the 
unhappy contest, would cause the liurels to 
wither on our brows, and make the conquerors 
mourn with the vanquished : but should our 



14 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



enemies be successful, they will thereby rivet 
the chains of slavery upon us and our posterity. 

Thus surrounded with dangers and dis- 
tresses on every side, it behoves us to adopt 
and pursue such peaceable measures as, under 
God, will be most likely to prevent those dread- 
ful calamities with which we are threatened. 

Fully sensible that to point out, with any de- 
gree of certainty, the methods by which you may 
shun the threatening evils, would require more 
than human wisdom, we can only recommend 
such measures as appears to us most likely to 
answerthat desirable end, best calculated to re- 
store to you that peace and harmony, so ardently 
wished for by every good and honest American. 

We therefore earnestly recommend, 

1st. That you discountenance and discour- 
age all trespasses and injuries against individ- 
uals, and their property, and all disorders of 
every kind ; and that you cultivate and maintain 
peace and harmony among yourselves. 

2d. That you yield due obedience to the 
magistrates within this government ; and care- 
fully endeavor to support the laws thereof. 

3d. That you strictly adhere to the associa- 
tion of the late continental congress, and deal 
with the violators of it, in the manner therein 
recommended. 

4th. That you endeavor particularly to 
enforce the laws of the province against 
hawkers, pedlars, and petty chapmen. 

5th. That you abstain from the use of East 
India tea, whenever, and by whatever means it 
has, or may be imported. 

6th. That you encourage and support your 
several committees of correspondence and 
inspection, in discharging the very important 
trust you have reposed in them. 

7th. That in case any inhabitant of the 
colonies should be seized, in order to be 
transported to Great Britain, or other parts 
beyond seas, to be tried for offences supposed 
to be committed in America, you conduct 
yourselves agreeable to the advice of the late 
continental congress. 

8th. That, in your several stations you 
promote and encourage the manufactures of 
this country ; and endeavor, both by precept 
and example, to induce all under you, and with 
whom you are connected, to practice economy 
and industry, and to shun all kinds of extrav- 
agance. 

9th. That the officers of the several regi- 
ments strictly comply with the laws of this 
province for regulating a militia — And as the 



militia upon this continent, if properly disci- 
plined, would be able to do great ser\'ice in its 
defence, should it ever be invaded by his 
majesty's enemies, that you acquaint yourselves 
with the manual exercise, particularly that 
recommended and enjoined by the captain 
general — the motions being natural, easy, and 
best calculated to qualify persons for real action; 
and also to improve themselves in those evolu- 
tions which are necessary for infantry in time 
of engagement. 

loth. That, as your enemies are using every 
art to impoverish and distress you, in order to 
induce submission to their arbitrary mandates, 
you carefully shun those measures which may 
have a tendency to distress your brethren and 
fellow sufferers, and avoid all unnecessary law- 
suits, and endeavor to settle disputes between 
you in the most amicable and least expensive 
manner. — That all debtors exert themselves in 
discharging their just debts, and creditors 
exercise such lenity as their circumstances will 
admit of. 

I ith. That as the inhabitants of the town of 
Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, 
are now laboring under a load of ministerial 
vengeance, laid upon them to enforce obedience 
to certain arbitrary and unconstitutional acts, 
which, if once submitted to, must involve all 
America in slavery and ruin ; conscious that all 
these colonies are largely indebted to the virtue 
and fortitude of those patriotic asserters of 
freedom, we heartily recommend a continuation 
of your contributions, for the •relief of that 
oppressed people ; and that you keep your- 
selves in constant readiness to support them in 
their just opposition, whenever necessity may 
require. 

Lastly. We earnestly entreat you, at this 
time of tribulation and distress, when your 
enemies are urging you to despair ; when every 
scene around is full of gloom and horror ; that, 
in imitation of your pious forefathers, with con- 
trition of spirit, and penitence of heart, you 
implore the Divine Being, who alone is able to 
deliver you from your present unhappy and dis- 
tressing situation, to espouse your righteous 
cause, secure your liberties, and fix them on a 
firm and lasting basis. And we fervently be- 
seech him to restore to you and your American 
brethren, that peace and tranquil ity, so ardently 
desired, and earnestly sought for, by every true 
friend to liberty and mankind. 

By order of the convention, 

J. Wentworth, president. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



15 



MASSACHUSETTS 



REMINISCENCES 

Relating to the Massacre of Citizens 
OF Boston by British Troops, March 5, 
1770. 

In a former communication we mentioned 
that one of the causes which led to the massacre 
of the 5th of March, was the affray between 
the inhabitants and the British soldiers, an ac- 
count of which was related to me shortly after 
the event, by one who was an eye witness. 

At that time there was only one house on 
the east side of what is now called Pearl 
street, in which then resided Charles Paxton, 
esq. On the west side of the street, stood 
four or five rope-walks, extending from the 
upper to the lower end of the street, which 
were all burnt in 1794. On Saturday after- 
noon, on the 3d March, 1770, a British 
soldier of the 29th regiment, accosted a negro 
who was employed in one of the rope walks, 
by inquiring " whether his master wanted to 
hire a man." (The soldiers who were mechan- 
ics were sometimes hired as journeymen). 
The negro answered that his " master wished 
to have the vault emptied, and that was a 
proper work for a Lobster." * This produced 
a conflict between the soldier and the negro, 
and, before relief came to his assistance, the 
negro was very severely beaten. Some rope- 
walk men, (among whom was Mr. Gray, the 
foreman of the walk), came up and parted 
them. Mr. Gray, (who was a very respecta- 
ble man), told the soldier that " as he had ob- 
tained satisfaction for the insult, he had better 
go to his barracks." The soldier "damned 
him " and said that " for six-pence he would 
drub him as he had done the negro." — A 
contest then took place between them in 
which the soldier received a much worse beat- 
ing than the negro, and went off to his bar- 
racks over Fort-hill, on Wheelwright's (now 
Foster's) wharf swearing revenge. In about 
half an hour the soldier returned with about 
seventy of his comrades, who came over the 
hill huzzaing, armed with pipe staves split into 
bludgeons, which they obtained at a cooper's 
shop, and made the attack with great fury. 

* Lobsters is the usual term of contempt, expressed in 
those days by the citizens ot Boston, towards the British 
soldiers, and the citizens of London, in a late riot, at the 
queen's funeral, made use of the same epithet. 



Each party was brave and intrepid, but the 
science in this kind of warfare, which the rope- 
walk men had obtained in their " Pope Day " 
battles gave them a decided superiority, and 
in their pursuit of the soldiers, halted on Fort- 
hill, and gave three cheers in token of victory. 
The noise of the shouting and huzzaing 
resounded far around, and excited the curiosity 
of those at a distance. At that time Mr. Hal- 
lowell, (grandfather of the present Admiral 
Hallowell, in the British navy), owned and re- 
sided in the house in Battery March-street, now 
occupied by Mr. Goodrich, near which he also 
owned a ship yard, about where now stands 
the Commercial Coffee House, in which he 
usually employed about fifty or sixty men. 
There was a mast yard a little south and several 
wood wharfs, on all which were also employed 
hardy laborers, who, together with the black- 
smiths, blockmakers, and other athletic me- 
chanics in the neighborhood, (whose brawny 
arms could wield a club with as much dexterity 
as an Highlander could manage his broad- 
sword), all ran towards the scene of combat. 
The bravery of the soldiers was not doubted, 
and accordingly, preparations were made to 
repel another attack which was expected, and 
in which they were not disappointed. — The 
shouting of the soldiers, issuing from the bar- 
rack-yard, to the number of more than three 
hundred, headed by the sergeant-major, moving 
over the hill towards Pearl street, soon gave the 
alarm. The soldiers pulled down the fence in 
High street, then called Cow lane), which 
inclosed the field, where now stands Quincy 
place. The rope-walk men pulled down the 
fence on the opposite side in Pearl street, when 
both parties rushed on each other with equal 
intrepidity. — But the Herculean strength of 
virtuous labor, united with the activity and 
science of the Yankees, soon obtained a triumph 
over an idle, inactive. ener\'ated, and intem- 
perate, though brave soldiery. 

The effect of this rencontre was seen in the 
countenances and conduct of the soldiers the 
next and following day, who looked vengeance 
on the inhabitants, especially those whom they 
suspected to be concerned in the affray on 
Saturday ; and those of them, who were 
friendly to the citizens, advised them to remain 
at home on Monday evening, as revenge would 
then be taken. 



16 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



The soldiers asserted on Sunday morning, 
that one of their men had died of his wounds, 
but as the body was never shewn, it was sup- 
posed to be only a pretence to justify the hor- 
rid scene which ensued on the Monday 
evening following. 



So much has been written on the subject of 
the massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, that it 
is unpleasant to repeat " ugly recollections " 
respecting that horrid scene, except when it is 
necessar)' to vindicate our town from slander — 
to establish its reputation for virtuous exertions 
in the hour of trial — patience under sufferings — 
and forbearance under severe provocation. 

The threats of the soldiers, as mentioned in 
my last communication, were put in execution 
on Monday evening the 5th of March, 1770, by 
insulting and abusing many inhabitants in vari- 
ous parts of the town, which resulted in what 
was called the " horrid massacre," by which 
four persons were instantly killed, one died of 
his wounds a few days succeeding, and about 
seventeen in the total killed and wounded. 

Language cannot describe the horror and 
indignation which was excited through the 
town by this dreadful event. The bells rang a 
terrific peal, which roused the whole popula- 
tion. More than five thousand citizens were 
collected in State street and its vicinity. The 
29th regt. was marched into the same street. 
The 14th regt. was under arms at their bar- 
racks. What a scene for contemplation ! Lieut, 
governor Hutchinson, and the king's council, 
were assembled in the council chamber, even 
at the solemn hour of midnight ! Many of the 
venerable citizens repaired to them and de- 
manded the surrender of the criminals to justice. 
The high-sheriff appeared in the balcony of the 
state house, and ordered silence ! ! ! An awful 
stillness ensued — when, with a loud voice, he 
declared, that he was authorized by his honor 
the lieutenant governor and his majesty's coun- 
cil, with the consent of col. Dalry^mple, to say 
that capt. Preston, and the men who had com- 
mitted the outrage, should be immediately 
delivered to the civil power, and requested the 
citizens to retire peaceably to their dwellings ; 
which, after the soldiers had marched off, was 
complied with. 

The next day a town meeting was called, 
and the lieut. governor and council assembled, 
the proceedings of which are very eloquently 
described by the venerable sage of Quincy in 
one of his letters to Mr. Tudor, lately published. 

The result of this melancholy affair was, that 
all the troops were ordered out of town, and 



the culprits brought to a trial, and acquitted, 
excepting two who were found guilty of man- 
slaughter. The trial was one of the most im- 
portant that had ever come before an American 
tribunal, especially as the public mind was 
wrought up to the highest tone of indignation. 
It established the character of the judiciary for 
purity and independence, which had been ques- 
tioned by thetories. The law was triumphant, 
but the needless barbarity of the act never 
doubted. 

The funeral of the unfortunate victims was 
attended with great pomp and parade. Thou- 
sands came from the country ; and the whole 
number that followed them to the grave, was 
supposed to exceed ten thousand ! 

History does not (perhaps) record an in- 
stance, where the moral and patriotic character 
of a city was ever more conspicuous than Bos- 
ton exhibited on this occasion. 

It was supposed by many, that the above 
recited horrid event, did more to effect an alie- 
nation of the affections of the people of New 
England from the British government, than 
any other whatever. 

When I bring to my recollection, Mr. Russel, 
that solemn and impressive scene, when the 
high sheriff was delivering the governor's mes- 
sage from the balcony to the assembled thou- 
sands, I am irresistibly drawn to a contempla- 
tion of what must have been the wonder and 
astonishment of any one of that vast crowd of 
citizens, if an angel had descended from heaven 
and unfolded to him the events of futurity : — 
That, in less than seven short years, we should 
throw off our allegiance to a beloved king, and 
our connection with our mother countr)-, to 
which we then looked with solicitude and affec- 
tion, and fondly called it our home ! That to 
establish our independence, would produce an 
eight years' war, in which all Europe would 
be directly or indirectly engaged ! That seven 
young men, among that populace, would array 
themselves against their native country, and, 
finally, become admirals and generals in the 
English service ! That one of them, then only 
an apprentice to a Cornhill shop keeper, should 
become distinguished, not only as a British 
officer, but as a general and a count in the 
German empire ! A philosopher of a new 
school, which for usefulness would be para- 
mount to all others, and at his death, estab- 
tablish a professorship in the university in our 
neighborhood. 

That among them were two youths, a phy- 
sician and a bookseller, who would become 
generals in the service of their native country ; 
and one of them, by his heroic exertions in 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



17 



defending a post, would call forth the astonish- 
ment of the oldest veterans and lose his life 
in the attempt ! That among them were forty 
young men, members of a military company, 
most of whom would become officers of artillery, 
and would distinguish themselves, (particularly 
on one occasion), where they would exhibit so 
much science and adroitness, as to command 
the admiration of their English and German 
foes. More wonderful yet — that among the 
principal officers of the 2gth British regiment, 
then arrayed against the inhabitants, was one 
who would become an highly respected Ameri- 
can citizen ! would hold important offices under 
the American government, become a member 
of her illustrious senate, and, after a peace of 
thirty years, a strenuous advocate for declara- 
tion of war against his native country ! 

And, " tho' last not least " among the citizens 
was a young barrister whose brilliant talents 
would place him in the front ranks of patriotism, 
and cause him to become an ardent asserter of 
independence — an ambassador to England, 
France and Holland — the father of a na\y, 
(destined to be the rival of the mistress of the 
sea), and finally the first magistrate of a great 
nation. In the council chamber, were many 
in the height of prosperity and honor, who, in 
a few years, fell from their elevated stations ; 
and a governor, who, then basking in the sun- 
shine of royal favor, was speedily consigned to 
infamy and ruin, and, it is said, died of a bro- 
ken heart. 

Such are the wonderful vicissitudes to which 
the life of man is subjected. 



BOSTON ORATIONS.* 

Delivered at the request of the inhabitants 
of the town of Boston, to commemorate the 
evening of the ^th of March, 1770, when a 
number of citizens were killed by a party of 
British troops quartered among them in time 
of peace. 

ORATION, DELIVERED AT BOSTON, APRIL 2, 

BY JAMES LOVELL, A.M. 

Omoes homines natura Libertati student conditionem 
Sed viriutis oderunt. Cvss. 

— Nunc ea petit, ijua dare ntiHo niodo /ossurnus, nisi 
prius volumus nos delta victos con/iteri. Cic. 

Your design in the appointment of this cere- 
mony, my friends and fellow-townsmen, can- 
not fail to be examined in quite different lights 

* See page 400 for the original introductory notice to the 
orations, inadvertenUy omitted here. 



at this season of political dissension. From 
the principles I profess, and in the exercise of 
my common right to judge with others, I con- 
clude it was decent, wise, and honorable. 

The certainty of being favored with your 
kindest partiality and candor, in a poor attempt 
to execute the part to which you have invited 
me, has overcome the objection of my inability 
to perform it in a proper manner, and I now 
beg the favor of your animating countenance. 

The horrid bloody scene we here commem- 
orate, whatever were the causes which occur- 
red to bring it on that dreadful night, must 
lead the pious and humane, of every order, to 
some suitable reflections. The pious will 
adore the conduct of that BEING who is un- 
searchable in all his ways, and without whose 
kncrtvledge not a single sparrow falls, in per- 
mitting an immortal soul to be hurried by the 
flying ball, the messenger of death, in the 
twinkling of an eye, to meet the awful Judge 
of all its secret actions. The humane, from 
having often thought, with pleasing rapture, on 
the endearing scenes of social life, in all its 
amiable relations, will lament, with heart felt 
pangs, their sudden dissolution, by indiscretion, 
rage and vengeance. 

But let us leave that shocking close of one 
continued course of rancor and dispute, from 
the first moment that the troops arrived in 
town : that course will now be represented by 
your own reflections to a much more solid, use- 
ful purpose, than by any artful language. I 
hope, however, that heaven has yet in store 
such happiness for this afflicted town and 
province, as will in time wear out the memory 
of all your former troubles. 

I sincerely rejoice with you in the happy 
event of your steady and united effort to pre- 
vent a second tragedy. 

Our fathers left their native land, risqued all 
the dangers of the sea, and came to this then 
savage desert, with that true undaunted cour- 
age which is excited by a confidence in GoD. 
They came that they might here enjoy them- 
selves, and leave to their posterity the best of 
earthly portions, full English liberty. You 
showed upon the alarming cause for trial, that 
their brave spirit still exists in vigor, though 
their legacy of right is much impaired. The 
sympathy and active friendship of some neigh- 
boring towns, upon that sad occasion, com- 
mands the highest gratitude of this. 

We have seen and felt the ill effects of pla- 
cing standing forces in the midst of populous 
communities ; but those are only what individ- 
uals suffer. Your vote directs me to point out 
the fatal tendency of placing such an order in 



iS 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



■free cities— fatal indeed ! Athens once was 
, free ; a citizen, a favorite of the people, by an 
artful story, gained a trifling guard of fifty 
men ; ambition taught him ways to enlarge 
that number ; he destroyed the commonwealth 
and made himself the tyrant of the Athenians. 
Oesar, by the length of his command in Gaul, 
jot the affections of his army, marched to 
Rome, overthrew the state, and made himself 
perpetual dictator. By the same instruments, 
many less republics have been made to fall a 
prey to the devouring jaws of tyrants. — But 
this is a subject which should never be dis- 
guised with figures; it chooses the plain style 
of dissertation. 

The true strength and safety of every com- 
monwealth or limited monarchy, is the bravery 
of its freeholders, its militia. By brave militias 
they rise to grandeur; and they come to ruin 
by a mercenary army. This is founded on his- 
torical facts, and the same causes will, in sim- 
ilar circumstances, forever produce the same 
effects. Justice Blackstone, in his inimitably 
clear commentaries, tells us, that " it is ex- 
tremely dangerous in a land of liberty, to make 
a distinct order of the profession of arms; 
that such an order is an object of jealousy ; 
and that //le laws and conslitiition of England 
are strangers to it." One article of the bill of 
rights is, that the raising or keeping a standing 
army within the kingdom in a time of peace, un- 
less it be with consent of parliament, is against 
law. The present army, therefore, though 
called the peace establishment is kept up by 
one act, and governed by another ; both of 
which expire annually. This circumstance is 
valued as a sufficient check upon the army. A 
less body of troops than is now maintained 
has, on a time, destroyed a king, and fought 
under a parliament with great success and 
glory ; but, upon a motion to disband them, 
they turned their masters out of doors, 
and fixed others in their stead. Such wild 
things are not again to happen, because the 
parliament have power to stop payment once a 
year : but anna tcnenti qiiis neget f which 
may be easily interpreted, " who will bind 
Sampson with his locks on ?" * 

The bill which regulates the army, the same 
fine author I have mentioned, says, '• is, in 
many respects hastily penned, and reduces the 
soldier to a state of slavery in the midst of a 
free nation. This is impolitic : for slaves envy 
the freedom of others, and take a malicious 
pleasure in contributing to destroy it." 

By this scandalous bill a justice of peace is 
empowered to grant, without a previous oath, 

* Trenchard. 



from the military officer, a warrant to break 
open any (freeman's) house, upon pretence of 
searching for deserters. 

I must not omit to mention one more bad 
tendency ; 'tis this — a standing force leads to 
a total neglect of militias, or tends greatly to 
discourage them. 

You see the danger of a standing army to 
the cause of freedom. If the British parlia- 
ment consents from year to year to be exposed, 
it doubtless has good reasons. But when did 
our assembly pass an act to hazard all the 
property, the liberty and lives of their consti- 
tuents ? what check have we upon a British 
army ? can we disband it ? can we stop its 
pay? 

Our own assemblies in America can raise 
an army ; and our monarch, George the 3d, 
by our constitution, takes immediate command. 
This army can consent to leave their native 
provinces. Will the royal chief commander 
send them to find barracks at Brunswick or 
Lunenburg, at Hanover, or the commodious 
hall of Westminster? suppose the last — 
suppose this army was informed, nay thought 
the parliament in actual rebellion, or only 
on the eve of one. against their king, or 
against those who paid and clothed them — ■ 
for there it pinches: — we are rebels against 
parliament ; — we adore the king. 

Where, in the case I have stated, would be 
the value of the boasted English constitution? 

Who are a free people ? not those who do 
not suffer actual oppression ; but those who 
have a constitutional check upon the power to 
oppress. 

We are slaves or freemen : if as we are 
called, the last, where is our check upon the 
following powers, France. Spain, the states 
of Holland, or the British parliaments ? now if 
any one of these (and it is quite immaterial 
which) has right to make the two acts in ques- 
tion operate within this province, they have 
right to give us up to an unlimited army, under 
the sole direction of one Saracen commander. 

Thus I have led your thoughts to that upon 
which I formed my conclusion, that the design 
of this ceremony was decent, wise and honor- 
able. Make the bloody 5th of March the aera 
of the resurrection of your birthrights, which 
have been murdered by the very strength that 
nursed them in their infancy. I had an eye 
solely to parliamentary supremacy ; and I hope 
you will think every other view beneath your 
notice, in our present most alarming situation. 

Chatham, Camden, and others, Gods among 
men, and the Farmer, whom you have ad- 
dressed as the friend of mankind ; all these 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



19 



have owned that England has right to exercise 
every power over us, but that of talcing money 
out of our pocl<ets, without our consent.* 
Though it seems almost too bold therefore in 
us to say " vve doubt in every single instance 
her legal rights over this province," t yet vve 
must assert it. Those I have named are 
mighty characters, but they wanted one advan- 
tage Providence has given us. The beam is 
carried off from our eyes by the flowing blood 
of our fellow-citizens, and now we may be 
allowed to attempt to remove the mote from 
the eyes of our exalted patrons. The mote, we 
think, is nothing but our cbligation to England 
firsl, and afterivards Great Britain, for con- 
stant kind protection of our lives and birth- 
rights against foreign danger. We all ac- 
knowledge that protection. 

Let us once more look into the early history 
of this province. We find that our English 
ancestors, disgusted in their native country at a 
legislation, which they saw was sacrificing all 
their rig-hts, left its jurisdiction, J and sought, 
like wandering birds of passage, some happier 
climate. Here at length they settled down. 
The king of England was said to be the royal § 
landlord of this territory ; with him they en- 
tered into mutual, sacred compact, by which 
the price of tenure, and the rules of man- 
agement, were fairly stated. It is in this 
compact that we find our only true legislative 
authority. 

I might here enlarge upon the character of 
those first settlers, men of whom the world was 
httle worthy ; who, for a long course of years, 
assisted by no earthly power, defended their 
liberty, their religion, and their lives, against 
the greatest inland danger of the savage 
natives : but this falls not within my present 
purpose. They were secure by sea. 

In our infancy, when not an over tempting 
jewel for the Bourbon crown, the ver)' name of 
England saved us ; afterwards her fleets and 
armies. We wish not to depreciate the worth 
of that protection. Of our gold, yea of our 

* Taxation and representation are inseparable.— C/r^M. 
Caiitid. 

From what in our constitution is representation not 
inseparable ! — multa a CrassC' divinitus dicta efferebantur, 
Gum sibi ilium, consulera esse negaret cui senator ipse non 
esset.— OV. 

t I confine myself to this province, partly from igno- 
rance of other charters ; but more from a desire even to 
vex some abler pen to pursue the idea of Check; which 
an unchartered freeman may do, as well as any other in 
America. 

X Hasc sunt enim fundamenta firmissima nostrae liber- 
latis, sui quemque juris et retinendi et dimittendi esse 
dominum. — Cic. 

% I choose to bury a fruitful subject tor any satirical 
genius of the family of Pen.n. 



most fine gold, we will freely give a part. 
Our fathers would have done the same. But 
must we fall down and cry " let not a stranger 
rob and kill me, O my father ! let me rather die 
by the hand of my brother, and let him ravish 
all my portion ! " * 

It is said that disunited from Britain " we 
should bleed at ever)' vein." I cannot see the 
consequence. The states of Holland do not 
suffer thus. But grant it true, Seneca would 
prefer the lancets of France, Spain, or any 
other power, to the bowstring, though 
applied by the fair hand oi Britannia. 

The declarative vote of the British parlia- 
ment is the death-warrant of our birthrights, 
and wants only a Czarish king to put it into 
execution. Here then a door of salvation is 
open. Great Britain may raise her fleets and 
armies, but it is only our own king that can 
direct their fire down upon our heads. He is 
gracious, but not omniscient. He is ready to 
hear our appeals in their proper course : and 
knowing himself, though the most powerful 
prince on earth, yet, a subject under a divine 
constitution of LAW ; that law he will ask and 
receive from the twelve judges of England. 
These will prove that the claim of the British 
parliament over us is not only iLLECiL IN 
ITSELF, BUT A DOWN-RIGHT USURP.\TION OF' 
HIS PREROGATIVE as king of America. 

A brave nation is always generous. Let us 
appeal, therefore, at the same time, to the gen- 
erosity of the PEOPLE of Great Britain, before 
the tribunalf of Europe, not to envy us the 
full enjoyment of the RIGHTS OF brfthren. 

And now, my friends and fellow toiunsmen, 
having declared myself an American son of 
liberty of true charter principles : having 
shewn the critical and dangerous situation of 
our birthrights, and the true course for speedy 
redress : I shall take the freedom to recom- 
mend, with boldness, one previous step. Let 
us show we understand the true value of what 
we are claiming. 

The patriotic Farmer tells us, " the cause 
of liberty is a cause of too much dignity to be 
sullied by turbulence and tumult. — Anger pro- 
duces anger ; and differences, that might be ac- 
commodated by kind and respectful behavior, 
may, by imprudence, be enlarged to an incu- 
rable rage. In quarrels — risen to a certain 
height, the first cause of dissension is no 
longer remembered, the minds of the parties 

* — ita vitam corpusque servato. ita fortunas, ita rem 
familiarem. ita haec posteriora libertati ducas, — nee pro 
his libertatem, sed pro libertati hxc projicias, tanquam 
pignora injuria?. 

t Ido not think the guo luarrdnto against our firsl 
charter, was tried in a proper court- 



20 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



being wholly engaged in recollecting and re- 
senting the mutual expressions of their dislike. 
When feuds have reached that fatal point, con- 
siderations of reason and equity vanish, and a 
blind fury governs, or rather confounds all 
things. A people no longer regard their in- 
terest, but a gratification of their wrath." 

We know ourselves subjects of common 
law : to that and the worthy executors of it, 
let us pay a steady and conscientious regard. 
. Past errors in this point have been written with 
gall, by the pen of malice. May our future 
conduct be such as to make even that vile imp 
lay her pen aside. 

The right which imposes duties upon us, is 
in dispute ; but whether they are managed by a 
surveyor general, a board of commissioners, 
Turkish Janizaries or Russian Cossacks, let 
them enjoy during our time of fair trial, the 
common personal protection of the laws of our 
constitution. Let us shut our eyes, for the pre- 
sent to their being executors of claims siibz'cr- 
sive of our rights. 

Watchful, hawk-eyed jealousy, ever guards 
the portal of the temple of the goddess lib- 
erty. This is known to those who frequent 
her altars. Our whole conduct therefore, I am 
sure, will meet with the utmost candor of her 
votaries : but I am wishing we may be able 
to convert even her basest apostates. 

We are slaves until we obtain such redress 
through the justice of our king, as our happy 
constitution leads us to expect. In that condi- 
tion, let us behave with the propriety and 
dignity of free men and thus exhibit to the 
world, a new character of a people, which no 
history describes. 

May the all-wise and beneficent ruler of 
the universe preserve our life and health, 
and prosper all our lawful endeavors in the 
glorious cause of freedom. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 

5. 1772. 
BY JOSEPH WARREN. 

Qttis talja /ando., 
Myrmidonutu; Dolopumve ^ aut duri miles Ulyssei^ 
Teinperei a lacrymis, virgil. 

When we turn over the historic page, and 
trace the rise and fall of states and empires, the 
mighty revolutions which have so often varied 
■the face of the world strike our minds with 
solemn surprise, and we are naturally led to 
endeavor to search out the causes of such 
astonishing changes. 



That man is formed for social life, is an 
observation, which, upon our first enquiry, 
presents itself immediately to our view, and 
our reason approves that wise and generous 
principle which actuated the first founders of 
civil government ; an institution which hath its 
origin in the weakness of individuals, and hath 
for its end, the strength and security of all : 
and so long as the means of effecting this im- 
portant end are thoroughly known, and reli- 
giously attended to, government is one of the 
richest blessings to mankind, and ought to be 
held in the highest veneration. 

In young and new formed communities, the 
grand design of this institution, is most gene- 
rally understood, and the most strictly regarded ; 
the motives which urged to the social compact, 
cannot be at once forgotten, and that equality 
which is remembered to have subsisted so 
lately among them, prevents those who are 
clothed with authority from attempting to in- 
vade the freedom of their brethren ; or if such 
an attempt is made, it prevents the community 
from suffering the offender to go unpunished : 
every member feels it to be his interest and 
knows it to be his duty, to preserve inviolate 
the constitution on which the public safety 
depends, * and he is equally ready to assist the 
magistrate in the execution of the laws, and 
the subject in defence of his right ; and so long 
as this noble attachment to a constitution, 
founded on free and benevolent principles, ex- 
ists in full vigor, in any state, that state must 
be flourishing and happy. 

It was this noble attachment to a free con- 
stitution which raised ancient Rome, from the 
smallest beginnings, to that bright summit 
of happiness and glory to which she arrived ; 
and it was the loss of this which plunged hei 
from that summit into the black gulph of 
infamy and slavery. It was this attachment 
which inspired her senators with wisdom ; it 
was this which glowed in the breast of her he- 
roes ; it was this which guarded her liberties 
and extended her dominions, gave peace at 
home, and commanded respect abroad : and 
when this decayed, her magistrates lost their 
reverence for justice and the laws, and degen- 
erated into tyrants and oppressors — her sena- 
tors, forgetful of their dignity, and seduced by 
base corruption, betrayed their country — her 
soldiers, regardless of their relation to the com- 
munity, and urged only by the hopes of plunder 
and rapine, unfeelingly committed the most 
flagrant enormities ; and hired to the trade of 

* Omnesordines adconservandam rcjnpublicam^tttente^ 
valuniate, studio^ virtute, voce, consent iunt. 

Cicero. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



21 



death, with relentless fury, they perpetrated 
the most cruel murders, whereby the streets of 
imperial Rome were drenched with her noblest 
blood. Thus this empress of the world lost 
her dominions abroad, and her inhabitants, 
dissolute in their manners, at length became 
contented slaves ; and she stands to this day, 
the scorn and derision of nations, and a monu- 
ment of this eternal truth, that public hap- 
piness depends on a 7'ir/itoiis and unsha- 
ken attachment to a free constitution. 

It was this attachment to a constitution, 
founded on free and benevolent principles, 
which inspired the first settlers of this country — 
they saw with grief the daring outrages com- 
mitted on the free constitution of their native 
land — they knew nothing but a civil war could 
at that time restore its pristine purity. So hard 
was it to resolve to embrue their hands in the 
blood of their brethren, that they chose rather 
to quit their fair possessions and seek another 
habitation in a distant clime. When they came 
to this new world, which they fairly purchased 
of the Indian natives, the only rightful proprie- 
tors, they cultivated the then barren soil, by 
their incessant labor, and defended their dear- 
bought possessions with the fortitude of the 
christian, and the bravery of the hero. 

After various struggles, which, during the 
tyrannic reigns of the house of Stuart, were 
constantly kept up between right and wrong, 
between liberty and slavery, the connection be- 
tween Great Britain and this colony was settled 
in the reign of king William and queen Mary, 
by a compact, the conditions of which were ex- 
pressed in a charter, by which all the liberties 
and immunities of British subjects, were con- 
fided to this province, as fully and as absolutely 
as they possibly could be by any human instru- 
ment which can be devised. And it is undenia- 
bly true, that the greatest and most important 
right of a Bridsh subject is, that he shall be 
governed by no laws but those to which he, 
either in person or by his representatives hath 
given his consent : and this I will venture to 
assert, is the great basis of British freedom : 
it is interwoven with the constitution ; and 
whenever this is lost, the constitution must be 
destroyed. 

The British constitution (of which ours is a 
copy) is a happy compound of the three forms 
(under some of which all governments may be 
ranged) viz., monarchy, aristocracy, and de- 
mocracy ; of these three the British legisla- 
ture is composed, and without the consent of 
each branch, nothing can carry with it the 
force of a law ; but when a law is to be passed 
for raising a tax, that law can originate only 



in the democratic branch, which is the house 
of commons in Britain, and the house of rep- 
resentatives here. — The reason is obvious : 
they and their constituents are to pay much 
the largest part of it ; but as the aristocratic 
branch, which, in Britain, is the house of 
lords, and in this province, the council, are also 
to pay some part, their consent is necessary; 
and as the monarchic brancli, which in Britain 
is the king, and with us, either the king in 
person, or the governor whom he shall be 
pleased to appoint to act in his stead, is sup- 
posed to have a just sense of his own interest, 
which is that of all the subjects in general, • 
his consent is also necessary, and when the 
consent of these three branches is obtained, 
the taxation is most certainly legal. 

Let us now allow ourselves a few moments 
to examine the late acts of the British parlia- 
ment for taxing America — Let us with candor 
judge whether they are constitutionally bind- 
ing upon us ; — if they are, in the name of 
justice let us submit to them, without one 
murmuring word. 

First, I would ask whether the members 
of the British house of commons are the de- 
mocracy of this province } if they are, they are 
either the people of this province, or are elected 
bv the people of this province, to represent 
them, and have therefore a constitutional right 
to originate a bill for taxing them ; it is most 
certain they are neither ; and therefore noth- 
ing done by them can be said to be done by 
the democratic branch of our constitution. I 
would next ask, whether the lords, who com- 
pose the aristocratic branch of the legislature, 
are peers of America ? I never heard it was 
(even in those extraordinary times) so much as 
pretended, and if they are not, certainly no act 
of theirs can be said to be the act of the aris- 
tocratic branch of our constitution. The power 
of the monarchic branch we, with pleasure, 
acknowledge resides in the king, who may act 
either in person or by his representative ; and 
I freely confess that I can see no reason 
why a proclamation for raising in America 
issued by the king's sole authority would not 
be equally consistent with our own constitu- 
tion, and therefore equally binding upon us 
with the late acts of the British pariiament' 
for taxing us; for it is plain, that if there is 
any validity in those acts, it must arise alto- 
gether from the monarchical branch of the 
legislature ; and I further think that it would 
be at least as equitable ; for I do not conceive 
it to be of the least importance to us by whom 
our property is taken away, so long as it is 
taken without our consent ; and I am very 



22 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



much at a loss to know by what figure of rhe- 
toric, the inhabitants of this province can be 
called free subjects, when they are obliged 
to obey implicitly, such laws as are made for 
them by men three thousand miles off, whom 
they know not, and whom they never empow- 
ered to act for them, or how they can be said 
to have property, when a body of men, over 
whom they have not the least control, and 
who are not in any way accountable to them, 
shall oblige them to deliver up any part, or the 
whole of their substance without even asking 
their consent : and yet whoever pretends that 
the late acts of the British parliament for tax- 
ing America ought to be deemed binding upon 
us, must admit at once that we are absolute 
slaves, and have no property of our own; 
or else that we may be freemen, and at the 
same time under a necessity of obeying the 
arbitrary commands of those over whom we 
have no control or influence, and that we may 
have property of our own, which is en- 
tirely at the disposal of another. Such gross 
absurdities, I believe will not be relished in 
this enlightened age : and it can be no matter 
of wonder that the people quickly perceived, 
and seriously complained of the inroads which 
these acts must unavoidably make upon their 
liberty, and of the hazard to which their whole 
property is by them exposed ; for, if they may 
be taxed without their consent, even in the 
smallest trifle, they may also, without their con- 
sent, be deprived of every thing they possess, 
although never so valuable, never so dear. 
Certainly it never entered the hearts of our 
ancestors, that after so many dangers in this 
then desolate wilderness, their hard-earned 
property should be at the disposal of the Bri- 
tish parliament ; and as it was soon found that 
this taxation could not be supported by reason 
and argument, it seemed necessary that one 
act of oppression should be enforced by ano- 
ther, and therefore, contrary to our just rights 
as possessing, or at least having a just title to 
possess, all the liberties and immunities of 
British subjects, a standing army was estab- 
lished among us in time of peace ; and evi- 
dently for the purpose of effecting that, which 
it was one principal design of the founders of 
the constitution to prevent, (when they 
declared a standing army m a time of peace 
to be against law) namely, for the enforce- 
ment of obedience to acts which, upon fair 
examination, appeared to be unjust and un- 
constitutional. 

The ruinous consequences of standing armies 
to free communities may be seen in the histo- 
ries of Syracuse, Rome, and many other once 



flourishing states : some of which have now 
scarce a name ! their baneful influence is most 
suddenly felt, when they are placed in populous 
cities ; for, by a corruption of morals, the public 
happiness is immediately affected ! and that 
this is one of the effects of quartering trqops in 
a populous city, is a truth, to which many a 
mourning parent, many a lost, despairing child 
in this metropolis must bear a very melancholy 
testimony. Soldiers are also taught to consider 
arms as the only arbiters by which every dis- 
pute is to be decided between contending 
states ; — they are instructed implicitly to obey 
their commanders, without enquiring into the 
justice of the cause they are engaged to sup- 
port ; hence it is, that they are ever to be dreaded 
as the ready engines of tyranny and oppression. 
And it is too obseri'able that they are prone to 
introduce the same mode of decision in the 
disputes of individuals, and from thence have 
often arisen great animosities between them 
and the inhabitants, who, whilst in a naked, 
defenceless state, are frequently insulted and 
abused by an armed soldiery. And this wiiP^ 
be more especially the case, when the troops ) 
are informed that the intention of their being ; 
stationed in any city is to overawe the in- ' 
habitants. That this was the avowed design 
of stationing an armed force in this town is ' 
sufficiently known ; and we, my fellow citizens,.^ 
have seen, we have felt the tragical effects ! 
— The fatal fifth of March, 1770, can 
never be forgotten — The horrors of that 
dreadful night are but too deeply impressed 

on our hearts Language is loo feeble to 

paint the emotion of our souls, when our 
streets were stained with the blood of our 
brethren — when our ears were wounded by 
the groans of the dying, and our eyes were 
tormented with the sight of the mangled bod- 
ies of the dead. — When our alarmed imagina- 
tion presented to our view our houses wrapt in 
flames, our children subjected to the barbarous 
caprice of the raging soldier)', — our beauteous 
virgins exposed to all the insolence of unbri- 
dled passion, — our virtuous wives, endeared to 
us by every tender tie, falling a sacrifice to 
worse than brutal violence, and perhaps like 
the famed Lucretia, distracted with anguish 
and despair, ending their wretched lives by 
their own fair hands. When we beheld the 
authors of our distress parading in our streets, 
or drawn up in a regular battalia, as though in 
a hostile city, our hearts beat to arms ; we 
snatched our weapons, almost resolved, by one 
decisive stroke, to avenge the death of our 
slaughtered brethren, and to secure from 
future danger, all that we held most dear : but 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



23 



propitious heaven forbade the bloody carnage, 
and saved the threatened victims of our too 
keen resentment, not by their discipline, not by 
their regular array, — no, it was royal George's 
livery that proved their shield — it was that 
which turned the pointed engines of destruc- 
tion from their breasts.* The thoughts of 
vengeance were soon buried in our inbred 
affection to Great Britain, and calm reason 
dictated a method of removing the troops more 
mild than an immediate resource to the sword. 
AVith united efforts you urged the immediate 
/departure of the troops from the town — you 
/ urged it, with a resolution which ensured suc- 

/ cess you obtained your wishes, and the 

/ removal of the troops was effected, with- 
? out one drop of their blood being shed by 
(v the inhabitants. 

The immediate actors in the tragedy of that 

night, were surrendered to justice. It is 

not mine to say how far they were guilty .'' 
they have been tried by the country and 
acquitted of murder ! and they are not to be 
again arraigned at an earthly bar ; but, surely 
the men who have promiscuously scattered 
death amidst the innocent inhabitants of a 
populous city, ought to see well to it, that they 
be prepared to stand at the bar of an omni- 
scient judge ! and all who contrived or encour- 
aged the stationing troops in this place have rea- 
sons of eternal importance, to reflect with deep 
contrition, on their base designs, and humbly 
to repent of their impious machinations. 

The infatuation which hath seemed, for a 
number of years, to prevail in the British coun- 
cils, with regard to us, is truly astonishing ! 
what can be proposed by the repeated attacks 
made upon our freedom, I really cannot sur- 
mise ; even leaving justice and humanity out 
of question. I do not know one single advan- 
tage which can arise to the British nation, from 
our being enslaved : — I know not of any gains, 
which can be wrung from us by oppression, 
which they may not obtain from us by our own 
consent, in the smooth channel of commerce : 
we wish the wealth and prosperity of Britain ; 
we contribute largely to both. Doth what we 
contribute lose all its value, because it is done 
voluntarily ? the amazing increase of riches to 
Britain, the great rise of the value of her 
lands, the flourishing .state of her navy, are 

* I have the strongest reason to believe that I have 
mentioned the only circumstance which saved the troops 
from destruction. It was then, and now is. the opinion of 
those who weie best acquainted with the state of affairs at 
that time, that had thrice that number of troops, belong- 
ing to any power at open war with us, been in this town, 
in the same exposed condition, scarce a man would have 
lived to have seen the morning light. 



striking proofs of the advantages derived to her 
from her commerce with the colonies ; and it is 
our earnest desire that she may still continue 
to enjoy the same emoluments, until her streets 
are paved with American gold ; only, let us 
have the pleasure of calling it our own, whilst 
it is in our own hands ; but this it seems is too 
great a favor — we are to be governed by the 
absolute command of others ; our property is 
to be taken away without our consent — if we 
complain, our complaints are treated with con- 
tempt ; if we assert our rights, that assertion 
is deemed insolence ; if we humbly offer to 
submit the matter to the impartial decision of 
reason, the sword is judged the most proper 
argument to silence our murmurs ! but this can- 
not long be the case — surely the British nation 
will not suffer the reputation of their justice 
and their honor, to be thus sported away by a 
capricious ministry ; no, they will in a short time 
open their eyes to their true interest : they nour- 
ish in their own breasts, a noble love of liberty ; 
they hold her dear, and they know that all who 
have once possessed her charms, had rather 
die than suffer her to be torn from their em- 
braces — they are also sensible that Britain is so 
deeply interested in the prosperity of the colo- 
nies that she must eventually feel every wound 
given to their freedom ; they cannot be igno- 
rant that more dependence may be placed on 
the affections of a brother, than on the forced 
service of a slave ; they must approve your 
efforts for the preservation of your rights ; 
from a sympathy of soul they must pray for 
your success : and I doubt not but they will, 
ere long, exert themselves effectually, to redress 
your grievances. Even in the dissolute reign 
of king Charles II. when the house of com- 
mons impeached the earl of Clarendon of high 
treason, the first article on which they tbunded 
their accusation was, that "he had designed a 
standing army to be raised, and to govern the 
kingdom thereby." And the eighth article was, 
that •' he had introduced an arbitrary govern- 
ment into his majesty's plantation." A terri- 
fying example to those who are now forging 
chains for this country. 

You have, my friends and countrymen, frus- 
trated the designs of your enemies, by your 
unanimity and fortitude : it was your union and 
determined spirit which expelled those troops, 
who polluted your streets with innocent 
blood. You have appointed this anniversary 
as a standard memorial of the bloody con- 
sequences of placing an armed force in a 
populous city, and of your deliverance from 
the dangers which then seemed to hang 
over your heads ; and I am confident that you 



24 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



never will betray the least want of spirit when 
called upon to guard your freedom. None but 
they who set a just value upon the blessings 
of liberty are worthy to enjoy her — your illus- 
trious fathers were her zealous votaries — when 
the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from 
public view, they clasped her in their arms, 
they cherished her in their generous bosoms, 
they brought her safe over the rough ocean, 
and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilder- 
ness ; they nursed her infant age with the 
most tender care ; for her sake they patiently 
bore the severest hardships ; for her support, 
they underwent the most rugged toils ; in her de- 
fence they boldly encountered the most alarm- 
ing dangers : neither the ravenous beasts that 
ranged the woods for prey, nor the more furi- 
ous savages of the wilderness, could damp 
ardor ! — Whilst with one hand they broke the 
stubborn glebe, with the other they grasped 
their weapons, ever ready to protect her from 
danger. No sacrifice, not even their own blood, 
was esteemed too rich a libation for her altar ! 
God prospered their valor ; they preserved her 
brilliancy unsullied ; they enjoyed her whilst 
they lived, and dying, bequeathed the dear 
inheritance to your care. And as they left you 
this glorious legacy, they have undoubtedly 
transmitted to you some portion of their noble 
spirit, to inspire you with virtue to merit her, 
and courage to preserve her : you surely cannot, 
with such examples before your eyes, as ever>' 
page of the history of this countr)- affords,* suffer 
your liberties to be ravished from you by lawless 
force, or cajoled away by flattery and fraud. 

The voice of your fathers' blood cries to 
you from the ground, my sons scorn to be 
slaves! in vain we met the frowns of tyrants 
— in vain we crossed the boisterous ocean, 
found a new world, and prepared it for the 
happy residence of liberty — in vain we toiled 
: — in vain we fought — we bled in vain, if you, 
our offspring, want valor to repel the assaults 

of her invaders ! Stain not the glory of 

your worthy ancestors, but like them resolve, 
never to part with your birth-right ; be wise 
in your deliberations, and determined in your 
exertions for the preservation of your liberties. 
Follow not the dictates of passion, but enlist 
yourselves under the sacred banner of reason ; 
use every method in your power to secure your 
rights ; at least prevent the curses of posterity 
from being heaped upon your memories. 

If you, with united zeal and fortitude, oppose 
the torrent of oppression; if you feel the true 
fire of patriotism burning in your breasts : if 

• At simul heroum laudes, et facta parentis 

Jam legere, et quae sit poteris cogaoscere virtus — Virg. 



you, from your souls, despise the most gaudy 
dress that slavery can wear ; if you really pre- 
fer the lonely cottage (whilst blest with lib- 
erty) to gilded palaces, surrounded with the 
ensigns of slavery, you may have the fullest 
assurance that tyranny, with her whole ac- 
cursed train, will hide their hideous heads in 
confusion, shame, and despair — if you perform 
your part, you must have the strongest confi- 
dence that the same Almighty Being who 
protected your pious and venerable fore- 
fathers — who enabled them to turn a barren 
wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often 
made bare his arm for their salvation, will still 
be mindful of you, their offspring. 

May this Almighty Being graciously pre- 
side in all our councils. May he direct us 
to such measures as he himself shall approve, 
and be pleased to bless. May we ever be a 
people favored of God. May our land be a 
land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum ot 
the oppressed, a name and a praise in the 
whole earth, until the last shock of time shall 
bury the empires of the world in one common 
undistinguished ruin ! 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 

5. 1775- 
BY DR. JOSEPH WARREN. 

Tania- tttolis eraty Komanam condere ^entent . 

Virgil's jEn- 
Quiy iuetuenSy vivity liber niihi non erit unguam. 

HoR. Epis. 

My ever Honored Fellow-Citizens. 

It is not without the most humiliating con- 
viction of my want of ability that I now ap- 
pear before you : but the sense I have of the 
obligation I am under to obey the calls of my 
country at all times, together with an animat- 
ing recollection of your indulgence, exhibited 
upon so many occasions, has induced me, 
once more, undeserving as I am, to throw my- 
self upon that candor, which looks with kind- 
ness on the feeblest efforts of an honest mind. 

You will not now expect the elegance, the 
learning, the fire, the enrapturing strains of 
eloquence which charmed you when a Lovell, 
a Church, or a Hancock spake ; but you 
will permit me to say that with a sincerity 
equal to theirs, I mourn over my bleeding 
country : With them I weep at her distress, 
and with them deeply resent the many injuries 
she has received from the hands of cruel and 
unreasonable men. 

That personal freedom is the natural right of 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



25 



every man, and that property, or an exclusive 
right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired 
by his own labor, necessarily arises therefrom, 
are truths which common sense has placed 
beyond the reach of contradiction. And no 
man or body of men can, without being guilty 
of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of 
the persons or acquisitions of any other man 
or body of men, unless it can be proved that 
such a right has arisen from some compact 
between the parties in which it has been expli- 
citly and freely granted. 

If I may be indulged in taking a retrospec- 
tive view of the first settlement of our country, 
it will be easy to determine with what degree 
of justice the late parliament of Great Britain 
have assumed the power of giving away that 
property which the Americans have earned by 
their labor. 

Our fathers having resolved never to wear 
the yoke of despotism, and seeing the Euro- 
pean world, at that time, through indolence 
and cowardice, falling a prey to tyranny, bravely 
threw themselves upon the bosom of the ocean, 
determined to find a place in which to enjoy 
their freedom, or perish in the glorious attempt. 
Approving heaven beheld the favorite ark danc- 
ing upon the waves, and graciously preserved 
it until the chosen families were brought in 
safety to these western regions. They found 
the land swarming with savages, who threat- 
ened death with every kind of torture. But 
savages, and death with torture, were far less 
terrible than slavery : nothing was so much 
the object of their abhorrence as a tyrant's 
power : they knew it was more safe to dwell 
with man in his most unpolished state, than in 
a country where arbitrary power prevails. Even 
anarchy itself, that bugbear held up by the 
tools of power (though truly to be deprecated) 
is infinitely less dangerous to mankind than 
arbitrary government. Anarchy can be but of 
a short duration ; for when men are at liberty 
to pursue that course which is most conducive 
to their own happiness, they will soon come 
into it, and from the rudest state of nature 
order and good government must soon arise. 
But tyranny, when once established, entails its 
curses on a nation to the latest period of 
time ; unless some daring genius, inspired by 
heaven, shall, unappalled by danger, bravely 
form and execute the design of restoring liberty 
and life to his enslaved, murdered country. 

The tools of power, in every age, have racked 
their inventions to justify the few in sporting 
with the happiness of the many ; and, having 
found their sophistry too weak to hold mankind 
in bondage, have impiously dared to force 



religion, the daughter of the king of heaven, to 
become a prostitute in the ser\'ice of hell. They 
taught that princes, honored with the name of 
Christian, might bid defiance to the founder of 
their faith, might pillage Pagan countries and 
deluge them with blood, only because they 
boasted themselves to be the disciples of that 
teacher who strictly charged his followers 
to do to others as they would that others should 
do unto them. 

This country having been discovered by an 
English subject, in the year 1620, was (accord- 
ing to the system which the blind superstition 
of those times supported) deemed the property 
of the crown of England. Our ancestors' 
when they resolved to quit their native soil, 
obtained from king James, a grant of certain 
lands in North America. This they probably 
did to silence the cavils of their enemies, for it 
cannot be doubted, but that they despised the 
pretended right which he claimed thereto. 
Certain it is, that he might, with equal pro- 
priety and justice, have made them a grant of 
the planet Jupiter. And their subsequent con- 
duct plainly shows that they were too well ac- 
quainted with humanity, and the principles of 
natural equity, to suppose that the grant gave 
them any right to take possession ; they there- 
fore entered into a treaty with the natives, and 
bought from them the lands ; nor have I ever 
yet obtained any information that our ancestors 
ever pleaded, or that the natives ever regarded 
the grant from the English crown ; the busi- 
ness was transacted by the parties in the same 
independent manner that it would have been, 
had neither of them ever known or heard of the 
island of Great Britain. 

Having become the honest proprietors of 
the soil, they immediately applied themselves to 
the cultivation of it, and they soon beheld the 
virgin earth teeming with the richest fruits, a 
grateful recompense for their unwearied toil. 
The fields began to ^'ave with ripening har- 
vests, and the late barren wilderness was seen 
to blossom like the rose. The savage natives 
saw with wonder the delightful change, and 
quickly formed a scheme to obtain that by 
fraud or force, which nature meant as the re- 
ward of industry alone. But the industrious 
emigrants soon convinced the rude invaders, 
that they were not less ready to take the field 
for battle than for labor, and the insidious foe 
was driven from their borders as often as he 
ventured to disturb them. The crown of Eng- 
land looked with indifference on the contest: 
our ancestors were left alone to combat with 
the natives. Nor is there any reason to be- 
lieve, that it was ever intended by the one 



26 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



party, or expected by the other, that the 
grantor should defend and maintain the _§■/-««- 
tees in the peaceful possession of the lands 
named in the patents. And it appears plainly, 
from the history of those times, that neither 
the prince nor the people of England, thought 
themselves much interested in the matter. 
They had not then any idea of a thousandth 
part of those advantages which they since have 
and we are most heartily willing they should 
still continue to reap from us. 

But when, at an infinite expense of toil and 
blood, this widely extended continent had been 
cultivated and defended : when the hardy 
adventurers justly expected that they and their 
descendants should peaceably have enjoyed 
the har\est of those fields which they had sown, 
and the fruit of those vineyards which they 
had planted, this country was then thought 
worthy the attention of the British ministry' ; 
and the only justifiable and only successful 
means of rendering the colonies serviceable to 
Britain were adopted. By an intercourse of 
friendly offices, the two countries became so 
united in affection, that they thought not of 
any distinct or separate interests, they found 
both countries flourishing and happy. Britain 
saw her commerce extended, and her wealth 
increased ; her lands raised to an immense 
value ; her fleets riding triumphant on the 
ocean ; the terror of her arms spreading to 
every quarter of the globe. The colonist 
found himself free, and thought himself secure : 
he dwelt under his own vine, and under his 
own fig-tree and had none to make him afraid : 
he knew indeed, that by purchasing the manu- 
factures of Great Britain, he contributed to its 
greatness : he knew that all the wealth that 
his labor produced centered in Great Britain : 
But that, far from exciting his envy, filled him 
with the highest pleasure : that thought sup- 
ported him in all his toils. When the business 
of the day was past, he solaced himself with 
the contemplation, or perhaps entertained his 
listening family with the recital of some great, 
some glorious transaction which shines con- 
spicuous in the history of Britain : or, perhaps, 
his elevated fancy led him to foretel, with a 
kind of enthusiastic confidence, the glory, 
power, and duration of an empire which should 
extend from one end of the earth to the other: 
he saw, or thought he saw, the British nation 
risen to a pitch of grandeur which cast a veil 
over the Roman glory, and, ravished with the 
prae-view, boasted a race of British kings, 
whose names should echo through those 
realms where Cyrus, Alexander, and the 
Cassars were unknown ; princes, for whom 



millions of grateful subjects redeemed from 
slavery and Pagan ignorance, should, with 
thankful tongues, offer up their prayers and 
praises to that transcendently great and bene- 
ficent being, by whom kings reign and princes 
decree justice. 

These pleasing connections iriight have 
continued ; these delightsome prospects 
might have been every day extended ; and 
even the reveries of the most warm imagina- 
tion might have been realized ; but, unhappil) 
for Britain, the madness of an avaricious min 
ister of state, has drawn a sable curtain ovei 
the charming scene, and in its stead has 
brought upon the stage, di.scord, envy, hatred 
and revenge, with civil war close in their rear. 

Some demon, in an evil hour, suggested to 
a short-sighted financier, the hateful project 
of transferring the whole property of the king's 
subjects in America, to his subjects in Britain. 
The claim of the British parliament to tax the 
colonies, can never be supported but by such 
a transfer ; for the right of the house of 
Great Britain, to originate any tax or grant 
money, is altogether derived from their being 
elected by the people of Great Britain to act 
for them, and the people of Great Britain can- 
not confer on their representatives a right to 
give or grant anything which they themselves 
have not a right to give or grant personally. 
Therefore it follows, that if the members cho- 
sen by the people of Great Britain, to repre- 
sent them in parliament, have, by virtue of 
their being so chosen, any right to give or grant 
American property, or to lay any tax upon the 
lands or persons of the colonists, it is because 
the lands and people in the colonies, are, bona 
fide, owned by, and justly belonging to the 
people of Great Britain. But (as has been be- 
fore observed) every man has a right to per- 
sonal freedom, consequently a right to enjoy 
what is acquired by his own labor. And it is 
evident that the property in this country has 
been acquired by our own labor ; it is the duty 
of the people of Great Britain, to produce some 
compact in which we have explicitly given up 
to them a right to dispose of our persons or 
property. Until this is done, every attempt 
of theirs, or of those whom they have deputed 
to act for them, to give or grant any part of 
our property, is directly repugnant to every 
principle of reason and natural justice. 
But I may boldly say, that such a compact 
never existed, no, not even in imagina- 
tion. Nevertheless, the representatives of a 
nation, long famed for justice and the ex- 
ercise of every noble virtue, have been pre- 
vailed on to adopt the fatal scheme ; and 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



27 



although the dreadful consequences of this 
wicked policy have already shaken the empire 
to its centre, yet still it is persisted in. Regard- 
less of the voice of reason — deaf to the prayers 
and supplication — and unaffected with the flow- 
ing tears of suffering millions, the British min- 
istry still hug the darling idol ; and every 
rolling year affords fresh instances of the ab- 
surd devotion with which they worship it. 
Alas ! how has the folly, the distraction of the 
British councils blasted our swelling hopes, 
and spread a gloom over this western hem- 
isphere. 

The hearts of Britons and Americans, which 
lately felt the generous glow of mutual confi- 
dence and love, now burn with jealousy and 
rage. Though but of yesterday, I recollect 
(deeply affected at the ill-boding change) the 
happy hours that past while Britain and 
America rejoiced in the prosperity and great- 
ness of each other (heaven grant those halcyon 
days may soon return). But now the Briton 
too often looks on the American with an en- 
vious eye, taught to consider his just plea for 
the enjoyment of his earnings, as the effect of 
pride and stubborn opposition to the parent 
country. Whilst the American beholds the 
Briton, as the ruffian, ready first to take away 
his property, and ne.\t, what is still dearer to 
every virtuous man, the liberty of his country. 

When the measures of administration had 
disgusted the colonies to the highest degree, 
and the people of Great Britain had, by arti- 
fice and falsehood, been irritated against 
America, an army was sent over to enforce 
submission to certain acts of the British parlia- 
ment, which reason scorned to countenance, 
and which placemen and pensioners were 
found unable to support. 

Martial law and the government of a well- 
regulated city, are so entirely different, that it 
has always been considered as improper to 
quarter troops in populous cities ; frequent dis- 
putes must necessarily arise between the citi- 
zen and the soldier, even if no previous ani- 
mosities subsist. And it is further certain, 
from a consideration of the nature of mankind 
as well as from constant experience, that 
standing armies always endanger the liberty 
of the subject. But when the people on the 
one part, considered the army as sent to en- 
slave them, and the army on the other, were 
taught to look on the people as in a state of 
rebellion, it was but just to fear the most disa- 
greeable consequences. Our fears, we have 
seen, were but too well grounded. 

The many injuries offered to the town, I 
pass over in silence. I cannot now mark out 



the path which led to that unequalled scene 
of horror, the sad remembrance of which, takes 
the full possession of my soul. The sanguinary 
theatre again opens itself to view. The 
baleful images of terror crowd around me — 
and discontented ghosts, with hollow groans, 
appear to solemnize the anniversary of the 
fifth of March. 

Approach we then the melancholy walk of 
death. Hither let me call the gay companion ; 
here let him drop a farewell tear upon that 
body which so late he saw vigorous and warm 
with social mirth — hither let me lead the ten- 
der mother to weep over her beloved son — 
come widowed mourner, here satiate thy grief; 
behold thy murdered husband gasping on the 
ground, and to complete the pompous show of 
wretchedness, bring in each hand thy infant 
children to bewail their father's fate — take 
heed, ye orphan babes, lest, whilst your 
streaming eyes are fixed upon the ghastly 
corpse, yozir feet slide on the stones bespat- 
tered with your father's brains* Enough ! 
this tragedy need not be heightened by an in- 
fant weltering in the blood of him that gave it 
birth. Nature reluctant, shrinks already from 
the view, and the chilled blood rolls slowly 
backward to its fountain. We wildly stare 
about, and with amazement, ask who spread 
this ruin round us ? what wretch has dared 
deface the image of his God ? has haughty 
France, or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmi- 
dons .' has the grim savage rushed again from 
the far distant wilderness.' or does some fiend 
fierce from the depth of hell, with all the ran- 
corous malice which the apostate damned can 
feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her 
deadly arrows at our breast } no ; none of 
these — but, how astonishing ! it is the hand of 
Britain that inflicts the wound. The arms of 
George, our righttul king, have been employed 
to shed that blood, when justice, or the honor 
of his crown, had called his subjects to the 
field. 

But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the 
softer movements of the soul, must now give 
way to stronger passions. Say, fellow-citizens 
what dreadful thought now swells your heav- 
ing bosoms — you fly to arms — sharp indigna- 
tion flashes from each eye — revenge gnashes 
her iron teeth — death grins an hideous smile, 
secure to drench his greedy jaws in human 
gore — whilst hovering furies darken all the air. 

But stop, my bold adventurous countrymen, 

* After Mr- Gray had been shot through the body, 
and had fallen dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed 
through his skull; part of the bone being broken, his 
brains fell out upon the pavement. 



28 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



stain not your weapons with the blood of 
Britons. Attend to reason's voice — humanity 
puts in her claim— and sues to be again admit- 
ted to her wonted seat, the bosom of the 
brave. Revenge is far beneath the noble 
mind. Many, perhaps, compelled to rank 
among the vile assassins, do from their inmost 
souls, detest the barbarous action. The 
winged death, shot from your arms, may 
chance to pierce some breast that bleeds al- 
ready for your injured country. 

The storm subsides — a solemn pause ensues 
— you spare, upon condition they depart. They 
go — they quit your city — they no more shall 

give offence. Thus closes the important 

drama. 

And could it have been conceived that we 
again should have seen a British army in our 
land, sent to enforce obedience to acts of parlia- 
ment destructive of our liberty. But the royal 
ear, far distant from this western world, has 
been assaulted by the tongue of slander ; and 
villains, traitorous alike to king and country, 
have prevailed upon a gracious prince to clothe 
his countenance with wrath, and to erect the 
hostile banner against a people ever affectionate 
and loyal to him and his illustrious predeces- 
sors of the house of Hanover. Our streets are 
again filled with armed men ; our harbor is 
crowded with ships of war; but these cannot 
intimidate us ; our liberty must be preserved ; 
it is far dearer than life, we hold it even dear as 
our allegiance ; we must defend it against the 
attacks of friends as well as enemies ; we can- 
not suffer even Britons to ravish it from us. 

No longer could we reflect with generous 
pride on the heroic actions of our American 
forefathers — no longer boast our origin from 
that far-famed island whose warlike sons have 
so often drawn their well tried swords to save 
her from the ravages of tyranny ; could we 
but for a moment, entertain the thought of 
giving up our hberty. The man who meanly 
will submit to wear a shackle, contemns the 
noblest gift of heaven, and impiously affronts 
the God that made him free. 

It was a maxim of the Roman people, which 
eminently conduced to the greatness of that 
state, never to despair of the commonwealth. 
The maxim may prove as salutary to us now, 
as it did to them. Short-sighted mortals see 
not the numerous links of small and great 
events, which form the chain on which the fate 
of kings and nations is suspended. Ease and 
prosperity (though pleasing for a day) have 
often sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth. 
Hardships and dangers (tho' we forever strive 
to shun them) have frequently called forth s\ich 



virtues, as have commanded the applause and 
reverence of an admiring world. Our country 
loudly calls you to be circumspect, vigilant, 
active and brave. Perhaps, (all gracious 
heaven avert it) perhaps, the power of Britain, 
a nation great in war, by some malignant 
influence, may be employed to enslave you : 
but let not even this discourage you. Her 
arms, 'tis true, have filled the world with ter- 
ror: her troops have reaped the laurels of the 
field : her fleets have rode triumphant on the 
sea — and when or where, did you, my country- 
men, depart inglorious from the field of fight!* 
you too can shew the trophies of your forefa- 
thers' victories and your own ; can name the 
fortresses and battles you have won ; and many 
of you count the honorable scars of wounds 
received, whilst fighting for your king and 
country. 

Where justice is the standard, heaven is 
the warrior's shield : but conscious guilt un- 
nerves the arm that lifts the sword against the 
innocent. Britain, united with these colonies, 
by commerce and affection, by interest and 
blood, may mock the threats of France and 
Spain : may be the seat of universal empire. 
But should America, either by force, or those 
more dangerous engines, luxury and corrup- 
tion, ever be brought into a state of vassalage, 
Britain must lose her freedom also. No lon- 
ger shall she sit the empress of the sea : her 
ships no more shall waft her thunders over the 
wide ocean : the wreath shall wither on her 
temples : her weakened arm shall be unable to 
defend her coasts : and she. at last, must bow 
her venerable head to some proud foreigner's 
despotic rule. 

But if, from past events, we may venture to 
form a judgment of the future, we justly may 

* The patience with which this people have borne the 
repeated injuries which have been heaped upon them, and 
their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has, 
very injudiciously, been ascribed to cowardice, by per- 
sons both here and in Great Britain. I most heartily wish 
that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its 
consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too 
late : and I think nothing further necessary to convince 
every intelligent man, that the conduct of this people is 
owing to the tender regard which they have for their 
fellow-men and an utter abhorrence to the shedding of 
human blood, than a little attention to their general 
temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot be 
supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to them- 
selves. — I will only mention the universal detestation 
which they shew to every act of cruelty, by whom, and 
upon whomsoever committed ;the mild spirit of their laws; 
the very few crimes to which capital penalties are an- 
nexed ; and the very great backwardness which both 
courtsand juries discover, in condemning persons charged 
with capital crimes. — But if any should think this observa- 
tion not to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentle- 
men of the army who have been in the camp, or in the 
field, with the .Americans. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



29 



expect that the devices of our enemies will but 
increase the triumphs of our country. I must 
indulge a hope that Britain's liberty, as well 
as ours, will eventually be preser\-ed by the 
virtue of America. 

The attempt of the British parliament to 
raise a revenue from America, and our denial 
of their right to do it, have exxited an almost 
universal enquiry into the right of mankind in 
general, and of British subjects in particular ; 
the necessary result of which must be such a 
liberality of sentiment, and such a jealousy of 
those in power, as will, better than an adaman- 
tine wall, secure us against the future ap- 
proaches of despotism. 

The malice of the Boston port-bill has been 
defeated in a very considerable degree, by giving 
you an opportunity of deserving. and our breth- 
ren in this and our sister-colonies an oppor- 
tunity of bestowing, those benefactions which 
have delighted your friends and astonished 
your enemies, not only in America, but in Eu- 
rope also. And what is more valuable still, 
the sympathetic feelings for a brother in dis- 
tress, and the grateful emotions excited in the 
breast of him who finds relief, must forever 
endear each to the other, and form those indis- 
soluble bonds of friendship and affection, on 
which the preservation of our rights so evi- 
dently depend. 

The mutilation of our charter, has made 
every other colony jealous for its own ; for this 
if once submitted to by us, would set on float the 
property and government of every British set- 
tlement upon the continent. If charters are 
not deemed sacred, how miserably precarious 
is every thing founded upon them. 

Even the sending troops to put these acts 
in execution, is not without advantages to us. 
The exactness and beauty of their discipline 
inspire our youth with ardor in the pursuit of 
military knowledge. Charles the invincible, 
taught Peter the great, the art of war. The 
battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the 
proficiency Peter had made. 

Our country is in danger, but not to be de- 
spaired of. Our enemies are numerous and 
powerful — but we have many friends — deter- 
mining to be free, and Heaven and earth 
will aid the resolution. On you depend the 
fortunes of America. You are to decide the 
important question, on which rest the happi- 
ness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act 
worthy of yourselves. The faltering tongue 
of hoary age calls on you to support your coun- 
try. The lisping infant raises its suppliant 
hands, imploring defence against the monster 
slavery. Your fathers look from their celestial 



seats with smiling approbation on their sons, 
who boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue ; 
but sternly frown upon the inhuman miscreant, 
who, to secure the loaves and fishes to him- 
self, would breed a serpent to destroy his 
children. 

But, pardon me, my fellow-citizens, I know 
you want not zeal or fortitude. You will 
maintain your rights or perish in the generous 
struggle. However difficult the combat, you 
never will decline it when freedom is the prize. 
An independence of Great Britain is not our 
aim. No, our wish is, that Britain and the 
colonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and 
increase in strength together. But whilst the 
infatuated plan of making one part of the 
empire slaves to the other is persisted in, the 
interest and safety of Britain, as well as the 
colonies, require that the wise measures, recom- 
mended by the honorable the continental con- 
gress, be steadily pursued ; whereby the 
unnatural contest between a parent honored, 
and a child beloved, may probably be brought 
to such an issue, as that the peace and happi- 
ness of both may be established upon a lasting 
basis. But if these pacific measures are in- 
eflectual, and it appears that the only way to 
safety, is through fields of blood, I know you 
will not turn your faces from your foes, but 
will, undauntedly, press forward, until tyranny 
is trodden under foot, and you have fixed your 
adored goddess liberty, fast by a Brunswick's 
side, on the American throne. 

You then, who nobly have espoused your 
country's cause, who generously have sacrificed 
wealth and ease — who have despised the 
pomp and shew of tinseled greatness — refused 
the summons to the festive board — been deaf 
to the alluring calls of luxury and mirth — who 
have forsaken the downy pillow, to keep your 
vigils by the midnight lamp, for the salvation of 
your invaded countr)-, that you might break the 
fowler's snare, and disappoint the vulture of his 
prey ; you then will reap that hanest of renown 
which you so justly have deserved. Your coun- 
try shall pay her grateful tribute of applause. 
Even the children of your most inveterate 
enemies, ashamed to tell from whom they 
sprang, while they, in secret, curse their stupid, 
cruel parents, shall join the general voice of 
gratitude to those who broke the fetters which 
their fathers' forged. 

Having redeemed your country', and secured 
the blessing to future generations, who, fired 
by your example, shall emulate your virtues, 
and learn from you the heavenly art of making 
millions happy ; with heart-felt joy — with 
transports all your own, you cry, the glorious 



30 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



work is done. Then drop the mantle to some 
young Elisha, and take your seats with kindred 
spirits in your native skies. 



AN ORATION, 



Delivered at the King's Chapel in Boston, 
April 8, 1 776, on the re-interment of the re- 
mains of the late Most Worshipful Grand- 
master Joseph Warren, Esquire. President of 
the late Congress of this Colony, and Major Gen- 
eral of the Massachusetts forces, who was slain 
in the battle of Bunker s-hill, June 17, 1775. 

BY PEREZ MORTON, M. M. 

Illustrious relics! — What tidings from the 
grave ? why hast thou left the peaceful man- 
sions of that tomb, to visit again this troubled 
earth ! art thou the welcome messenger of 
peace ! art thou risen again to exhibit thy 
glorious wounds, and through them proclaim 
salvation to thy country ! or art thou come to 
demand the last debt of humanity, to which 
your rank and merit have so justly entitled you 
— but which has been so long ungenerously 
withheld ! and art thou angry at the barbarous 
usage .' be appeased, sweet ghost ! for though 
thy body has long laid undistinguished among 
the vulgar dead, scarce privileged with earth 
enough to hide it from the birds of prey ; 
though not a friendly sigh was uttered o'er thy 
grave ; and though the execration of an impious 
foe, were all thy funeral knells ; yet, matchless 
patriot ! thy memory has been embalmed in 
the affections of thy grateful countrymen ; 
who, in their breasts, have raised eternal monu- 
ments to thy braver)' ! 

But let us leave the beloved remains, and 
contemplate for a moment, those virtues of the 
man, the exercise of which have so deservedly 
endeared him to the honest among the great, 
and the good among the humble, 

In the private walks of life, he was a pattern 
for mankind. — The tears of her. to whom the 
world is indebted for so much virtue, are silent 
heralds of his filial piety ; while his tender off- 
spring, in lisping out their father's care, pro- 
claim his parental affection ; and an Adams 
can witness with how much zeal he loved, 
where he had formed the sacred connexion of 
a friend : — their kindred souls were so closely 
twined, that both felt one joy, both one afflic- 
tion. In conversation he had the happy talent 
of addressing his subject both to the under- 
standing and the passions; from the one he 
forced conviction, from the other he stole assent. 



He was blessed with a complacency of dis- 
position and equanimity of temper, which 
peculiarly endeared him to his friends, and 
which, added to the deportment of the gentle- 
man, commanded reverence and esteem even 
from his enemies. 

Such was the tender sensibility of his soul, 
that he need but see distress to feel it, and 
contribute to its relief. He was deaf to the 
calls of interest even in the course of his pro 
fession : and wherever he beheld an indigen 
object, which claimed his healing skill, he ad- 
ministered it, without even the hope of any 
other reward than that which resulted from 
the reflection of having so far promoted the 
happiness of his fellow-men. 

In the social departments of life, practising 
upon the strength of that doctrine, he used so 
earnestly to inculcate himself, that nothing so 
much conduced to enlighten mankind, and 
advance the great end of society at large, as 
the frequent interchange of sentiments, in 
friendly meeting ; we find him constantly en- 
gaged in this eligible labor ; but on none did 
he place so high a value, as on that most hon- 
orable of all detached societies. The Free 
and Accepted Jfasons : into this fraternity 
he was early initiated ; and after having given 
repeated proofs of a rapid proficiency in the 
arts, and after evidencing by his life, the pro- 
fessions of his lips — finally, as the reward of 
his merit, he was commissioned The Most 
Worshipful Grand-Master of all the ancient 

Masons, through North America. And you, 

brethren, are living testimonies, with how much 
honor to himself, and benefit to the craft uni- 
versal, he discharged the duties of his elevated 
trust ; with what sweetened accents he courted 
your attention, while, with wisdom, strength, 
and beauty, he instructed -his lodges in the 
secret arts of Freemasonry ; what perfect order 
and decorum he presen-ed in the government of 
them ; and, in all his conduct, what a bright 
example he set us, to live within compass and 
act upon the square. 

With what pleasure did he silence the wants 
of poor and pennyless brethren ; yea, the 
necessitous every where, though ignorant of 
the mysteries of the craft, from his benefac- 
tions, felt the happy effects of that institution 
which is founded on faith, hope and charity. 
And the world may cease to wonder, that he 
so readily offered up his life, on the altar of 
his country, when they are told that the main 
pillar of masonry is the love of mankind. 

The fates, as though they would reveal, in 
the person if our Grand-master, those mys- 
teries which have so long lain hid from the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



31 



world, have suffered him, like the great master- 
builder in the temple of old, to fall by the 
hands of ruffians, and be again raised in 
honor and authority : we searched in the field 
for the murdered son of a widow, and we 
found him, by the turf and I he /'wit^. buried on 
the brow of a liill, though not in a decent 
grave. — And though we must again commit 
his body to the tomb, yet our breasts shall be 
the burying spot of his masonic virtues, and 
there — 

** An adamantine monument we'll rear, 

" With this inscription," Masonry " lies here." — 

In public life, the sole object of his ambition 
was, to acquire the conscience of virtuous en- 
terprises ; amor patrie was the spring of his 
actions, and mens conscia recti \\a.s his guide. 
And on this security he was, on every occa- 
sion, ready to sacrifice his health, his interest, 
and his ease, to the sacred calls of his country. 
When the liberties of America were attacked, 
he appeared an early champion in the con- 
test : and thougli his knowledge and abilities 
would have insured riches and preferment 
(could he have stooped to prostitution) yet he 
nobly withstood the fascinating charm, tossed 
fortune back her plume, and pursued the in- 
flexible purpose of his soul, in guiltless com- 
petence. 

He sought not the airy honors of a name, 
else many of those publications which, in the 
early period of our controversy, served to open 
the minds of the people, had not appeared an- 
onymous. In every time of eminent danger, 
his fellow-citizens flew to him for advice ; like 
the orator of Athens, he gave it and dispelled 
their fears : — twice did they call him to the 
rostrum to commemorate the massacre of their 
brethren ; and from that instance, in persua- 
sive language he taught them, not only the 
dangerous tendency, but the actual mischief 
of stationing a military force in a free city, in a 
time of peace.— They learnt the profitable 
lesson and penned it among their grievances. 

But his abilities were too great, his delibera- 
tions too much wanted, to be confined to the 
limits of a single city, and at a time when our 
liberties were most critically in danger from the 
secret machinations and open assaults of our 
enemies, this town, to their lasting honor, 
elected him to take a part in the councils of the 
state. — And with what faithfulness he dis- 
charged the important delegation, the neglect 
of his private concerns, and his unwearied 
attendance on that betrustment, will sufficiently 
testify ; and the records of that virtuous as- 
sembly will remain the testimonials of his 
accomplishments as a statesman, and his 



integrity and services as a patriot, through all 
posterity. 

The congress of our colony could not observe 
so much virtue and greatness without honor- 
ing it with the highest mark of their favor, and 
by the free suffrages of that uncorrupted body 
of freemen, he was soon called to preside in 
the senate— where, by his daily counsels and 
exertions, he was constantly promoting the 
great cause of general liberty. 

But when he found the tools of oppression 
were obstinately bent on violence ; when he 
found the vengeance of the British court must 
be glutted with blood ; he determined, that 
what he could not effect by his eloquence or 
his pen, he would bring to purpose by his 
sword. And on the memorable 19th of April, 
he appeared in the field under the united 
characters of the general, the soldier, and the 
physician. Here he was seen animating his 
countrymen to battle, and fighting by their 
side, and there he was found administering 
healing comforts to the wounded. And when 
he had repelled the unprovoked assaults of the 
enemy, anrl had driven them back into their 
strong-holds, like the virtuous chief of Rome, 
he returned to the senate, and presided again 
at the councils of the fathers. 

When the vanquished foe had rallied their 
disordered army, and by the acquisition of fresh 
strength, again presumed to fight against free- 
men, our patriot, ever anxious to be where he 
could do the most good, again put off the 
senator, and, in contempt of danger, flew to 
the field of battle, where, after a stern, and 
almost victorious resistance, ah ! too soon for 
his country ! he sealed his principles with his 
blood — then — 

" Freedom wept, that merit could not save," 
But Wart-ens manes " must enrich the prave." 

Enriched indeed ! and the heights of Charles- 
town shall be more memorable for thy fall, 
than the Plains of Abraham are for that of 
the hero of Britain. For while he died con- 
tending for a single country, you fell in the 
cause of virtue and mankind. 

The greatness of his soul shone even in the 
moment of death ; for, if fame speaks true, in 
his last agonies he met the insults of his bar- 
barous foe with his wonted magnanimity, and 
with the true spirit of a soldier, frowned at 
their impotence. 

In fine, to complete the great character — • 
like Harrington he wrote — like Cicero he 
spoke — like Hampden he lived — and like Wolfe 
he died. 

And can we, my countrymen, with indiffe- 
rence behold so much valor laid prostrate by 



32 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the hand of British tyranny ! and can we 
ever grasp that hand in affection again ? are 
we not yet convinced " that he who hunts the 
woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, 
is less a savage than the king of Britain ! " 
have we not proofs, wrote in blood, that the 
corrupted nation, from whence we sprang, 
(though there may be some traces of their an- 
cient virtue left) are stubbornly fixed on our 
destruction ! and shall we still court a depen- 
dence on such a state? still contend for a con- 
nexion with those who have forfeited not only 
every kindred claim, but even their title to 
humanity ! forbid it the spirit of the brave 
Montgomery ! forbid it the spirit of immortal 
Warren ! forbid it the spirits of all our valiant 
countrymen ! who fought, bled, and died for 
far different purposes, and who would have 
thought the purchase dear indeed ! to have 
paid their lives for the paltry boon of displacing 
one set of villains in power, to make way for 
another. No. They contended for the estab- 
lishment of peace, liberty, and safety to their 
country ; and we are unworthy to be called 
their countrymen, if we stop at any acquisition 
short of this. 

Now is the happy season, to seize again 
those rights, which, as men, we are by nature 
entitled to, and which, by contract, we never 
have and never could have surrendered : — but 
which have been repeatedly and violently at- 
tacked by the king, lords and commons of 
Britain. Ought we not then to disclaim for- 
ever, the forleited affinity ; and by a timely 
amputation of that rotten limb of the empire, 
prevent the mortification of the whole .' ought 
we not to listen to the voice of our slaugh- 
tered brethren, who are now proclaiming aloud 
to their country — 

Go tell the king, and tell him from our spirits. 

That you and Britons can be friends no more ; 

Tell him, to you all tyrants are the same ; 

Or if in bonds, the never conquer'd soul 

Can feel a pang, more keen than slavery's self, 

'Tis where the chains that crush you into dust. 

Are forg'd by hands, from which you hop'd for freedom. 

Yes, we ought, and will — we will assert the 
blood of our murdered hero against thy hos- 
tile oppressions, O shameless Britain ! and 
■when •' thy cloud-capped towers, thy gorgeous 
palaces " shall, by the teeth of pride and folly, 
be levelled with the dust— and when thy glory 
shall have faded like the western sunbeam — the 
name and the virtues of Warren shall re- 
main immortal. 

GENERAL WARREN. 

[It is well remembered that this ardent 
patriot twice mounted the rostrum to address 



his fellow citizens on the subject of the massa- 
cre of the 5th of March : but the occasion of 
his second appointment for that purpose is not 
generally known Mr. Knapp, in his " bio- 
graphical sketches," just published, has given 
the following interesting explanation of it, which 
is in concurrence with the daring spirit of the 
man, who was always foremost in danger.] 

•' His next oration was delivered March 5th, 
1775. It \^'as at his own solicitation that h« 
was appointed to the duty a second time. The 
fact is illustrative of his character, and worthy 
of remembrance. — Some British officers of the 
army then in Boston, had publicly declared 
that it should be at the price of the life of any 
man to speak of the event of March 5, 1770, on 
that anniversary. Warren's soul took fire at 
such a threat, so openly made, and he wished 
for the honor of braving it. This was readily 
granted, for at such a time a man would proba- 
bly find but few rivals. Many who would spurn 
the thought of personal fear, might be appre- 
hensive that they would be so far disconcerted 
as to forget their discourse. It is easier to 
fight bravely, than to think clearly or correctly 
in danger. — Passion sometimes nerves the arm 
to fight, but disturbs the regular current of 
thought. The day came, and the weather was 
remarkably fine. The Old South meeting-house 
was crowded at an early hour. The British 
officers occupied the aisles, the flight of steps 
to the pulpit, and several of them were within 
it. It was not precisely known whether this 
was accident or design. The orator, with the 
assistance of his friends, made his entrance at 
the pulpit window by a ladder. The officers, 
seeing his coolness and intrepidity, made way 
for him to advance and address the audience. 
An awful stillness preceded his exordium. 
Each man felt the palpitation of his own heart, 
and saw the pale but determined face of his 
neighbor. The speaker began his oration in a 
firm tone of voice, and proceeded with great 
energy and pathos. Warren and his friends were 
prepared to chastise contumely, prevent dis- 
grace, and avenge an attempt at assassination. 

The scene was sublime ; a patriot in whom 
the flush of youth, and the grace and dignity 
of manhood were combined, stood armed in 
thesanctuary of God, to animate and encourage 
the sons of liberty, and to hurl defiance at their 
oppressors. The orator commenced with the 
early history of the country, described the 
tenure by which we held our liberties and 
property — the affection we had constantly 
shewn the parent country, and boldly told 
them how, and by whom these blessings of 
life had been violated. There was in this 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



33 



appeal to Britain — in this description of suffer- 
ing, agony and horror, a calm and high-souled 
defiance which must have chilled the blood of 
every sensible foe. Such another hour has sel- 
dom happened in the history of man, and is not 
surpassed in the records of nations. The 
thunders of Demosthenes rolled at a distance 
from Philip and his host — and Tully poured 
the fiercest torrent of his invective when Cati- 
line was at a distance, and his dagger no 
longer to be feared ; but Warren's speech was 
made to proud oppressors resting on their 
arms, whose errand it was to overawe, and 
whose business it was to fight. 

If the deed of Brutus deserved to be commem- 
orated by history, poetry, painting and sculp- 
ture, should not this instance of patriotism and 
bravery be held in lasting remembrance .'' If he 

' That struck the foremost man of all this world,' 
was hailed as the first of freemen, what honors 
are not due to him, who, undismayed, bearded 
the British lion, to show the world what his 
countrymen dared to do in the cause of liberty .' 
Ifthe statue of Brutus were placed among those 
of the gods, who were the preservers of Roman 
freedom, should not that of Warren fill a lofty 
niche in the temple reared to perpetuate the 
remembrance of our birth as a nation ? " 



EULOGIUM ON WARREN. 

From Botta's History of the American war, 
— -published, he says, " in the Philadelphia 
papers," but we know not when, or where, or 
by whom, it was delivered, which we should 
have been glad to have ascertained. 

" What spectacle more noble," than this, 
of a hero who has given his life for the safety 
of country ! Approach, cruel ministers, and 
contemplate the fruits of your sanguinary 
edicts. What reparation can you offer to his 
children for the loss of such a father, to the 
king for that of so good a subject, to the coun- 
try for that of so devoted a citizen ? Send 
hither your satellites ; come feast your vindic- 
tive rage : the most implacable enemy to 
tyrants is no more. We conjure you respect 
these his honored remains. Have compassion 
on the fate of a mother overwhelmed with 
despair and with age. Of him, nothing is left 
that you can still fear. His eloquence is mute ; 
his arms are fallen from his hand : then lay 
down yours : what more have you to perpe- 
trate, barbarians that you are ? But while the 
nane of American liberty shall live, that of 
Wai.en will fire our breasts, and animate our 
arms, against the pest of standing armies. 



" Approach, senators of America ! Come, 
and deliberate here, upon the interests of the 
united colonies. Listen to the voice of this 
illustrious citizen : he intreats, he exhorts, he 
implores you not to disturb his present felicity 
with the doubt, that he, perhaps, has sacrificed 
his life for a people of slaves. 

" Come hither, ye soldiers, ye champions of 
American liberty, and contemplate a spectacle 
which should inflame your generous hearts 
with even a new motive to glory. Remember, 
his shade still hovers, unexpiated, among us. 
Ten thousand ministerial soldiers would not 
suffice to compensate his death. Let ancient 
ties be no restraint : foes of liberty are no 
longer the brethren of freemen. Give edge 
to your arms, and lay them not down, till 
tyranny be expelled from the British empire, or 
America, at least, become the real seat of 
liberty and happiness. 

" Approach ye also, American fathers and 
American mothers ; come hither, and contem- 
plate the first fruits of tyranny: behold your 
friend, the defender of your liberty, the honor, 
the hope of your country : see this illustrious 
hero, pierced with wounds and bathed in his 
own blood. But let not your grief, let not your 
tears be steril. Go, hasten to your homes, and 
there teach your children to detest the deeds 
of tyranny ; lay before them the horrid scene 
you have beheld : let their hair stand on end ; 
let their eyes sparkle with fire : let resentment 
kindle every feature ; let their lips vent threats 
and indignation : then — then — put arms into 
their hands, send them to battle, and let your 
last injunction be, to return victorious, or to 
die, like Warren, in the arms of liberty and of 
glory! 

" And ye generations of the future, you will 
often look back to this memorable epoch. 
You will transfer the names of traitors and 
of rebels from the faithful people of America, 
to those who have merited them. Your eyes 
will penetrate all the iniquity of this scheme of 
despotism, recently plotted by the British gov- 
ernment. You will see good kings misled by 
perfidious ministers, and virtuous ministers by 
perfidious kings. You will perceive that if at 
first the sovereigns of Great Britain shed tears 
in commanding their subjects to accept atro- 
cious laws, they soon gave themselves up to 
joy in the midst of murder, expecting to see a 
whole continent drenched in the blood of free- 
men. O, save the human race from the last 
outrages, and render a noble justice to the 
American colonies. Recall to life the ancient 
Roman and British eloquence; and be not 
niggardly of merited praises towards those 



34 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



who have bequeathed you hberty. It costs us 
floods of gold and of blood ; it costs us, alas ! 
the life of Warren." 



ORATION, DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
1773- 

BY DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH. 

Impius haec culta novalia miles habebit ? 
Barbarus has segetes ? in quo discordia cives, 
perduxit miseros ? in queis consevimus agros > 

Virgil, Eel I 
O ! SOCII 
O passi graviora. dabit Deus his quoque finem ; 

revocate animos, msestumque timorem 

mittite, forsan et hsec olim meminisse juvabit. 

Virgil, ^ne. I. 

From a consciousness of inability, my 
friends and fellow countrymen, I have re- 
peatedly declined the duties of this anniver- 
sary. Nothing but a tirm attachment to the 
tottering liberties of America* added to the 
irresistible importunity of some valued friends, 
could have induced me (especially with a 
very short notice) so far as to mistake my 
abilities, as to render the utmost extent of your 
candor truly indispensable. 

When man was unconnected by social obliga- 
tions ; abhorrent to every idea of dependence ; 
actuated by a savage ferocity of mind, displayed 
in the brutality of his manners, the necessary 
exigencies of each individual, naturally impelled 
him to acts of treachery, violence and murder. 

The miseries of mankind thus proclaiming 
eternal war with their species, led them, pro- 
bably, to consult certain measures to arrest the 
current of such outrageous enormities. 

A sense of their wants and weakness, in a 
state of nature, doubtless inclined them to 
such reciprocal aids and support, as eventually 
established society. 

Men then began to incorporate ; subordina- 
tion succeeded to independence ; order to 
anarchy ; and passions were disarmed by civili- 
zation ; society lent its aid to secure the weak 
from oppression, who wisely took shelter with- 
in the sanctuary of law. 

Encreasing, society afterwards exacted, that 
the tacit contract made with her by each 
individual, at the time of his being incorporated, 
should receive a more solemn form to become 
authentic and irrefragable ; the main object 
being to add force to the laws, proportionate 
to the power and extent of the body corporate, 
whose energy they were to direct. 

* Periculosx plenum opus ales 
Tractas, incedis per ignes 
Suppositos cineri doloso. — Horace. 



Then society availed herself of the sacrifice 
of that liberty and that natural equality of 
which we are all conscious : superiors and 
magistrates were appointed, and mankind sub- 
mitted to a civil and political subordination. 
This is truly a glorious inspiration of reason, 
by whose influence, notwithstanding the incli- 
nation we have for independence, we accept 
control, for the establishment of order. 

Although unrestrained power in one person 
may have been the first and most natural 
recourse of mankind, from rapine and disorder ; 
yet all restrictions of power, made by laws, or 
participation of sovereignty, are apparent im- 
provements upon what began in unlimited 
power. 

It would shock humanity, should I attempt 
to describe those barbarous and tragic scenes, 
which crimson the historic page of this 
wretched and detestable constitution, where 
absolute dominion is lodged in one person: 
where one makes the whole and the whole is 
nothing. What motives, what events, could 
have been able to subdue men, endowed with 
reason, to render themselves the mute instru- 
ments, and passive objects of the caprice of an 
individual. 

Mankind, apprised of their privileges, in 
being rational and free, in prescribing civil 
laws to themselves, had surely no intention of 
being enchained by any of their equals ; and 
although they submitted voluntary- adherents to 
certain laws, for the sake of mutual security and 
happiness, they, no doubt, intended by the 
original compact, a permanent exemption of 
the subject body from any claims, which were 
not expressly surrendered, for the purpose of 
obtaining the security and defence of the 
whole. Can it possibly be conceived, that they 
would voluntarily be enslaved by a power of 
their own creation. 

The constitution of a magistrate does not, 
therefore, take away that lawful defence against 
force and injury, allowed by the law of nature ; 
we are not to obey a prince, ruling above the 
limits of the power entrusted to him ; for the 
commonwealth, by constituting a head, does 
not deprive itself of the power of its own pre- 
servation.* Government and magistracy, whe- 
ther supreme or subordinate, is a mere human 
ordinance, and the laws of every nation are the 
measure of magistratical power : and kings, 
the servants of the state, when they degenerate 
into tyrants, forfeit their right to government. 

Breach of trust in a governor,! or attempt- 
ing to enlarge a limited power, effisctually ab- 

* The celebrated Mrs. Macaulay. 
t Mrs. Macaulay. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



35 



solves subjects from every bond of covenant 
and peace ; the crimes acted by a king against 
the people, are the highest treason against the 
highest law among meti* 

" If the king (says Grotius) hath one part of 
the supreme power, and the other part is in 
the senate or people, when such a king shall 
invade that part which doth not belong to him, 
it shall be lawful to oppose a just force to him, 
because his power doth not extend so far." 

The question, in short, turns upon this sin- 
gle point, respecting the power of the civil 
magistrate, is it the end of that office, that one 
particular person may do what he will without 
restraint .' or rather that society should be 
made happy and secure ? the answer is verj' 
obvious — And it is my firm opinion that the 
equal justice of God, and the natural freedom 
of mankind, must stand or fall together. 

When rulers become tyrants, they cease to 
be kings : they can no longer be respected as 
God's vicegerents, who violate the laws they 
were sworn to protect. The preacher may tell 
us of passive obedience, that tyrants are scour- 
ges in the hands of a righteous GoD to chas- 
tise a sinful nation, and are to be submitted to 
like plagues, famine and such like judgments : 
such doctrine may ser\'e to mislead ill-judging 
princes into a false security : but men are not 
to be harangued out of their senses ; human 
nature and self-preser\-ation will eternally arm 
the brave and vigilant, against slavery and op- 
pression. 

As a despotic government f is evidently pro- 
ductive of the most shocking calamities, what- 
ever tends to restrain such inordinate power, 
though in itself a severe evil, is extremely bene- 
ficial to society ; for where a degrading servi- 
tude is the detestable alternative, who can 
shudder at the reluctant poignard of a Brutus, 
the crimsoned axe of a Cromwell, or the reek- 
ing dagger of a Ravillac. 

To enjoy life as becomes rational creatures, 
to possess our souls with pleasure and satis- 
faction, we must be careful to maintain that 
inestimable blessing, liberty. By liberty I 
would be understood, the happiness of living 
under laws of our own making, by our personal 
consent, or that of our representatives. % 

* Salus populi suprema lex est. 

+ The ingratitude and corruption of Rome is, perhaps. 
in no instance, more strongly marlied than in her treat- 
ment of her colonies ; by their labors, toils, and arms, 
she had reached to that summit of glorious exaltation, as 
to be like Britain, the wonder and dread of the world ; but 
by fatal experience those ruined colonies inculcate this 
serious lesson, the ambition of a despot is boundless ; his 
rapine is insatiable ; the accomplishment of his conquests 
over his enemies, is but the introduction of slavery, with 
her concomitant plagues, to his friends. 

X The very idea of representative, deputy or trustee, 



Without this, the distinctions among man- 
kind are but different degrees of misery ; for as 
the true estimate of a man's life consists in 
conducting it according to his own just senti- 
ment and innocent inclinations, his being is 
degraded below that of a free agent, which 
heaven has made him, when his affections and 
passions are no longer governed by the dic- 
tates of his own mind, and the interests of 
human society, but by the arbitrary, unre- 
strained will of another. 

I thank God we live in an age of rational 
inquisition, when the unfettered mind dares to 
expatiate freely on every object worthy its at- 
tention, when the privileges of mankind are 
thoroughly comprehended, and the rights of 
distinct societies are objects of liberal enquiry. 
The rod of the tyrant no longer excites our 
apprehensions, and to the frown of the despot 
which made the darker ages tremble,* we dare 
oppose demands of right, and appeal to that 
constitution, which holds even kings in fetters. 

It is easy to project the subversion of a peo- 
ple when men behold them, the ignorant or 
indolent victims of power ; but it is difficult to 
effect their ruin when they are apprised of their 
just claims, and are sensibly and seasonably 
affected with thoughts for their preservation. 
God be thanked the alarm is gone forth.t the 
people are universally informed of their char- 
ter rights ; they esteem them to be the ark of 
God to New-England, and like that of old, 
may it deal destruction to the profane hand 
that shall dare to touch it. 

In every state or society of men, personal 
liberty and security must depend upon the col- 
lective power of the whole, acting for the 

includes that of a constituent whose interest they are or- 
dained and appointed to promote and secure ; my unap- 
pointed, self-constituted agent in the liritish parliament, 
has fraudulenUy and arbitrarily surrendered my best in- 
terest, without my privity, or consent ; I do therefore 
hereby protest against all such powers as he shall claim in 
my behalf, and most solemnly discard him my service for- 
ever.— See Locke ^ Civil Government. Risum teneatis amici. 
* Calum nun animum fttutanty qui trans marc cur- 
rant. The citizens of Rome, Sparta, or Lacedemon, at 
those blessed periods when they were most eminent for 
their attachment to liberty and virtue, could never exhibit 
brighter examples of patriotic zeal, than are to be found 
at this day in America ; I will not presume to say that the 
original British spirit has improved by transplanting ; but 
this I dare afBrm, that should Britons stoop to oppres- 
sion, the struggles of their American brethren, will be 
their eternal reproach. 

t The instituting a committee of grievances and corre- 
spondence by the town of Boston, has served this valuable 
purpose : The general infraction of the rights of all the 
colonies, must finally reduce the discordant provinces, to 
a necessary combination for their mutual interest and 
defence : Some future congress will be the glorious 
source of the salvation of America : The Amphictiones 
of Greece, who formed the diet or great council of the 
states, exhibit an excellent model for the rising Americans 



36 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION, 



general interest.* If this collective power is 
not of the whole, the freedom and interest of 
the whole is not secured : If this confluent 
power acts by a partial delegation, or for a 
partial interest, its operation is surely determi- 
nable, where its delegation ends. 

The constitution of England, I revere to a 
degree of idolatry ; but my attachment is to 
the common weal : The magistrate will ever 
command my respect, by the integrity and 
wisdom of his administrations. 

Junius well observes, " when the constitution 
is openly invaded, when the first original right 
of the people, from which all laws derive their 
authority, is directly attacked, inferior grievan- 
ces naturally lose their force, and are suffered 
to pass bywithout punishment or observation." 

Numberless have been the attacks made 
upon our free constitution ; numberless the 
grievances we now resent : but the Hydra mis- 
chief, is the violation of my right, as a British 
American freeholder, in not being consulted 
in framing those statutes I am required to 
obey. 

The authority of the British monarch over 
this colony was established, and his power 
derived from the province charter; by that 
we are entitled to a distinct legislation. As in 
every government there must exist a power su- 
perior to the laws, viz. the power that makes 
those laws, and from which they derive their 
authority : t therefore the liberty of the people 
is exactly proportioned to the share the body 
of the people have in the legislature ; and the 
check placed in the constitution, on the execu- 
tive power. The state only is free, where the 
people are governed by laws which they have 
a share in making ; and that country is totally 
enslaved, where one single law can be made 
or repealed, without the interposition or con- 
sent of the people. 

That the members of the British parliament 
are the representatives of the whole British 
empire, expressly militates with their avowed 
principles : property and residence within the 

* Lord Chief Justice Coke observes " when any new 
device is moved in the king's behalf, for aid or the like, 
commons may answer, they dare not agree without con- 
ference with their counties." The novel device of fleec- 
ing the colonies, was introduced in a way the constitution 
knows not of, and crammed down their throats, by meas- 
ures equally iniquitous. 

I will not alarm the sticklers for the present measures, 
by confronting them with more stale authorities, if they 
will permit me the following short but express declaration 
of Sidney, which they may chew at leisure. No man 

CAN GIVE THAT WHICH IS ANOTHER'S. 

+ Nothing, continued the corporal, can be so sweet, 
An' please your honor, as liberty* 
Nothing, Trim, said my uncle Toby, musing— 
Whilst a man is free — cried the corporal, giving ft flourish 
with his stick thus : ^^" —Tristram Skandy. 



island, alone constituting the right of election ; 

and surely he is not my delegate in whose 
nomination or appointment I have no choice ; 
but however the futile and absurd claim of a 
virtual representation, may comport with the 
idea of a political visionary, he must (if possi- 
ble) heighten the indignation, or excite the 
ridicule of a freeborn American, who by such 
a fallacious pretext would despoil him of his 
property. 

An American freeholder, according to the 
just and judicious conduct of the present min- 
istry, has no possible right to be consulted, in 
the disposal of his property : when a lordly, 
though unlettered British elector, possessed of 
a turnip garden, with great propriety may ap- 
point a legislature, to assess the ample do- 
mains of the most sensible, opulent American 
planter. 

But remember, my brethren, when a people 
have once sold their liberties, it is no act of 
extraordinary generosity, to throw their lives 
and properties into the bargain, for they are 
poor indeed when enjoyed at the mercy of a 
master. 

The late conduct of Great Britain, so incon- 
sistent with the practice of former times, so 
subversive of the first principles of government, 
is sufficient to excite the discontent of the sub- 
ject : the Americans justly and decently urged 
an exclusive right of taxing themselves ; was 
it indulgent, conciliating, or parental conduct 
in that state, to exaggerate such a claim, as a 
concerted plan of rebellion in the wanton 
Americans ? and by a rigorous and cruel exer- 
cise of power to enforce submission, excite 
such animosities, as at some future period, 
may produce a bitter repentance .' 

Can such be called a legal tax or free gift ? 
it is rather levying contributions on grudging 
enslaved Americans, by virtue of an act framed 
and enforced, not only without, but against 
their consent ; thereby rendering the provincial 
assemblies an useless part of the constitu- 
tion. 

Where laws are framed and assessments 
laid without a legal representation, and obedi- 
ence to such acts urged by force, the despair- 
ing people robbed of every constitutional means 
of redress, and that people, brave and virtuous, 
must become the admiration of ages, should 
they not appeal to those powers, which the 
immutable laws of nature have lent to all man- 
kind. Fear is a slender tie of subjection ; we 
detest those whom we fear, and wish destruc- 
tion to those we detest, but humanity, upright- 
ness, and good faith, with an apparent watch- 
fulness for the welfare of the people, constitute 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



37 



the permanency, and are the firmest support 
of the sovereign's authority ; for when violence 
is opposed to reason and justice, courage never 
wants an arm for its defence. 

What dignity, what respect, what authority, 
can Britain derive from her obstinate adhe- 
rence to error ? she stands convicted of viola- 
ting her own principles, but perseveres with un- 
relenting severity ; we implore for rights as a 
grace — she aggravates our distress, by lopping 
away another and another darling privilege ; 
we ask for freedom and she sends the 
sword! 

To the wisdom, to the justice, to the piety 
of his most sacred majesty, I unite in my 
appeal with this unbounded empire ; God 
grant he may attend to the reiterated prayer, 
instead of the murmur of discontent, and the 
frown of louring disaffection ; we would uni- 
versally hail him with those effusions of 
genuine joy, and duteous veneration, which 
the proudest despot will vainly look for, from 
forced respect or ceremonial homage. 

Parties and factions, since the days of the 
detested Andross, have been strangers to this 
land ; no distinctions of heart felt animosity, dis- 
turbed the peace and order of society till the 
malignant folly of a * late rancorous com- 
mander in chief, conjured them from the dead : 
when shall this unhappy clime be purged of 
its numerous plagues ? when will our troubles, 
our feuds, our struggles cease ? when will 
the locusts leave the land ? then, and not till 
then, peace and plenty shall smile around us; 
the husbandman will labor with pleasure ; 
and honest industry reap the reward of its 
toil. 

But let us not forget the distressing occasion 
of this anniversary : the sullen ghosts of mur- 
dered fellow-citizens haunt my imagination 
" and harrow up my soul ; " methinks the 
tainted air is hung with the dews of death, 
while Ate, hot from hell, cries havoc, and lets 
slip the dogs of war. Hark ! the wan tenants 
of the grave still shriek for vengeance on their 
remorseless butchers : forgive us. Heaven ! 
should we mingle involuntary execrations, 
while hovering in idea over the guiltless dead. 
Where is the amiable, the graceful Maverick ? 
the opening blossom is now withered in his 
cheek, the sprightly fire that once lightened in 
his eye is quenched in death ;t the savage 
hands of brutal ruffians have crushed the un- 
suspecting victim, and in an evil hour snatched 
away his gentle soul. 



• The Nettlehain Baronet, 
t 



Where is the friendly, the industrious Cald- 
well .' he paced innoxious through the theatre 
of death, unconscious of design or danger, 
when the winged fate gored his bosom, and 
stript his startled soul for the world of spirits. 
Where are the residue of active citizens that 
were wont to tread these sacred floors .' fallen 
by the hands of the vindictive assassins they 
swell the horrors of the sanguinary scene. 
Loyalty stands on tiptoe at the shocking recol- 
lection, while justice, virtue, honor, patriotism 
become suppliants for immoderate vengeance : 
the whole soul clamors for arms, and is on fire 
to attack the brutal banditti ; we fly agonizing 
to the horrid aceldama ; we gaze on the man- 
gled corses of our brethren and grinning furies, 
glotting o'er their carnage, the hostile attitude 
of the miscreant murderers, redoubles our re- 
sentment, and makes revenge a virtue. 

By heaveti they die! thus nature spoke, and 
the swoln heart leap'd to execute the dreadful 
purpose ; dire was the interval of rage, fierce 
was the conflict of the soul. In that important 
hour, did not the stalking ghosts of our stem 
forefathers, point us to bloody deeds of ven- 
geance ? did not the consideration of our 
expiring liberties impel us to remorseless 
havoc ? but hark ! the guardian God of New 
England issues his awful mandate," Peace, be 
still ; " hush'd was the bursting war, the 
pouring tempest frowned its rage away. Con- 
fidence in that God, beneath whose wing we 
shelter all our cares, that blessed confidence 
released the dastard, the cowering prey : with 
haughty scorn we refused to become their 
executioners, and nobly gave them to the wrath 
of heaven : but words can poorly paint the hor- 
rid scene * — defenceless, prostrate, bleeding 
countrymen — the piercing agonizing groans — 
the mingled moan of weeping relatives and 
friends — these best can speak, to rouse the 
luke-warm into noble zeal ; to fire the zealous 
into manly rage, against the foul oppression of 
quartering troops, in populous cities, in times 
of peace. 



Thou who yon bloody walk shall traverse, there 

Where troops of Britain's king, on Britain's sons, 

Discharg'd the leaden vengeance ; pass not on 

Ere thou hast blest their memory, and paid 

Those hallowed tears, which sooth the virtuous dead : 

O stranger ! stay thee, and the scene around 

Contemplate well ; and if perchance thy home 

Salute thee with a father's honor'd name, 

Go call thy sons — instruct them what a debt 

They owe their ancestors, and make them swear 

To pay it, by transmitting down entire, 

Those sacred rights, to which themselves were bom. 



-Hie ubi barbarus hostis. 



Ut fera plus valeant legibus anna i^\\..—Ovid de Panto. 



-Multaque rubentia coede, 



Lubrica saxa madent, nulli sua profuit setas. — Lucan, 
Lib. 2. 



38 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ORATION, DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 

5- 1774. 
BY THE HON. JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ. 

Vendidit hie auro, patriam, dominumque potentem 
Imposuit : fixit leges pretio atque refixit. 
Non, mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, 
Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum : comprendere formas, 

■ possim. 

Virg-. 

Men, brethren, fathers and fellcnv-country- 
men /—The attentive gravity, the venerable 
appearance of this crowded audience ; the dig- 
nity which I behold in the countenances of so 
many in this great assembly ; the solemnity 
of the occasion upon which we have met to- 
gether, joined to a consideration of the part I 
am to take in the important business of this 
day, fill me with an awe hitherto unknown ; and 
heighten the sense which I have ever had, of 
my unworthiness to fill this sacred desk ; but 
allured by the call of some of my respected 
fellow-citizens, with whose request it is always 
my greatest pleasure to comply, I almost forgot 
my want of ability to perform what they re- 
quired. In this situation I find my only sup- 
port, in assuring myself that a generous people 
will not severely censure what they know was 
well intended, though its want of merit, should 
prevent their being able to applaud it. And I 
pray, that my sincere attachment to the interest 
of my country, and hearty detestation of every 
design formed against her liberties, may be 
admitted as some apology, for my appearance 
in this place. 

I have always, from my earliest youth, re- 
joiced in the felicity of my fellow-men; and 
have ever considered it as the indispensable 
duty of every member of society to promote, 
as far as in him lies, the prosperity of every 
individual, but more especially of the commu- 
nity to which he belongs ; and also, as a faith- 
ful subject of the state, to use his utmost 
endeavors to detect, and having detected, 
strenuously to oppose every traitorous plot 
which its enemies may devise for its destruc- 
tion. Security to the persons and properties 
of the governed, is so obviously the design and 
end of civil government, that to attempt a logi- 
cal proof of it, would be like burning tapers at 
noonday, to assist the sun in enlightening the 
world ; and it cannot be either virtuous or hon- 
orable, to attempt to support a government, of 
which this is not the great and principal basis ; 
and it is to the last degree vicious and infamous 
to attempt to support a government, which 
manifestly tends to render the persons and 
properties of the governed insecure. Some 



boast of being friends to government ; I am a 
friend to righteous government founded upon 
the principles of reason and justice ; but I 
glory in publicly avowing my eternal enmity 
to tyranny. Is the present system, which the 
British administration have adopted for the 
government of the colonies, a righteous go- 
vernment ? or is it tyranny .' — Here suffer me 
to ask (and would to Heaven there could be 
an answer) what tenderness, what regard, 
respect or consideration has Great Britain 
shewn, in their late transactions, for the secu- 
rity of the persons or properties of the inhabi- 
tants of the colonies ? or rather, what have they 
omitted doing to destroy that security .' they 
have declared that they have, ever had, and of 
right ought ever to have, full power to make 
laws of sufficient validity to bind the colonies 
in all cases whatever : they have exercised this 
pretended right by imposing a tax upon us with- 
out our consent ; and lest we should shew some 
reluctance at parting with our property, her 
fleets and armies are sent to enforce their mad 
pretentions. The town of Boston, ever faith- 
ful to the British crown, has been invested by 
a British fleet : the troops of George the III. 
have crossed the wide Atlantic, not to engage 
an enemy, but to assist a band of traitors 
in trampling on the rights and liberties of his 
most loyal subjects in America — those rights 
and liberties which, as a father, he ought ever 
to regard, and as a king, he is bound, in honor, 
to defend from violations, even at the risk of 
his own life. 

Let not the history of the illustrious house 
of Brunswick inform posterity, that a king 
descended from that glorious monarch, George 
the n. once sent his British subjects to con- 
quer and enslave his subjects in America, but 
be perpetual infamy entailed upon that villain 
who dared to advise his master to such execra- 
ble measures ; for it was easy to foresee the 
consequences which so naturally followed upon 
sending troops into America, to enforce obe- 
dience to acts of the British parliament, which 
neither God nor man ever empowered them to 
make. It was reasonable to expect that troops, 
who knew the errand they were sent upon, 
would treat the people whom they were to 
subjugate, with a cruelty and haughtiness, 
which too often buries the honorable character 
of a soldier in the disgraceful name of an 
unfeeling ruffian. (The troops, upon their first ( 
arrival, took possession of our senate-house, ( 
and pointed their cannon against the judgment!) 
hall, and even continued them there whilst the '■. 
supreme court of judicature for this province \ 
was actually sitting to decide upon the lives / 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



39 



and fortunes of the king's subjects. Our streets 
nightly resounded with the noise of riot and 
debauchery : our peaceful citizens were hourly 
exposed to shameful insults, and often felt the 
effects of their violence and outrage. — But this 
was not all : as though they thought it not 
enough to violace our civil rights, they endea- 
vored to deprive us of the enjoyment of our reli- 
gious privileges ; to viciate our morals, and 
thereby render us deserving of destruction. 
Hence the rude din of arms which broke in 
upon your solemn devotions in your temples, 
on that day hallowed by heaven, and set apart 
by God himself for his peculiar worship. 
Hence, impious oaths and blasphemies so often 
tortured your unaccustomed ear. Hence, all 
the arts which idleness and luxury could invent, 
were used to betray our youth of one sex into 
extravagance and effeminacy, and of the other 
to infamy and ruin ; and did they not succeed 
but too well ? did not a reverence for religion 
sensibly decay .•' did not our infants almost 
learn to lisp out curses before they knew their 
horrid import .' did not our youth forget they 
were Americans, and regardless of the admoni- 
tions of the wise and aged, servilely copy from 
their tyrants those vices which finally must 
overthrow the empire of Great Britain ? and 
must I be compelled to acknowledge, that even 
the noblest, fairest part of all the lower creation 
did not entirely escape the cursed snare ? when 
virtue has once erected her throne within the 
female breast, it is upon so solid a basis that 
nothing is able to expel the heavenly inhabi- 
tant. But have there not been some, few 
indeed, I hope, whose youth and inexperience 
have rendered them a prey to wretches, 
whom, upon the least reflection, they would 
have despised and hated as foes to God and 
their country ? I fear there have been some 
such unhappy instances ; or why have I seen 
an honest father clothed with shame ; or why 
a virtuous mother drowned in tears .' 

But I forbear, and come reluctantly to the 
transactions of that dismal night, when in such 
quick succession we felt the extremes of grief, 
astonishment and rage ; when Heaven in anger, 
for a dreadful moment suffered hell to take the 
reins ; when Satan with his chosen band opened 
the sluices of New-England's blood, and sacri- 
legiously polluted our land with the dead 
bodies of her guiltless sons. Let this sad tale 
of death never be told without a tear ; let not 
the heaving bosom cease to bum with a manly 
indignation at the barbarous story, through the 
long tracts of future time : let every parent tell 
the shameful story to his listening children 'til 
tears of pity glisten in their eyes, and boiling 



passions shake their tender frames ; and whilst 
the anniversary of that ill-fated night is kept a 
jubilee in the grim court of pandaemonium, let 
all America join in one common prayer to 
heaven, that the inhuman, unprovoked murders 
of the fifth of March, 1770, planned by Hills- 
borough, and a knot of treacherous knaves in 
Boston, and executed by the cruel hand of 
Preston and his sanguinary coadjutors, may 
ever stand on history without a parallel. But 
what, my countrymen, withheld the ready arm 
of vengeance from executing instant justice on 
the vile assassins .' perhaps you feared promis- 
cuous carnage might ensue, and that the inno- 
cent might share the fate of those who had 
performed the infernal deed. But were not all 
guilty ? were you not too tender of the lives of 
those who came to fix a yoke on your necks ? 
but I must not too severely blame a fault, 
which great souls only can commit. May that 
magnificence of spirit which scorns the low 
pursuits of malice, may that generous compas- 
sion which often preserves from ruin, even a 
guilty villain, forever actuate the noble bosoms 
of Americans ! But let not the miscreant host 
vainly imagine that we feared their arms. No ; 
them we despised ; we dread nothing but 
slavery. Death is the creature of a poltroon's 
brains ; 'tis immortality to sacrifice ourselves 
for the salvation of our country. We fear not 
death. That gloomy night, the pale faced 
moon, and the affrighted stars that hurried 
through the sky, can witness that we fear not 
death. Our hearts which, at the recollection, 
glow with rage that four revolving years have 
scarcely taught us to restrain, can witness that 
we fear not death ; and happy it is for those 
who dared to insult us, that their naked bones 
are now piled up an everlasting monument of 
Massachusetts' bravery. But they retired, they 
fled, and in that flight they found their only 
safety. We then expected that the hand of 
public justice would soon inflict that punish- 
ment upon the murderers, which, by the laws of 
God and man, they had incurred. But let the 
unbiassed pen of a Robertson, or perhaps of 
some equally famed American, conduct this 
trial before the great tribunal of succeeding 
generations. And though the murderers may 
escape the just resentment of an enraged peo- 
ple ; though drowsy justice, intoxicated by the 
poisonous draught prepared for her cup, still 
nods upon her rotten seat, yet be assured, 
such complicated crimes will meet their due 
reward. Tell me, ye bloody butchers ! ye vil- 
lains high and low ! ye wretches who contrived, 
as well as you who executed the inhuman 
deed ! do you not feel the goads and stings of 



40 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



conscious guilt pierce through your savage 
bosoms ? though some of you may think your- 
selves exalted to a height that bids defiance to 
human justice, and others shroud yourselves 
beneath the mask of hypocrisy, and build your 
hopes of safety on the low arts of cunning, 
chicanery and falsehood ; yet do you not some- 
times feel the gnawings of that worm which 
never dies ? do not the injured shades of Mave- 
rick, Gray, Caldwell, Attucks and Carr, attend 
you in your solitary walks, arrest you even in 
the midst of your debaucheries, and fill even 
your dreams with terror ? but if the unappeased 
manes of the dead should not disturb their 
murderers, yet surely even your obdurate hearts 
must shrink, and your guilty blood must chill 
within your rigid veins, when you behold the 
miserable Monk, the wretched victim of your 
savage cruelty. Observe his tottering knees, 
which scarce sustain his wasted body ; look on 
his haggard eyes ; mark well the death-like 
paleness on his fallen cheek, and tell me, does 
not the sight plant daggers in your souls ? un- 
happy Monk ! cut off in the gay morn of man- 
hood, from all the joys which sweeten life, 
doomed to drag on a pitiful existence, without 
even a hope to taste the pleasures of returning 
health ! yet Monk, thou livest not in vain ; 
thou livest a warning to thy country, which 
sympathizes with thee in thy sufferings ; thou 
Uvest an affecting, an alarming instance of the 
unbounded violence which lust of power, as- 
sisted by a standing army, can lead a traitor 
to commit. 

For us he bled, and now languishes. The 
wounds by which he is tortured to a lingering 
death, were aimed at our country ! surely the 
meek-eyed charity can never behold such suf- 
ferings with indifference. Nor can her lenient 
hand forbear to pour oil and wine into these 
wounds, and to assuage at least, what it can- 
not heal. 

Patriotism is ever united with humanity and 
compassion. This noble affection which im- 
pels us to sacrifice every thing dear, even life 
itself, to our country, involves in it a common 
sympathy and tenderness for ever)' citizen, and 
must ever have a particular feeling for one 
who suffers in a public cause. Thoroughly 
persuaded of this, I need not add a word to 
engage your compassion and bounty towards 
a fellow citizen, who, with long protracted 
anguish, falls a victim to the relentless rage of 
our common enemies. 

Ye dark designing knaves, ye murderers, 
parricides ! how dare you tread upon the earth, 
which has drank in the blood of slaughtered 
innocents, shed by your wicked hands.' how 



dare you breathe that air which wafted to the 
ear of heaven, the groans of those who fell a 
sacrifice to your accursed ambition ? but if the 
laboring earth doth not expand her jaws ; if 
the air you breathe is not commissioned to be 
the minister of death yet hear it, and tremble ! 
the eye of heaven penetrates the darkest 
chambers of the soul, traces the leading 
clue through all the labyrinths which your 
industrious folly has devised ; and you, how- 
ever you may have screened yourselves from 
human eyes, must be arraigned, must lift your 
hands, red with the blood of those whose death 
you have procured, at the tremendous bar of 
God. 

But I gladly quit the gloomy theme of death, 
and leave you to improve the thought of that 
important day, when our naked souls must 
stand before that being, from whom nothing 
can be hid. I would not dwell too long upon 
the horrid effects which have already followed 
from quartering regular troops in this town ; 
let our misfortunes teach posterity to guard 
against such evils for the future. Standing 
armies are sometimes (I would by no means 
say generally, much less universally) composed 
of persons who have rendered themselves 
unfit to live in civil society ; who have no 
other motives of conduct than those which a 
desire of the present gratification of their 
passions suggests ; who have no property in 
any country ; men who have given up their own 
liberties, and emy those who enjoy liberty ; 
who are equally indifferent to the glorj' of a 
George or a Louis ; who for the addition of 
one penny a day to their wages, would desert 
from the Christian cross, and fight under the 
crescent of the Turkish sultan, from such men 
as these, what has not a state to fear .' with 
such as these, usurping Caesar passed the 
Rubicon ; with such as these he humbled 
mighty Rome, and forced the mistress of the 
world to own a master in a traitor. These 
are the men whom sceptered robbers now 
employ to frustrate the designs of God, and 
render vain the bounties which his gracious 
hand pours indiscriminately upon his crea- 
tures. By these the miserable slaves in 
Turkey, Persia, and many other extensive 
countries, are rendered truly wretched, though 
their air is salubrious, and their soil luxu- 
riously fertile. By these, France and Spain, 
though blessed by nature with all that admin- 
isters to the convenience of life, have been 
reduced to that contemptible state in which 

they now appear; and by these Britain 

but if I was possessed of the gift 



of prophecy, I dare not, except by divine com- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



41 



mand, unfold the leaves on which the destiny 
of that once powerful kingdom is inscribed. 

But since standing armies are so hurtful to 
a state, perhaps my countrymen may demand 
some substitute, some other means of render- 
ing us secure against the incursions of a for- 
eign enemy. But can you be one moment at a 
loss ? will not a well disciplined militia afford 
you ample security against foreign foes ? we 
want not courage ; it is discipline alone in 
which we are exceeded by the most formidable 
troops that ever trod the earth. Surely our 
hearts flutter no more at the sound of war, 
than did those of the immortal band of Persia, 
the Macedonian phalanx, the invincible Roman 
legions, the Turkish Janissaries, the Gens des 
Armes of France, or the well known grenadiers 
of Britain. A well disciplined militia is a 
safe, an honorable guard to a community like 
this, whose inhabitants are by nature brave, 
and are laudably tenacious of that freedom in 
which they were born. From a well regulated 
militia we have nothing to fear ; their interest 
is the same with that of the state. When a 
country is invaded, the militia are ready to ap- 
pear in its defence ; they march into the field 
with that fortitude which a consciousness of 
the justice of their cause inspires ; they do not 
jeopard their lives for a master who considers 
them only as the instruments of his ambition, 
and whom they regard only as the daily dis- 
penser of the scanty pittance of bread and 
water. No, they fight for their houses, their 
lands, for their wives, their children, for all 
who claim the tenderest names, and are held 
dearest in their hearts, they fight pro aris et 
foc:s, for their liberty, and for themselves, and 
for their God. And let it not offend, if I say, 
that no militia ever appeared in more flourish- 
ing condition, than that of this province now 
doth ; and pardon me if I say — of this town in 
particular. — I mean not to boast ; I would not 
excite envy but manly emulation. We have all 
one common cause ; let it therefore be our 
only contest, who shall most contribute to the 
security of the liberties of America. And may 
the same kind Providence which has watched 
over this country from her infant state, still 
enable us to defeat our enemies. I cannot 
here forbear noticing the signal manner in 
which the designs of those who wish not well 
to us have been discovered. The dark deeds 
of a treacherous cabal, have been brought to 
public view. You now know the serpents who, 
while cherished in your bosoms, were darting 
their envenomed stings into the vitals of the 
constitution. But the representatives of the 
people have fi.\ed a mark on these ungrateful 



monsters, which, though it may not make them 
so secure as Cain of old, yet renders them at 
least as infamous. Indeed it would be atfron- 
tive to the tutelar deity of this country even to 
despair of saving it from all the snares which 
human policy can lay. 

True it is, that the British ministry have 
annexed a salary to the office of the governor 
of this province, to be paid out of a revenue, 
raised in America without our consent. They 
have attempted to render our courts of 
justice the instruments of extending the autho- 
rity of acts of the British parliament over this 
colony, by making the judges dependent on 
the British administration for their support. 
But this people will never be enslaved with their 
eyes open. The moment they knew that the 
governor was not such a governor as the char- 
ter of the province points out, he lost his power 
of hurting them. They were alarmed ; they 
suspected him, have guarded against him, and 
he has found that a wise and a brave people, 
when they know their danger, are fruitful in 
expedients to escape it. 

The courts of judicature also so far lost 
their dignity, by being supposed to be under an 
undue influence, that our representatives 
thought it absolutely necessary to resolve that 
they were bound to declare that they would 
not receive any other salary besides that which 
the general court should grant them ; and if 
they did not make this declaration, that it would 
be the duty of the house to impeach them. 

Great expectations were also formed from 
the artful scheme of allowing the East India 
company to export tea to America, upon their 
own account. This certainly, had it suc- 
ceeded, would have effected the purpose of 
the contrivers, and gratified the most sanguine 
wishes of our adversaries. We soon should 
have found our trade in the hands of for- 
eigners, and taxes imposed on every thing 
which we consumed ; nor would it have been 
strange, if, in a few years, a company in 
London should have purchased an exclusive 
right of trading to America. But their plot 
was soon discovered. The people soon were 
aware of the poison which, with so much craft 
and subtility, had been concealed : loss and 
disgrace ensued : and, perhaps, this long- 
concerted master-piece of policy, may issue 
in the total disuse of tea, in this country, which 
will eventually be the saving of the lives and 
the estates of thousands — yet while we rejoice 
that the adversary has not hitherto prevailed 
against us, let us by no means put off the 
harness. Restless malice, and disappointed 
ambition, will still suggest new measures to 



42 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



our inveterate enemies. Therefore let us also 
be ready to take the field whenever danger 
calls ; let us be united and strengthen the 
hands of each other, by promoting a general 
union among us. Much has been done by the 
committees of correspondence for this and the 
other towns of this province, towards uniting 
the inhabitants ; let them still go on and pros- 
per. Much has been done by the committees 
of correspondence, for the houses of assembly, 
m this and our sister colonies, for uniting the 
inhabitants of the whole continent, for the 
security of their common interest. May suc- 
cess ever attend their generous endeavors. 
But permit me here to suggest a general 
congress of deputies, from the several houses 
of assembly, on the continent, as the most 
effectual method of establishing such an union, 
as the present posture of our affairs require. 
At such a congress a firm foundation may be 
laid for the security of our rights and liberties 
a system may be formed for our common 
safety, by a strict adherence to which, we 
shall be able to frustrate any attempts to over- 
throw our constitution ; restore peace and 
harmony to America, and secure honor and 
wealth to Great Britain, even against the in- 
clinations of her ministers, whose duty it is to 
study her welfare ; and we shall also free 
ourselves from those unmannerly pillagers 
who impudently tell us, that they are li- 
censed by an act of the British parliament 
to thrust their dirty hands into the pockets of 
every American. But I trust, the happy time 
will come, when with the besom of destruc- 
tion, those noxious vermin will be swept 
forever from the streets of Boston. 

Surely you never will tamely suffer this 
country to be a den of thieves. Remember, 
my friends, from whom you sprang. — Let not 
a meanness of spirit, unknown to those whom 
you boast of as your fathers, excite a thought 
to the dishonor of your mothers. I conjure 
you by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, 
by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray, but 
that you act ; that, if necessary, ye fight, and 
even die, for the prosperity of our Jerusalem. 
Break in sunder, with noble disdain, the bonds 
with which the Philistines have bound you. 
Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed by the 
soft arts of luxur)' and effeminacy, into the pit 
digged for your destruction. Despise the glare 
of wealth. That people who pay greater res- 
pect to a wealthy villain, than to an honest 
upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be 
enslaved ; they plainly shew that wealth, how- 
ever it may be acquired, is in their esteem, to 
be preferred to virtue. 



But I thank God, that America abounds in 
men who are superior to all temptation, whom 
nothing can divert from a steady pursuit of 
the interest of their country ; who are at once 
its ornament and safe-guard. And sure I am, 
I should not incur your displeasure, if I paid a 
respect so justly due to their much honored 
characters in this place ; but when I name an 
Adams, such a numerous host of fellow pa- 
triots rush upon my mind, that I fear it would 
take up too much of your time, should I at- 
tempt to call over the illustrious roll : but your 
grateful hearts will point you to the men ; and 
their revered names, in all succeeding times, 
shall grace the annals of America. From 
them, let us, my friends, take example ; from 
them, let us catch the disine enthusiasm ; and 
feel, each for himself, the God-like pleasure of 
diffusing happiness on all around us ; of deli- 
vering the oppressed from the iron grasp of 
tyranny ; of changing the hoarse complaints 
and bitter moans of wretched slaves, into those 
cheerful songs, which freedom and content- 
ment must inspire. There is a heart-felt satis- 
faction in reflecting on our exertions for the 
public weal, which all the sufferings an enraged 
tyrant can inflict, will never take away ; which 
the ingratitude and reproaches of those whom 
we have saved from ruin, cannot rob us of. 
The virtuous asserter of the rights of mankind, 
merits a reward, which even a want o f success 
in his endeavors to save his countr)', the 
heaviest misfortune which can befal a genuine 
patriot, cannot entirely prevent him from re- 
ceiving. 

I have the most animating confidence that 
the present noble struggle for hberty, will ter- 
minate gloriously for America. And let us 
play the man for our God, and for the cities 
of our God ; while we are using the means in 
our power, let us humbly commit our righte- 
ous cause to the great Lord of the universe, 
who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. 
And having secured the approbation of our 
hearts, by a faithful and unwearied discharge 
of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave 
our concerns in the hands of Him who raiseth 
up and putteth down the empires and king- 
doms of the world as He pleases ; and with 
cheerful submission to His sovereign will, 
devoutly say, 

" Although the fig tree shall not blossom, 
jteither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of 
the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no 
meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, 
and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet 
we will rejoice in the LORD, we will joy in 
the GOD of our salvation." 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



43 



ORATION DELIVERED AT WATERTOWN,* MARCH 5, 
1776. 

BY PETER THACHER, M. A. 

Asellum in prato timidus pascebat senex 
Is, hostium clamore subito territus, 
Suadebat afino fugere, ne possent capi. 
At ille lentus : quaeso, num binas mihi, 
Clitellas impositurum victorem putas ? 
Senex negavit. Ergo quid refert mea, 
Cui serviam ? Clitellas dum portem meas. — Pkadrus. 

My friends — When the ambition of princes 
induces them to break over the sacred barriers 
of social compact, and to violate those rights, 
which it is their duty to defend, they will 
leave no methods unessayed to bring the peo- 
ple to acquiesce in their unjustifiable encroach- 
ments. 

In this cause, the pens of venal authors have 
in every age, been drawn : with Machiavilian 
subtilty, they have labored to persuade man- 
kind, that their public happiness consisted in 
being subject to uncontroled power ; that they 
were incapable of judging concerning the mys- 
teries of government ; and that it was their 
interest to deliver their estates, their liberties, 
and their lives, into the hands of an absolute 
monarch. 

Mitred hypocrites, and cringing, base-souled 
priests, have impiously dared to enlist the 
oracles of God into the service of despotism ; 
to assert that, by the command of the supreme 
law-giver, we are bound to surrender our rights 
into the hands of the first bold tyrant who 
dares to seize them ; and that when they are 
seized, it is rebellion against God, and treason 
against the prince, for us to attempt to resume 
them. 

Depraved as is the human understanding, it 
hath yet strength enough to discern the ridi- 
culous fallacy of these assertions : the votaries 
of ignorance and superstition may, indeed, be 
imposed upon by them. When we place 
unlimited confidence in our civil or spiritual 
fathers, we can swallow, with ease, the most 
improbable dogmas : but there are feelings in 
the human heart, which compel men to recog- 
nize their own rights — to venerate the majesty 
of the people — and to despise the insult which 
is offered to their understandings by these 
doating absurdities. Had princes no other 
methods to accomplish their purposes, could 
they not establish their usurpation, without 
convincing men's judgments of their utility ? 
they would be more harmless to mankind than 
they have ever yet been. They might be sur- 

• Boston was at this time gamsoned by the British 
troops, and the inhabitants were in the country ; which 
occasioned this oration to be delivered at Watertown. 



rounded with the fascinating gewgaws of regal 
pomp ; a few parasites might bow the knee 
before these idols of their own creating ; the 
weak and the wicked might obey their man- 
dates ; but the baneful influence which they 
now have upon the interests of individuals, and 
of society, would come to a period : they would 
not revel in the spoils of nations, nor trample 
upon the ruins of public liberty. 

Conscious of this, they have used arguments, 
and pursued methods, entirely different from 
these, to effect their designs ; instead of con- 
vincing the understandings, they have ad- 
dressed themselves to the passions of men : 
the arts of bribery and corruption have been 
tried with a fatal success: men, we know, have 
sold their children, their country, and their 
God, for a small quantity of painted dirt, 
which will perish with the using. 

Extensive as are the revenues of princes, 
they are still inadequate to the purpose of 
bribing large communities to submit to their 
pleasure ; corrupting therefore a few, they have 
overawed the rest ; from small beginnings, and 
under specious pretences, they will raise a 
standing military force, the most successful 
engine ever yet wielded by the hand of law- 
less domination. 

With such a force, it is easy for an ambitious 
prince, possessed by nature of very slender abili- 
ties, to subvert every principle of liberty in the. 
constitution of his government, and to render his 
people the most abject of slaves : if any indi- 
vidual feels the injury done to his country, and 
wishes to restore it to a state of happiness, 
with a bayonet at his breast, a dragoon will 
compel him to silence ; if the people, awakened 
to see their interest and their duty, assemble 
for the same purpose, a military force is at 
hand to subdue them, and by leaden argu- 
ments, to convince them of their error. 

An easy task would it be to enlarge upon 
the fatal consequences of keeping up such a 
standing army in time of peace, and of quarter- 
ing a lawless body of men, who despise the 
just restraints of civil authority, in free and 
populous cities : that no vestige of freedom can 
remain in a state where such a force exists : 
that the morals of the people will be gradually 
corrupted : that they will contract such a habit 
of tame submission, as to become an easy prey 
to the brutal tyrant who rules them, hath been 
heretofore largely and plainly demonstrated, by 
persons so much more capable of doing it, 
than he who is speaking, that it would be 
presumption in him to attempt it now. 

There is no need of recurring to the ancient 
histories of Greece and Rome for instances of 



44 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



these truths. The British nation, once famous 
for its attachment to freedom, and enthusiasti- 
cally jealous of its rights, is now become a great 
tame beast, which fetches and carries for any 
minister who pleases to employ it. 

Englishmen have been wont to boast of the 
excellence of their constitution ; to boast that it 
contained whatever was excellent in every form 
of government hitherto, by the wit of man, 
devised : in their king, whose power was limited, 
they have asserted that they enjoyed the advan- 
tages of monarchy, without fear of its evils : 
while their house of commons, chosen by the suf- 
frages of the people, and dependent upon them, 
represented a republic, their house of peers, 
forming a balance of power between the king 
and the people, gave them the benefit of an 
aristocracy. In theory, the British constitution 
is, on many accounts, e.xcellent ; but when we 
observe it reduced to practice, when we observe 
the British government, as it has been, for a 
long course of years administered, we must be 
convinced that its boasted advantages are not 
real : the management of the public revenue, 
the appointment of civil and military officers, 
are vested in the king : improving these advan- 
tages which these powers give him, he hath 
found means to corrupt the other branches of 
the legislature : Britons please themselves 
with the thought of being free ; their tyrant 
.suffers them to enjoy the shadow, whilst he 
himself grasps the substance of power. Impos- 
sible would it have been for the kings of England 
to have acquired such an exorbitant power, 
had they not had a standing army under their 
command : with the officers of this army, they 
have bribed men to sacrifice the rights of their 
country : having artfully got their arms out of 
the hands of the people, with their mercenary 
forces they have awed them into submission. 
When they have appeared, at any time, dis- 
posed to assert their freedom, these troops 
have been ready to obey the mandates of their 
sovereign, to imbrue their hands in the blood 
of their brethren. 

Having found the efficacy of this method to 
quell a spirit of liberty in the people of Great 
Britain, the righteous administration of the 
righteous king George the third, determined 
to try the experiment upon the people of 
America. To fright us into submission to 
their unjustifiable claims, they sent a military 
force to the town of Boston. This day leads 
us to reflect upon the fatal effects of the 
measure ! by their intercourse with troops, 
made up in general of the most abandoned of 
men, the morals of our youth were corrupted : 
the temples and the day of our God were 



scandalously profaned : we experienced the 
most provoking insults ; and at length saw the 
streets of Boston strewed with the corpses of 
five of its inhabitants, murdered in cool blood, 
by the British mercenaries. 

The indignant rage which swelled your bo- 
soms upon this occasion — the fortitude and 
humanity which you discovered — the anguish 
of the friends and relatives of the dead and 
wounded, with all the horrors of that memora- 
ble night, have been painted in vivid colors 
by an Hancock and a Warren ; they have 
shewn the necessity of those exertions made 
by the town, which defeated, at that time, the 
designs of the enemies to American liberty, 
and preserved us, for the present, from the 
calamities of war. 

But the past year hath presented us with a 
tragedy more striking, because more extensive, 
than this : a tragedy, which more plainly proves 
the fatal effects of keeping up standing armies 
in time of peace, than any arguments what- 
soever; we have seen the ground crimsoned 
with the gore of hundreds of our fellow-citi- 
zens ; — we have seen the first city in America, 
for wealth and extent, depopulated — we have 
seen others destroj'ed, and heard our savage 
enemies breathing out thirstings for our blood. 

Finding their arts insufficient to flatter, or 
their treasures to bribe, the people of America 
out of their freedom, the British government 
determined, by force, to subjugate them to 
their arbitrary will ; in consequence of this 
determination, a large party of their troops 
marched from Boston, on the morning of the 
ever memorable nineteenth of April last : 
flushed with the hopes of certain victory, and 
defying the armies of the living God, they broke 
through every divine and political obligation ; 
they wantoned in cruelty; they shed again 
American blood. 

Aroused by the unprovoked injury, like a 
lion awaking from his slumber, we sprang to 
arms ! we felt ourselves inspired with the spirit 
of our ancestors ; we heard our brethren's 
blood crjing to us for vengeance ; we rushed 
into the midst of battle ; we compelled our 
enemies to betake themselves to disgraceful 
flight ; we pursued them with avidity, and 
desisted not till they took refuge in that city, 
of which, by fraud and treachery, they had 
possessed themselves. 

Trusting to the divine protection, from that 
hour we determined never to sheathe the sword, 
till we had reparation for our injuries ; till we 
had secured our own freedom and the freedom of 
our posterity : from that hour the den of enemies 
hath been surrounded by an American army, 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



45 



brave and determined : although they had before 
boasted of their superiority to all the troops in 
the world, they have scarcely dared to set their 
feet out of their strong holds since that time, 
and instead of ravaging the American conti- 
nent in a single campaign, with a single regi- 
ment, they have proceeded one mile 

and an half'xn the conquest of it. 

The heights of Charlestown witnessed to 
the world, that Americans, fighting in the cause 
of freedom, were a formidable foe : although 
they were surrounded by troops hitherto 
deemed invincible ; although they saw the habi- 
tations of their countrymen inveloped with 
flames ; although cannon roared on every quar- 
ter, and they beheld scenes of desolation and 
bloodshed, to which they were entirely unused, 
yet they retired not till they had compelled 
their enemy twice to retreat, and had expended 
the whole of their ammunition : the British 
forces gained the ground, but they lost the 
flower of their army. 

From one end of the continent to the other, 
a series of successes hath attended the Ameri- 
can arms ; instead of having troops of savages 
poured down to our frontiers (which the mur- 
derous policy of the tyrant of Britain induced 
him to attempt) we have, through the favor of 
heaven, carried our victorious arms into the 
very bowels of Canada ; instead of having our 
stores and provisions cut off by the enemy, we 
have made important captures from them : 
success hath crowded our enterprises, while 
disappointment hath followed those who op- 
pose us. 

That elation of spirit, which is excited by 
our victories, is damped by our feeling the 
calamities of war. To hear the expiring groans 
of our beloved countrymen ; to behold the 
flames of our habitations, once the abodes of 
peace and plenty, ascending to Heaven ; to see 
the ruin and desolation spread over our fruitful 
villages, must occasion sensations in the high- 
est degree painful. 

This day, upon which the gloomy scene was 
first opened, calls upon us to mourn for the 
heroes who have already died in the bed of 
honor, fighting for God and their country. 
Especially, does it lead us to recollect the name 
and the virtues of general Warren! the 
kind, the humane, tiie benevolent friend, in the 
private wall<s of life ; the inflexible patriot, the 
undaunted commander in his public sphere, 
deserves to be recollected with gratitude and 
esteem ! this audience, acquainted, in the most 
intimate manner, with his numberless virtues, 
must feel his loss, and bemoan their beloved, 
their entrusted fellow-citizen ! ah ! my coun- 



trymen, what tender, what excruciating sensa- 
tions rush at once upon our burdened mmds, 
when we recall his loved idea! when we re- 
flect upon the manner of his death ; when we 
fancy that we see his savage enemies exulting 
o'er his corpse, beautiful even in death, when 
we remember that, destitute of the rites of 
sepulture, he was cast into the ground, without 
the distinction due to his rank and merit ; we 
cannot restrain the starting tear, we cannot 
repress the bursting sigh ! we mourn thine 
e.xit, illustrious shade, with undissembled grief; 
we venerate thine exalted character; we will 
erect a monument to thy memory in each of 
our grateful breasts, and to the latest ages, will 
teach our tender infants to lisp the name of 
Warreti, with veneration and applause ! 

When we traverse the Canadian wilds, and 
come to the plains of Abraham, where Wolfe 
once fell, we are there again compelled to pay 
a tribute to exalted merit, and to lament the 
fall of the great Montgomery ! warmed with 
a spirit of patriotism, too little felt by his 
venal countrymen, he espoused the cause of 
American freedom : he left domestic ease and 
affluence: he girded on the sword which he 
had long laid aside, and jeoparded his life in 
the high places of the field : victory followed 
his standard ; she hovered over his head, and 
crowned it with the laurel wreath ; she was 
just ready to hail him the conqueror of Canada, 
when the fatal sisters snapped, in a moment, 
the thread of life, and seized, from his eager 
grasp, the untasted conquest ! Americans, 
bear witness to his humanity and his valor, 
for he died fighting in your cause, and the 
cause of mankind ! let his memory live in your 
breasts ; let it be handed down to your pos- 
terity, that millions yet unborn may rise up and 
call him blessed ! 

The tender feelings of the human heart are 
deeply affected with the fate of these and the 
other heroes who have bled and died, that 
their country may be free ; but at the same 
time, sensations of indignant wrath are excited 
in the breasts of every friend to freedom : he 
will listen to the voice of their blood, which 
cries aloud to heaven and to him, for ven- 
geance ! he will feel himself animated with new 
vigor in the glorious cause : nothing daunted 
by their untimely fate, he will rush into the 
midst of danger, that he may share their glory 
and avenge their death ! every idea which can 
warm and animate him to glorious deeds, will 
rush at once upon his mind ; and, when engaged 
in the warmest battle, he will hear them, from 
their heaven, urging him to action : he will feel 
their spirits transfused into his breast ; he will 



46 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



sacrifice whole hecatombs of their murderers 
to their illustrious manes ! 

Indeed, my countrymen, the people of Ameri- 
ca have every thing to animate and encourage 
them in the present contest. Formidable as 
was once the power of the British lion, he hath 
now lost his teeth ; universal dissipation hath 
taken place of that simplicity of manners, and 
hardiness of integrity, for which the nation was 
once remarkable : the officers of the British 
army, instead of inuring themselves to disci- 
pline, and seeking for glory in the blood-stained 
field, wish alone to captivate the softer sex, 
and triumph over their virtue. The legisla- 
ture of Great Britain is totally corrupt ; her 
administration is arbitrary and tyrannical ; the 
people have lost their spirit of resentment ; 
and, like the most contemptible of animals, bow 
the shoulder to bear and become servants unto 
tribute. The national resources are cut off; 
she is loaded with an intolerable public debt ; 
she is become the scorn of those foreigners to 
whom she was once terrible, and it is easy to 
see that her glorj' is in the wane. 

How different from this is the present state 
of our country ; descended from a race of 
hardy ancestors, who loved their freedom better 
than they loved their lives, the Americans are 
jealous of the least infringement of their 
rights ; strangers to that luxury, which effe- 
minates the mind and body, they are capable 
of enduring incredible hardships ; with eager- 
ness they rush into the field of battle, and 
brave, with coolness, every danger ; they pos- 
sess a rich and a fruitful country, sufficient to 
supply them with every necessary and con- 
venience of life ; they have inexhaustible re- 
sources for carrying on war, and bid fair soon 
to be courted for their alliance, by the proudest 
monarchs of the earth. Their statesmen are 
equal to the task of forming and defending 
a free and extensive empire : their generals are 
brave and humane, intrepid and prudent. 
When I name a IVashing/on, my audience 
will feel the justice of the remark, and acquit 
me of the charge of flattery. 

Possessed of these advantages, we should be 
inexcusable to God, to our posterity, to the 
whole world, if we hesitated, a single moment, 
in asserting our rights and repelling the at- 
tacks of lawless power. Freedom is offered 
to us, she invites us to accept her blessings ; 
driven from the other regions of the globe, she 
w-ishes to find an asylum in the wilds of Ame- 
rica ; with open arms let us receive the perse- 
cuted fair ; let us imitate the example of our 
venerable ancestors, who loved and courted 
her into these desert climes. With deter- 



mined bravery, let us resist the attacks of her 
imprudent ravishers ; by resolution and firm- 
ness we may defend her from their power, and 
transmit her blessings to millions upon millions 
of our posterity. Let us then arouse to arms ; 
for, upon our exertions, under God, depends 
their freedom ; upon our exertions depends the 
important question, whether the rising empire 
of America, shall be an empire of slaves or of 
freemen. 

Animated by these considerations, my friends 
and fellow-citizens, let us strain every nerve in 
the ser\'ice of our country ! what are our lives 
when viewed in competition with the happiness 
of such an empire ! what is our private interest 
when opposed to that of three millions of men ! 
let our bosoms glow with the warmth of pa- 
triotism ; let us sacrifice our ease, our fortunes, 
and our lives, that we may save our country. 

That a spirit of public virtue may transcend 
every private consideration, you, the respected 
inhabitants of the town of Boston, have plainly 
manifested : with pleasure you have sacrificed 
what selfish men hold most dear, to save this 
oppressed land ! with firmness you have re- 
sisted every attack of arbitrary power ! like the 
sturdy oak, you have stood unmoved, and to 
you, under GoD, will be owing the salvation of 
this extensive continent. 

We feel, my beloved friends, our obligations 
to you ! our hearts confess them ; we cordially 
wish it were in our power to reward you for 
your patriotism ; to restore you to that ease 
and affluence of which for our sakes, you have de- 
prived yourselves; it is not. But our morningand 
evening petitions to the guardian God of Amer- 
ica shall be. that he will bless and reward you. 

With transport, my countrymen, let us look 
forward to the bright day, which shall hail us 
a free and independent state. With earnest- 
ness let us implore the forgiveness and the pa- 
tronage of the Being of all beings, who holds 
the fate of empires in his hands ! with zeal let 
us exert ourselves in the sendee of our country, 
in life : and when the earthly scene shall be 
closing with us, let us expire with this prayer 
upon our quivering lips, O GOD, Let America 
BE Free! 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON MARCH 5, 
1777. 

BY BENJAMIN HIGHBORN, ESQ. 

Turn vos, O Tyrii, slirpcm et genus omne futurum 

E.iercete odiis ; cinerique hjec miUite nostro 
Munera ; nullis amor populis, nee federa sunto. 

—yirgil. 

Friends and countrymen ! — Leaving apolo- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



47 



gies for my inability to act the part I am to 
take, in tiiis day's solemnity, to those who 
nitght have remedied the evil, by a more suitable 
appointment, I shall offer my sentiments upon 
the subject with the same freedom that I 
conceived them. 

The advantages of social life, are the result 
of such evident necessity, so extensively diffu- 
sive and universally felt, that all mankind will 
readily acknowledge their existence without the 
aid of metaphysics or history. 

The right that every individual has to reason 
freely upon the nature of that government he 
is called to submit to, having nature for its 
source, is no less obvious and perceptible — and 
hence, as a necessary foundation for the exer- 
cise of this right, I define civil liberty to be, 
not " a government by laws," made agreeable 
to charters, bills of rights or compacts, but a 
power existing in the people at large, at any 
time, for any cause, or for no cause, but their 
own sovereign pleasure, to alter or annihilate 
both the mode and essence of any former gov- 
ernment, and adopt a new one in its stead. 

Placing ourselves then upon this broad basis 
of civil liberty, founded on natural right, we 
will, unawed by the standing armies of any 
tyrant's tools,* or monarch's, deliberate freely 
upon the nature of their institutions, and their 
dangerous tendency to the rights of man. 

Every military force must necessarily imply 
a right of exercising an arbitrary power, so far 
as respects the objects against which it is to 
be directed ; and what will be the objects, 
against which it will be in constant exercise, in 
proportion to its extent, we may collect from 
the experience of ages, and the well known 
source of human actions. 

The page of history seldom groans with the 
calamities of mankind, but we may trace the 
source of their unhappiness to this engine of 
oppression. 

Projected in the blackest principles of the 
human mind, and supported by ambition and a 
lust of unbounded sway, this armed monster 
hath spread havoc and misery throughout the 
world. We find the bloody traces of its foot- 
steps through all the ruins of greatness and 
freedom, either in ancient or modern times : 
the most free and opulent cities of the world, 
by conniving at its birth, have, at last, fallen a 
prey to its relentless fury.t 

While we are ravished with the politeness, 

* The petty states and princes who have raised their 
armies as a peasant would his game cocks, and sent them 
to market for a price, are in the most infamous sense of 
the word, tools. 

"t Pisistratus of Athens, Dionysius of Syracuse, and 
Caesar of Rome, furnish a few among numberless exam- 
pleSt that history affords. 



wisdom, and greatness of the Grecian states, 
we can scarce believe that the productions of 
such art, refinement, and learning, should ever 
be subdued by a power that never could have 
crept into life, but through the channel of 
their indulgence. 

But alas ! their fate remains a standing 
monument of this truth ; that freedom, at 
sufferance, is a solecism in politics. 

To avoid the pain that humanity must suffer, 
upon finding so few instances of virtue that 
have been proof against the temptations to 
prostitute a delegated power, I am inclined to 
think, that the great Founder of societies has 
caused the curse of infatuating ambition, and 
relentless cruelty, to be entailed on those 
whose vanity may lead them to assume his 
prerogative among any of his people as they 
are cantoned about in the world, and to pre- 
vent mankind from paying that adoration and 
respect to the most dignified mortal, which is 
due only to infinite wisdom and goodness, in 
the direction of almighty power, and therefore 
that he alone is fit to be a monarch. 

Were we to traverse the whole field of 
human transactions, and expect any where to 
find an exemption from this general charge 
we should most naturally fix our eyes upon the 
Romans — but how mortified do we find our- 
selves by the survey ? 

At the very time this people were most 
famed for their virtue and greatness — while 
they w'ere regaling themselves with luxurious 
ease in the lap of freedom — the provinces, 
they obtained by fraud and violence, were suf- 
fering under every species of the vilest servi- 
tude, and made to contribute to that very ease 
and luxury at the discretion of the most merci- 
less unfeeling task-masters. 

But they themselves, by the same tools they 
had armed to execute their bloody purposes, 
in their turn, became the subjects of the same 
kind of oppression they so liberally dealt out 
to others, and stand recorded in history equal 
monuments of the greatness and depravity of 
human nature. 

Taught by the experience of former ages, 
that a general, at the head of an armed force, 
would ever make himself superior to the laws, 
Europe, for several centuries, raised efTectual 
barriers against the danger (and, I may say, 
the possibility) of their usurpations ; for the 
tenure * of their lands, though they acknow- 
ledge a superior lord, was upon conditions so 
abhorrent to the idea of standing armies, that 
it offered at once, both a promise and a pledge 
against them. 

* The feudal tenure. 



48 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



But to convince us that no human institu- 
tions can insure permanent felicity to manl<ind, 
— security, the offspring of ease and freedom, 
opened the door for one enterprising usurper 
after another,* till the inhabitants of the whole 
eastern world had but little left of the property 
of their species but what they possessed in 
their shape. 

Strange metamorphosis ! but is it not much 
stranger still, to see these pitiable wretches 
stript of every enjoyment that can render life a 
blessing, meanly courting favor and protection 
from the tyrants who enslaved them, and 
easily mistaking the chains of servitude for 
the garb of nature ? 

The formalities of a free, and the ends of a 
despotic state (says a modem writer) have 
often subsisted together ; Britain furnishes a 
most unhappy example of this shocking truth ; 
as if the relish of liberty was pampered to 
make slavery itself more intolerably loath- 
some, they feel all the mortifying consequences 
of the basest servitude, and are left to console 
themselves with this consideration, that the 
weight of their grievances can never be in- 
creased while they are complimented, or rather 
tantalized with the name of freemen. These 
are some of the glorious effects of standing 
armies among foreign nations. Let us now 
consider their consequences in that part of 
the world, in whose affairs we take a more in- 
teresting part. _ 



would not scruple to make use of every artifice 
and violence to reduce the very people to 
whose generosity they were indebted for their 
splendor, wealth, and greatness, to a state of 
vassalage, would never hesitate to make their 
conquests as extensive as their power ; — they 
can feel the influence of no law but that of the 
sword, and therefore (whatever may be their 
pretensions) you will, in every case, find them 
ultimately make an appeal to its decisions. 

If such are the governors, what must the 
people be ? having been robbed of liberty 
themselves, without the faintest struggle in its 
defence, t they are just fit to be made the in- 
struments of wresting it from others. 

How can we expect that they who know 
nothing of the happiness of freedom them- 
selves should feel any reluctance at reducing 
all mankind to their own disgraceful situation ? 
indeed the reverse is true, for we generally 

* Charles V^II. and Louis XI. of France, having set the 
example, all the crowned heads in Europe soon fol- 
lowed it. 

t The murder of two or three people in St. George's 
fields, seems to be all the ceremony attending the death 
and burial of British liberty. 



find them taking an unnatural pleasure in 
stripping others of the noblest ornaments and 
gifts of nature, to countenance their own de- 
formity and wretchedness. 

A trifling farce, therefore, upon the question 
of right in parliament, was all the previous 
parade that was thought necessar)- to the intro- 
duction of a standing army, with all the ensigns 
of war, into the bowels oi our country. 

It is needless to recount the various preludes 
to hostilities, the fatal day we now commemo- 
rate, opened a scene that filled every honest 
mind with indignation, and every tender heart 
with distress.* — It is impossible for any one 
who were not witnesses of that shocking event, 
to conceive the terrors of that dreadful night, 
and they who were must have images of hor- 
ror upon the mind they never can communi- 
cate. 

The variety of contending passions that 
once fall upon and distract the mind, upon the 
arrival of such an important crisis, can never 
be realized but once. 

To see the peaceful inhabitants of a city, 
deliberately murdered by the very men, who, 
in pretence, were supported for their protection 
— to hear the piercing groans — to see the man- 
gled bodies and ghastly visages of the dying 
and the dead — to hear the shrieks and cries of 
the timid, with the promiscuous, mingling hor- 
rid sound of arms, execrations, and vengeance, 
produced a scene of confusion and wretched- 



It is easy to conceive that those men who"'*ness, so complicated and complete, that the 



power of the richest langpiage must ever fail in 
describing it.t 

The eye of pity is yet called to drop a tear 
at the sufferings, and patriotism to pour the 
balm of charity over the wounds of half-mur- 
dered citizens, dragging out a miserable life, 
and fresh bleeding with the blows aimed at 
our country. 

We could dwell, with a melancholy pleasure, 
on this sad catastrophe, did not a more ample 
field of violence, bloodshed, and cruelty, de- 
mand our attention. 

The palpable absurdity of making use of the 
name of a king, to give a sanction to those 
very operations which were carrj'ing on against 
him, has been so sensibly felt, through all 
ranks of men, that we have not yet altogether 
got rid of its disagreeable effects. 

And I must confess I should blush at the 
ludicrous figure in which this part of our his- 



-Quis talia fando. 



Myrmidonum, Dolopumve, aut duri miles Ulyssei, 
Temperet a lachrymis. —I'irgii. 
t Non mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, 
Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas 
posslm. — VirgiL 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



49 



tory must exhibit to view, in future time, were 
we not countenanced by the same, or more 
striking inconsistencies which are to be found 
attendant (and perhaps necessarily so) upon 
all important revolutions. 

We can easily conceive a mixture of preju- 
dice and fear, that will excite such awful ideas 
of the person, to whom we have been taught 
from our cradles, to annex the properties of a 
most gracious sovereign, most sacred majesty, 
and a train of such God-like attributes, as 
would make us feel conscious of a degree of 
impiety, in calling a villain by his proper name, 
while shrouded under this garb of sanctity. 

But it is exceedingly diverting to view the 
influence of this chimerical divinity in those 
who are made the immediate tools of sup- 
porting it — they will tell you it is a task most 
ungrateful to men of their sensibility and refine- 
ment, to be made the instruments of sending 
fire and death indiscriminately among the in- 
nocent, the helpless, and the fair— but they 
have sworn to be faithful to their sovereign, 
and were they ordered to scale the walls of the 
new Jerusalem, they should not dare to decline 
the impious attempt. 

Were it not for this ridiculous faith in the 
omnipotence of the tyrant whom they serve, 
we must suppose them fools or madmen : — In- 
deed that very faith would justify the charge 
of extreme madness and folly against all man- 
kind, who had not been nurtured in this cradle 
of infatuation. 

Were it not for the indulgence that a gene- 
rous mind will always shew to the weakness 
and prejudices of the worst of men, many whom 
the chance of war has thrown into our hands, 
must have felt the severity and contempt of 
a justly enraged people, while they, with all 
their vanity and ostentation, remain the unhurt 
objects of our pity. 

It is surely rather a subject of merry ridi- 
cule, than deserving of serious resentment, to 
see many of this kind of gentry affecting to 
deny the character of prisoners, and attributing 
that indulgence which is the effect of unparal- 
leled generosity, to the mean motive of fear ; 
but we will let them know, that they cannot 
provoke us even to justice in the line of punish- 
ment, and we leave them to their own con- 
sciences and the impartial censures of sur- 
rounding nations, to make some returns for the 
unexampled cruelties that many of our friends 
have suffered from their barbarous hands ; * in 

* Captain Johnson and his crew, the prisoners in gen- 
eral at New York and Halifax, Mr. Lovell and many 
others in Boston, are instances sufficient to destroy the 
little credit they ever had for humanity ; and the sufferings 
of some to which I have myself been a witness, exposed 

4 



lieu of that severity, which, however just, hu- 
manity shudders to inflict. But we cannot 
think it strange to find people in the subordi- 
nate departments of life influenced by such 
ridiculous notions, while their haughty masters 
seem to labor under the misfortune of the 
same infatuation. 

Slaves always rate the consequence of those 
they serve, by the treatment they receive from 
them and wonder that others do not feel the 
weight of the same importance. 

To call men of distinguished rank, in any go- 
vernment, knaves, fools and scoundrels, how- 
ever they may deserve it, is esteemed neither 
polite or decent : I am, therefore, at a loss for 
names while I am describing the oppressors of 
my country. Who, without deserving these 
reproachful appellations, could have conceived 
the horrid wish of decking his crown with the 
idle plume of foreign empire at the expense of 
the peace, wealth, and very being of a nation ; 
and who but a pompous blockhead, in the exe- 
cution of this impious design, could expect to 
conquer a hardy, virtuous set of men, by 
ineffectual threats and empty promises, con- 
tained in a set of proclamations, he wanted 
either courage or power to disperse among the 
people they were designed to subdue ? t 

Possibly they may conceive the length of 
their master's purse, at the rate of thirty crowns 
a man, to be equal to all the armed force of 
Europe, and therefore they should be able 
ultimately to effect that by the point of the 
bayonet, which they rather wished, than 
expected, to obtain on any other terms. 

Here let us pause, and for the honor of our 
species, give a moment to reflection upon this 
shocking idea ! is it possible that any race of 
men should be so lost to a sense of the rights 
of nature, and the dignity of their rank in the 
chain of beings, as to suffer themselves (like 
the horses which they ride) to be tutored to 
the field of war, to have a price set upon their 
lives, which their masters will receive, and then 
be sold into the service of lust, ambition and 
avarice, and become the tools of eternal war 
against the lives, the properties, and freedom 
of the rest of mankind. 

But, thanks to heaven ! this black combina- 
tion of passions, supported by the unmasked 

to all the inconveniences and hazards of a languishing 
disease in confinement on ship board, in view of the per- 
sons and habitations of their nearest friends, and a sympa- 
thizing parent turned over the side with reproaches, for 
attempting to speali to his siclt, suffering, dying child, 
must give the characters of the polite, sensible, humane 
admiral Graves, and his nephew Sam, a stamp of infamy, 
which the power of time can never wipe away. 

+ The generals Gage and Howe, have been playing this 
warlike game ever since they have been in the country. 



50 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



tyrant of Britain, with all the mercenary forces 
of his powerful and extensive allies, have 
hitherto proved unsuccessful (and I trust in 
God they ever will) in every effort to contami- 
nate the only column of free air in both hemis- 
pheres : however, one advantage we derive 
from their open attempts, which is to expect no 
security for ourselves, but in their ruin ; delibe- 
rate murders, indiscriminate plunder, and the 
most of barbarous violence upon the delicacy 
and virtue of the fair, have marked the few 
paces of imaginary conquest they have trod.* 

Methinks I see the tender parent, frantic 
with rage, defying hosts of ruffians armed, and 
courting death in every form, rather than live 
the witness of his daughter's shame ; — ah ! hear 
the shrieks of virgin innocence calling in vain 
for succor from that arm which oft defended 
her ! but see the helpless victim of their British 
lust, in wild despair, wringing her guiltless 
hands, with looks to heaven, as if, without a 
crime, she had lost her only title to those pure 
abodes ! where is the coward heart that does 
not beat to arms, and glow with unusual ardor 
for revenge ? 

Where are friends to reconciliation, with 
these foes to virtue ? they will tell us their 
power is formidable, and it is wise to accom- 
modate ourselves to the requisitions of superior 
force — as soon I'd tamper with the power of 
hell! for, 

" Tis the worst of slavery 



'* Tamely to bend our necks beneath the yoke 
*' And suffer fraud to talk us out of freedom." 

They wish not to soothe but to destroy us; 
and if this stale artifice of tyrants should suc- 
ceed, we well deserve the ruin it insures. 
They never ask for what they can demand, and 
impotence alone prevents a general carnage. 

Does courage want a stimulus in the de- 
fence of virtue .' let us cast our eyes on the 
example of our illustrious general ; equally 
beyond the reach of calumny and encomium, 
the tongue of slander has never dared to 
att.ick him, while the ablest panegyrist must 
blush when he is attempting to give him half 
the eulogiums which are his due. 

The generous sacrifice he has made of pri- 
vate interest, domestic felicity, and all the con- 
sequent refined enjoyments of social life, to 
the exigencies of his country in the field of 
war : — the cheerfulness with which he has 
sustained all the hardships, anxieties, and dis- 
appointments of two important campaigns, 
against a formidable body of well disciplined 
veterans, with an army composed of men dif- 

■* See accounts of their proceedings in the Jersies, and 
general orders in the orderly book taken at Trenton. 



ferent in their manners, and unused to the 
discipline of a camp, without exciting the 
smallest jealousies in the civil power on the 
one hand, or giving occasion for the faintest 
murmurs among his soldiers, on the other: 
finally, when his enemies were at the zenith 
of their glory, and, in imagination, already in 
possession of a conquered world ; — with the 
remnant of his expiring army, to resume the 
field, and with this handful of his chosen fol- 
lowers, disperse, destroy, or captivate hosts of 
foes must excite sentiments of affection, grati- 
tude, and esteem, that border upon adoration. 

Did not a life of the most disinterested pa- 
triotism and unremitted ardor in the cause of 
virtue and mankind, point him out as an excep- 
tion to the charge we have so fully supported 
against all who lived before him, I should 
dread more from the virtues of this great man, 
than from all the standing armies in the world. 

But so full a confidence do I possess in his 
inviolable attachment to the rights of humanity 
and the cause of freedom, that in some future 
emergencies of the state (produced perhaps 
by the shifting fortune of the war) to his in- 
stinctive goodness and eccentric operations, I 
would most cheerfully commit supreme com- 
mand. 

I will explain my sentiments upon this sub- 
ject by those of a friend, in his own words. 

" 'Tis best that reason govern man, 

'Tis calm, deliberate, wise, 
Yet passions were not given in vain, 

Here then the ditference lies. 

Reason, tho' sure, too slow is found 

In great emergencies. 
While passion instant feels the wound, 

As quick the cure applies. 

Yet that must not due bounds transgress, 

But move at reason's nod, 
Submit at last to her decrees 

And own her for the God. 

'Twas thus the synod of our land, 

The reasoning power of state, 
Gave Washington supreme command 

And made his orders fate. 

Yet as necessity impelled 

The step — when that is past 
The senate shall resume the field 

And reign supreme at last." 

In support of such a cause, directed by such 
a leader, who would think his life too dear a 
sacrifice ? — let the mean, base, groveling soul, 
that wishes for security on any terms, through 
fear forget he is a man, cringe to the creature 
he despises, smile on the man he hates, alter- 
nately shake hands with vice and virtue, and 
court protection from the power he wishes to 
destroy! — let us, my friends, determine to 
maintain our sacred rights, or perish in the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



51 



attempt, * with ^^gor urge the war, frown on 
our foes wherever we meet them, despise 
their mercy when we feel power, and from this 
moment hold ourselves beyond the reach of 
pardon. 

ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
1778. 

BY JONATHAN W. AUSTIN, ESQ. 

■ Multaque rubentia Ciede 

Lubrica Saxa raadent, nulli sua profuit .(Etas. 

Lucarty Lib. z. 

Hie ubi barbarus hostis, 

Ut fera plus valeant legibus arma facit. — Ovid de Ponto. 

Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando 
Explicet ? aut possit lachrymis sequare labores ? 
Plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim 
Corpora. — I'irgilzd j^neid. 

My friends and fellow-citizens. — To weep 
over the tomb of the patriot — to drop a tear 
to the memory of those unfortunate citizens, 
who fell the first sacrifice to tyranny and usur- 
pation, is noble, generous and humane. Such 
are the sentiments that influence you, my coun- 
trymen, or why, through successive periods, 
with heart-felt sensations, have you attended 
this solemn anniversary', and paid this sad 
tribute to the memory of your slaughtered 
brethren. Nor is the circle contracted — the 
most amiable part of the creation share the 
grief, and, soft pity beaming in their coun- 
tenances, like the daughters of Israel, annually 
lament the fate of others, and weep over the 
miseries of their country.t Come then, my 
friends, let us enter the solitary courts of death, 
and, perhaps, an hour spent in such reflection, 
may afford as solid improvement as nature in 
her gayest scenes. 

To commemorate the deaths of those men 
who fell unhappy victims to brutal violence — to 
show the dangerous tendency of standing ar- 
mies in populous cities in time of peace, the 
origin of this fatal catastrophe — to trace its 
connection and effects, as they have been, and 
are now displayed, in different parts of America, 
I take to be the design of this day's solemnity. 

It appears to me needless to enter into the 
nature and ends of civil government, and to 
evince that standing armies are a solecism in 
such a constitution. Such sentiments are 
founded in nature, and have, for ages, under 
different meridians, been fully displayed by 
men who knew the rights of nature and man- 

* Justum et tenacem propositi virum, 
Non civium ardor, prava jubentium 
Non vultus instantis tyranni 

Mente quatit solida: 

+ Judges, xi. 39, 40. 



kind. The names of Locke, Sydney and 
Hampden, have long been illustrious, and my 
countrymen are too well acquainted with their 
writings, not to venerate their memories. Nor 
can I forget the same sentiments which have 
charmed you from the lips of men, who have 
spoken before me, on the same occasion, whose 
characters will be ever dear, and the exertions 
of whose patriotism and virtue, e.\hibited in 
the most critical situations, posterity will ever 
wonder at and revere. 

In short, to confirm this point by logical 
conclusions, must be an useless mispense of 
time. Even a crown lawyer, whose sentiments 
are not always friendly to the rights of man- 
kind, will tell us, " in a land of liberty, it is ex- 
tremely dangerous to make a distinct order of ' 
the profession of arms. In absolute monarchies 
this is indeed necessary for the safety of the 
prince, and arises from the main principle of 
their constitution, which is governing by fear ; 
but in free states, the profession of a soldier, 
taken singly and merely as a profession, is 
justly an object of jealousy. The laws, there- 
fore, and constitution of these kingdoms, know 
no such thing as a perpetual standing soldier." * 

Arguments existing in theory, however the 
mind may be captivated, do not always con- 
vince ; and consequences, traced from the same 
source, are seldom interesting. But when we 
find the apprehensions of the greatest and best 
of mankind, who, actuated by a principle of 
benevolence, felt for the common interests, fully 
displayed in awful and tremendous effects, we 
then start from our lethargy, and like the sen- 
sitive plant, shrink from approaching danger ! 
such is the case with respect to the subject 
before us. Philosophers and statesmen have 4 
shewn how dangerous standing armies must 
be in a free state, and every page in the volume 
of mankind confirms the melancholy account. 

Speculative writers may indeed tell us, that 
the seeds of dissolution exist in every body 
politic — that like the body natural, it must de- 
cay and die — and that the same causes, which 
brought the empires of Belus and Cyrus to 
destruction, will sap every other government 
on earth.t For my own part, I am no fatalist, 
and nil dcsperandum pro republica, is to me a 
much preferable, and more generous motto. 
And instead of enumerating their many vices 
and corruptions, as the original cause, I think 
a little acquaintance with history will inform 
us, that they are not merely the original cause, 
but consequences resulting from the fatal 
measures we are considering. In absolute 

• Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. I. page 407. 
+ See Belisarius by M. Marmontel. 



52 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



monarchies, where the military is the principal 
engine of government, we are not to look for a 
confirmation of this argument. But in repub- 
lics, 'til the introduction of a soldiery, distinct 
from the citizens, we find them as remote from 
corruption, luxur\-, and the other black cata- 
logue of vices, as any human system can attain 
to: but when standing troops were introduced, 
they immediately followed. Depravity of man- 
ners — a dislike to virtue and manly sentiment 
— effeminacy, and those grosser vices too in- 
delicate to be mentioned in this place, stalked 
like demons through our cities. Witness, ye 
republics, that were once great and illustrious, 
but are now no more ! witness, O Boston ! for 
ye were too well acquainted with the melan- 
choly truth ! 

We will now confirm the sentiment by a 
brief inspection into some parts of history. 

The Greeks were a republic, that in a short 
flight of years, exhibited the most glorious 
spectacle that ever appeared to mankind ; and, 
as one observes, the age they lived in, seemed 
to be the golden period of human nature.* In 
every branch of war or peace, in every species 
of science they excelled, and were at once 
feared, admired, and venerated by the other 
nations of the world ; yet this heroic confede- 
racy was originally reduced from this glorious 
superiority, by the arts of out: mant under the 
idea of a guard, from an inconsiderable num- 
ber of attendants, he increased to that stretch 
of power as proved the fatal stab to the vitals 
of his country. The bank thus broken down, 
the tide swelled too rapidly to be stemmed, and 
virtue, freedom and the laws, all fell a sacrifice. 

Similar was the situation of the Romans. 
Although not so universally distinguished as 
the Greeks, yet from the expulsion of their 
kings, to the time of Marius, they evinced to 
what a prodigious greatness mankind may 
arrive when actuated by the principles of liberty, 
virtue and honor. Influenced by such motives, 
no wonder their actions were conformable : 
and while the most rigid inflexibility presided 
at home, the Roman eagle flew to the remotest 
corner of the globe. 

Can we then suppose, when we view the 
characters which appeared on the stage at this 
period — when we consider how remote they 
were from those vices which have been preva- 
lent in powerful monarchies, and how carefully 
they watched the sacred altar of freedom, that 
they themselves must remain a standing monu- 
ment of the consequences of this fatal measure. 
Such is the case. Marius, in new modelling 
the legions, and replacing the citizens who 
* Harris Hermes. t Pisistratus. 



served in them with foreign mercenaries, laid 
the horrid foundation. The door was now 
open for one too powerful citizen after another, 
until Caesar, losing every check, and laughing 
at the impotent anathemas of the senate, with 
the distant legions marched to Rome, and 
formed a new era in their history. From this 
period we are charmed no more with the illus- 
trious actions, and the last remains of dignity 
sunk in the Roman world. So true is it, that 
when a people lose their liberty, they at once 
become fit subjects of ever)' thing base and 
infamous. 

We have thus far produced instances of the 
fatal effects of armies thus kept up. which have 
ended in the utter subversion of the laws and 
government of two of the most memorable 
republics in ancient story. We will now shift 
the scene, and while we show their dangerous 
tendency in states of a more modem date, we 
will exhibit an illustrious example through 
what scenes of danger, hardships and blood, 
the determined spirits of honor, and attach- 
ment to freedom, will carry a people. 

Previous to mentioning the situation of the 
United Provinces, I must remark how very simi- 
lar their circumstances were to ours. We shall 
ever find it an unalterable maxim of princes, 
who in time of peace kept up a standing force, 
however they may call them the protectors of 
law, the end is to subvert those laws and 
render the constitution useless. Such was the 
mode of conduct of Philip the Second, of Spain, 
to the Low countries, and such the procedure 
of a similar character, George the Third, of 
Britain, influenced by a despicable ministry. , 
The former, as Sir William Temple obser\'es, ' 
thinking it not agreeing with his greatness," 
(an army being now in the bowels of their 
country) " to consider their discontents, or be 
limited by their ancient forms of government," 
proceeds to despise the one and overturn the 
other. New courts judicatory were appointed, 
new offices established, depending absolutely 
on the king.* 

What was the consequence ? — could it be 
supposed a generous people would sit down 
tamely, and kiss the rod that lashed them .' a 
different mode of conduct ensued. The duke 
of Alva was sent with a powerful army, the 
very forcible plea of tyrants, and the most 
shocking cruelties were committed. Here let 
humanity spread her veil, nor let the tender 
breast heave with anguish at such scenes. 
But shocking as they are, they flow as naturally 
from this cursed engine of oppression, as beams 

* Sir William Temple's observations on the United Pro 
vlnces, Page at. 33. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



53 



of light from the sun. For as the same sensi- 
ble writer observes, " so great antipathy ever 
appears between citizens and soldiers ; while 
one pretends to be safe under law, which the 
other pretends shall be subject to his sword 
and his will." 

But terrible as the many executions of their 
most illustrious patriots appeared to them, 
while the land was drenched in its richest blood 
— however affecting the sight of confiscations, 
imprisonments, and the numberless cruelties 
that attended them, they were not daunted. 
That God who hateth oppression, and de- 
lighteth in the happiness of his creation, inspired 
them with sentiments that carried them through 
innumerable hardships, till after having ex- 
pended immense treasures and blood for 
better than threescore years, they laid the foun- 
dation of a rich, free, and flourishing people : 
Providence hereby giving an instructive lesson 
to posterity in every age, who are contending 
for all that is dear and sacred, to pursue the 
glorious object undaunted ; knowing that, as 
liberty is a plant transplanted from the garden 
of heaven, its divine parent will still cherish it, 
and, in spite of opposition, it will flourish, it will 
live forever. 

Such, my friends, have been the methods 
used by enterprising men, in former ages, to 
carry into effect their ambitious designs, and 
found their greatness on the ruins of their 
country. But in our day, these measures have 
become systematical. They are in fact part of 
the constitution. To take a view of the differ- 
ent powers in Europe, and compare them with 
the state of ancient republics, under great and 
wise legislators, who seemed to be raised up 
for the benefit of the age they lived in, and the 
admiration of posterity, we must drop the tear 
of sensibility at the contrast. Where is the 
kingdom that does not groan under the calami- 
ties of military tyranny? let us pause awhile 
on the most eminent of them. 

In the large empire of Russia, the effects are 
glaring. Even the shadow of liberty has 
vanished. Of so great importance is the 
military, that a recruiting officer can go through 
their villages, and pitch upon the ablest of the 
inhabitants, as he would choose his cattle. 
And even a father has been imprisoned in his 
own house, for the escape of a child, while, 
by order of the officer, his own sons have been 
his jailers.* 

Perhaps there is no nation in any part of the 

world, more happy than France, in every 

luxury of life. But amid this profusion of 

plenty, the farmer exhibits the most wretched 

* Vid. Guthrie's Grammar. 



spectacle in nature. Supported by the glean- 
ings of the field, the fruits of his labor go to 
the subsistence of the sold ery. Thus dispirited 
and depressed, he contents himself with the 
refuse of his ground, while, after his greatest 
exertions, another will reap the fruits of his 
honest industry. The most obdurate breast 
must melt at such scenes, and execrate the 
effects of standing armies. 

Look into the situation of Poland. Under 
the direction of that great man,* famous for 
his victories against the Turks, they were brave 
and virtuous, and proved the bulwark of Chris- 
tendom. But, under the Saxon line, this spirit 
not suiting their plan of government, was awed 
by electoral troops, and totally decayed. The 
consequences are now severely experienced by 
them ; and while in this depressed state, they 
are an object of desire to Turks and Russians, 
their country is a scene of bloodshed and 
misery. 

It is needless to mention England, or the 
idle farce of an annual act of parliament, for 
the support of standing troops, which is noth- 
ing but an insult on the sense of that nation. 
The more virtuous among them, if the flame of 
liberty has not entirely expired, easily see 
through the guise, and in the death of Allen 
and others, wantonly butchered by a mercenary 
soldiery, can too clearly read the fate of them- 
selves and posterity. 

The melancholy part of this subject must 
give pain to every humane breast. This is 
natural. But these scenes more directly affect 
other nations ; and however we may pity the 
unhappy sufferer, there is a kind of pleasure 
we feel that we ourselves are not immediately 
interested. And would to God, it had ever 
remained so. O my country ! with what heart- 
felt satisfaction should I rejoice, if oppression 
had never stretched her baleful wings to this 
once happy clime ! that that liberty which an 
illustrious set of men, of whom the world was 
not worthy, purchased at so dear a rate, might 
have descended unimpaired to latest posterity. 
But is this the case ? has this scourge of man- 
kind, standing armies, never interrupted our 
prosperity.' if so, why is this desk hung with 
the sable covering of death ! why am I sur- 
rounded by so many of my fellow-citizens, who 
listen to the tale of woe I yes, my countrymen, 
we ourselves are deeply interested ; and this 
same engine of oppression, which has thrown 
mighty republics from their foundations, has 
attempted and still continues to spread the 
same horrid consequences in America : and in 
its usual mode of conduct, has been attended 
* John Sobieskj. 



54 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



with every species of cruelty, some of them 
unheard of before ; but which your freemen 
under God, has hitherto, and I pray ever may, 
surmount. 

The shocking- scene of that dreadful night, 
the fatal effects of which we are now still 
weeping over, is beyond description. No one, 
perhaps, if it is taken in every view, that was not 
a spectator, can conceive it. When I consider 
the many insults, abuses, and violences, this 
unhappy town was exposed to for months 
previous to this melancholy tragedy, and 
when the tumult of contrary passions was thus 
naturally excited, to see a brutal soldier)-, 
scattering promiscuous death through a de- 
fenceless, unarmed multitude, till yonder street 
was crimsoned with the blood of its citizens, 
while a tender mother, frantic with grief, 
pours forth the anguish of her heart over a 
beloved son, now incapable of any returns of 
gratitude ; all this exhibits a scene which the 
distressed heart may painfully feel, but which 
the tongue cannot express. Let the breast 
then, still continue to beat. These, my friends, 
are virtuous, generous feelings, and do honor 
to humanity. May we ever retain them. — 
May this institution, sacred to the memory of 
our murdered brethren, be ever carefully pre- 
served. Yes, ye injured shades ! we will still 
weep over you, and if any thing can be more 
soothing, we will revenge you. 

This glaring specimen of cruelty roused the 
citizens, and in convincing colors displayed the 
effects of standing armies in time of peace. 
But however our exertions were then success- 
ful, however the storm subsided, it was but 
temporary. While the scales of justice were 
held in palsied hands, and the most shocking 
barbarities were the highest merit, an addi- 
tional force only was necessarj-. That arriving, 
the mask was thrown off, and a still greater 
scene of carnage and destruction opened in our 
adjacent villages. 

But such proceedings, however alarming at 
that period, were soon lost in more dreadful and 
distressing operations. The heights of Charles- 
towa too awfully convinced us of the melan- 
choly truth, and posterity, while with tears of 
compassion they ponder the transactions of 
that day, must execrate the causes which pro- 
duced them. In any situation, the relics of 
slaughtered citizens are objects of pity, and 
the sympathizing spectator will ever drop a 
tear over them. But there may be instances 
when the lesser streams of affection are ab- 
sorbed in a still greater sea of woe. Such are 
the sentiments that strike every breast, when 
we reflect, illustrious Warren, on thy death — 



a death, which whole hecatombs of slaughtered 
enemies, strowed around thy corpse, can never 
repay. — Here, ye minions of power ! ye who 
are dead to the calls of honor and public virtue, 
are willing to wade to station through the blood 
of your brethren, here behold a spectacle that 
must harrow your inmost soul. You, my 
countrymen, with the most pleasing sensations 
have attentively listened, while, like us, he was 
weeping over the unhappy fate of others. You 
have kindled into rage while he has set before 
you the dangerous nature and consequences of 
standing armies, and prophetically pointed out 
to you still greater events. How affecting that 
he, who could lament the fate of others, must 
be himself deplored ; and that he who could so 
feelingly paint the effects of this horrid mea- 
sure, must himself fall one of the first sacrifices 
to it. 

But it is not sufficient to drop a transient 
tear to the memory of departed heroes, and to 
pay an eulogy to their characters. The happi- 
ness of* such men who, after having expired in 
the arms of liberty and virtue, are now sharing 
the highest degree of felicity, cannot be in- 
creased by our praises : no, my friends, the 
best way to express our affections for such 
great and good men, is to rouse and revenge 
them. To hurl still fiercer bolts of vengeance 
on an inhuman soldier)', who instead of affor- 
ding the last honors sacred to the dead, and 
which a generous enemy will ever regard, — 
after grinning with hellish pleasure on the 
mangled corpse, which alive could strike 
terror into their boldest heart, lodged it in a 
promiscuous grave ; that since they could not 
prevent his name and reputation being immor- 
tal, his remains might be hid forever. O 
Britain ! thou hast, and stilt shall weep tears of 
blood for this ! 

Are not such instances, my countrjmen, very 
convincing proofs of the fatal effects of stand- 
ing armies in time of peace. In such a period 
they originated, and from the fifth of March, 
1770, through every degree of violence and 
barbarity, to the present day, it is but one 
connected scene. 

After such exhibitions of cruelty and carnage, 
what can we suppose too brutal, too infamous 
for such an army ? can we wonder to see our 
houses in flames, our altars rased to the ground, 
or converted to a much more horrid use, than 
the Jewish temple ? if possible they have even 
exceeded ; and the armies of Britain seem to 
be held up as a standing evidence, how far the 
spirit of tyranny and oppression can operate. 

We shudder when the faithful page of his- 
tory opens to our view the conduct of armies. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



55 



flushed with victory, saci^ing towns, burning 
villages, and perpetrating murders, with all the 
other dreadful concomitants. But if we look 
into the conduct of the British army in the 
Jerseys, and some part of the state of New 
York, we shall find instances of all these crimes, 
and, perhaps, in some places, instances beyond 
them. To see the third city in a neighboring 
state, wantonly consumed by an enemy who, 
not having spirit or ability to meet us in the 
field, descend to these little mean methods of 
exciting terror — to see the ravages in the Jer- 
seys, and the garden of America thus wantonly 
defaced — does not the blood beat high ! — do 
we not press forward to exterminate such bar- 
barians from the face of the earth ! but to men- 
tion still greater scenes of cruelty — does not 
the ear tingle, when it hears the shrieks of 
helpless virgins, dreadful victims to lust and 
barbarity ; while the grey hairs and expressive 
groans of an aged parent, witness to his daugh- 
ter's shame, plead in vain. Can any thing 
swell this complicated scene of woe.' it can 
receive addition. The monsters exceed even 
the most barbarous nations. With them the 
ashes of the dead have ever been sacred. But 
under the patronage of a British tyrant and 
his general, snuffing the tainted gale, they have 
ransacked the silent repositories, and the 
remains of one that was once amiable and cap- 
tivating, flung about as food for the birds of 
the air.* O God, where is thy vengeance ! O 
virtue, honor, religion, humanity, where, where 
are ye fled ! 

These, my countrj-men, are not the flights of 
fancy, not the dictates of imagination : they 
are solid, though very affecting realities. Can 
we then wish a re-union with such a people ? 
can we ever familiarly shake hands with a 
nation who, leaping every barrier, are thus 
wantonly sporting with our distresses, and 
bathing themselves in the blood of our coun- 
trymen ? may America never retain such 
mean, dastardly sentiments ! for my own part, 
if I may be indulged, I would entreat, 
I would conjure every one, who as a parent 
feels for the welfare of his posterity, to 
imitate the example of the renowned Cartha- 
genian.t Lead your sons, ye fathers, not to 

* Delauncy's Farm. 

t As Hannibal, then about nine years old, was soothing 
with childish caresses his father, Hamilcar, to take him 
along with him to Spain, whither, after finishing the war in 
Africa, he was now about to transport his troops, and was 
sacrificing for success in that expedition, he was led by 
his father to the altar, and with his hand on the victim, 
was bound by this solemn oath, " that as soon as he 
should have it in his power, he would declare himself an 
enemy to the Roman people.'' 

Livy^ B. 31. ck. I. 



the altar of paganism, and under the tutelage 
of some unknown deity, but to the sacred altar 
of freedom, and while the guardian God of 
America is witness to the solemn obligation, 
make them swear that they will never be 
friends to a power, who are thus sacrificing 
their dearest privileges. Ring in their young 
ears the dreadful tale of murders, rapes, and 
massacres. Paint to them the conduct of Bri- 
tain, as displayed in her arms in different parts 
of America, till their young breasts glow with 
ardor, and thus early catching the flame of 
patriotism, they may, through life, pursue un- 
daunted so glorious an object. Pleased with 
such an invocation, the shades of our fathers 
will rejoice over their posterity, and the angels 
of love and purity will look down delighted. 

No one, I think, can suppose these thoughts 
proceed from rage or passion. They are the 
cool dictates of my heart. I love my country ; 
her distresses affect me ; nor, from this mo- 
ment, do I ever wish a reconciliation with a 
power, whose prosperity must be founded on 
my utter destruction. 

I have now, my countrymen, endeavored to 
exhibit the fatal effects of standing armies in 
time of peace ; not from abstract reasoning, 
but as they exist in fact, and now prevail in our 
distressed land. Here I would remark, that it 
is standing armies in time of peace, and the 
consequences thence resulting, that we are 
now deprecating. Armies, in defence of our 
country, unjustly invaded, are necessary', and 
in the highest sense justifiable. We, my friends, 
attacked by an arbitrar)- tyrant, under the 
sanction of a force, the effects of which, we 
have attempted to illustrate, have been obliged 
to make the last solemn appeal. And I cannot 
but feel a pleasing kind of transport, when I 
see America, undaunted by the many trying 
scenes that have attended her, still baffling the 
efforts of the most formidable power in Europe, 
and exhibiting an instance unknown in history. 
To see an army of veterans, who had fought 
and conquered in different quarters of the 
globe — headed by a general tutored in the 
field of war, illustrious by former victories, and 
flushed with repeated successes, threatening, 
with all the pomp of expression, to spread hav- 
oc, desolation, and ruin around him ; to see 
such a soldiery and such a general, yielding to 
an hardy race of men, new to the field of war ; 
while on the one hand it exalts the character 
of the latter, convincingly proves the folly of 
those who, under pretence of having a body of 
troops bred to war, and ever ready for action, 
adopt this dangerous system, in subversion of 
every principle of lawful government. Here 



56 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



if, after having depictured scenes of so distress- 
ing a nature, it may not appear too descending 
I could not forbear smiling at the British gen- 
eral and his troops who, not willing to reflect 
on their present humiliating condition, affect 
the air of arrogant superiority. But Americans 
have learnt them that men, fighting on the 
principles of freedom and honor, despise the 
examples that have been set them by an ene- 
my ; and though, in the field, they can brave 
every danger in defence of those principles, to 
a vanquished enemy they know how to be 
generous ; but that this is a generosity not 
weak and unmeaning, but founded on just sen- 
timents, and if wantonly presumed upon, will 
never interfere with that national justice, which 
ever ought, and lately has been properly 
e.xerted. 

But while, with the warmest gratitude to 
heaven, we view our late successes, and are at 
a loss to express our acknowledgment to the 
illustrious hero, who was the instrument, and 
whose name to remotest ages will be ever 
dear to these New England states, let us not 
forget our situation. There is an army, and a 
very powerful one, still existing in the heart of 
America. Methinks the reputation of past 
successes should animate every inhabitant of 
America to fly to arms ; and by one general 
exertion utterly expel this last, this only re- 
maining power of Great Britain on the con- 
tinent. Ye, to whom the sacred, the important 
system of government is committed — ye men 
of sense and virtue — ye patriots, who feel an 
affection for your country and posterity, let me 
conjure you to seize the present opportunity, 
happier than we could ever have expected, and 
which once omitted may never be again in our 
power. 

I would not pretend to insinuate, that this is 
the only point which ought to be under imme- 
diate consideration, by a wise people or their 
delegates. But this I will venture to affirm, 
that unless this is the governing sentiment, in 
every deliberation, every other thing is super- 
fluous. Let us then rise superior to every pri- 
vate local attachment. As we are embarked 
on one broad bottom of universal freedom, let 
us attend to this most pressing occasion ; an 
occasion providentially offered for future secu- 
rity and happiness. If a royal army, though 
weak in its number, can thus insult us un- 
punished, the most slender imagination can 
easily foresee what must be the effects of a 
still greater force. I wish that the present 
generation, I wish that posterity may not feel- 
ingly reproach our inactivity. 

Shall the frequent calls of our e.xalted 



general, who seems to have been raised up by 
heaven, to show to w-hat an height humanity 
may soar ; who generously sacrificing afiiuence 
and domestic ease, wishes to share with you 
in every danger and distress, shall his frequent 
calls be in vain ? remember, my countrymen, 
the eyes of the good and great, in every clime, 
are upon the present contest. Liberty, dis- 
gusted at scenes of cruelty and oppression, 
has left her ancient altars, and is now hovering 
to fix her last residence in America. Our ex- 
ertions have hitherto been great and success- 
ful. Let not the ashes of Warren, Mont- 
gomery, and the illustrious roll of heroes, who 
died for freedom, reproach our inactivity and 
want of spirit, in not completing this grand 
superstructure ; the pillars of which have been 
cemented with the richest blood of America. 
May that same ardor, which has rendered 
America famous, still continue, and looking 
forward to those happy days of liberty and 
peace, which our posterity shall enjoy, let us 
exult at the thought, that future generations, 
while they reap the glorious fruits of our 
struggles, will rise up and call us blessed. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 
S. 1779- 

BY WILLIAM TUDOR, ESQ. 



-Sed et ilia propago 



Contemptrix superum saevaeque avidissima csedis 
Et violenta fuit. Ov. M. L. I. F. j. 

Whatever secondary props may rise 

From politics^ to build the public peace. 

The basis is, the manners of the land, — Young. 

Fathers, cotmtrymen, friends. — " That man 
was born to delude and be deluded ; to believe 
whatever is taught, and bear whatsoever is 
imposed," are political dogmas which have 
long afforded matter for exultation and security 
to dignified villains, from the sceptered tyrant, 
to the meanest minion of power. But however 
confirmed they may have been by the passive 
conduct of the greatest part of mankind, you, 
my fellow-citizens, thank God, you are an 
exception to their truth. The numerous, the 
respectable assembly which now crowd this 
hallowed temple, are an exalted exception to 
maxims as disgraceful as they are general. 
Ever vigilantly attentive to the sacred, inalien- 
able rights of man ; equally studious in the 
glorious principles of liberty, as intrepidly 
determined to preserve inviolate the inesti- 
mable privileges she bestows ; you are now con- 
vened not merely to commemorate this anni- 
versary, but solemnly to renew the resolves. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



57 



which freedom, wisdom, virtue, honor inspire ; 
and not barely resolve, but I trust, steadily to 
pursue the execution of resolutions which have 
resulted from deliberate investigation and full 
conviction. 

To so intelligent, so well informed an audi- 
tory, it must be unnecessary to deduce the 
origin of civil society, which, founded in recip- 
rocal advantage, and springing from social 
virtue, on the combined necessities and assist- 
ance of individuals, built the general happiness 
— a happiness thus instituted, nothing but 
public spirit, and a union of force and of coun- 
cil can preser\e : I must therefore request 
your indulgence, whilst I rather point out those 
evils which the concurrent experience of ages 
and nations prove to be subversive of ever)- 
good proposed from civil compact. Little 
solicitous of rhetorical applause, I shall offer 
you my sentiments as they arise warm from a 
heart devoted to the interests of this my parent 
country, in language that becomes a freeman 
to use when addressing a free assembly. 

Similar causes will forever operate like effects 
in the political, moral, and physical world : 
those vices which ruined the illustrious repub- 
lics of Greece, and the mighty commonwealth 
of Rome, and which are now ruining Great 
Britain, so late the first kingdom of Europe, 
must eventually overturn every state, where 
their deleterious influence is suffered to prevail. 
Need I add that luxury, corruption, and stand- 
ing armies are those destructive efficients.' 

Luxury no sooner finds admittance into a 
state than she becomes the parent of innumer- 
able evils, public and domestic ; her contagious 
influence is soon felt in society, and her bane- 
ful effects discovered by a general dissipation 
of manners, and a declension of private virtue, 
which begets effeminate habits, and by a natu- 
ral gradation, a base pliability of spirit. 

Luxury is ever the foe of independence, for 
at the same time that it creates artificial wants 
it precludes the means of satisfying them. It 
first makes men necessitous, and then depend- 
ent. It first unfits men for patriotic energies, 
and soon teaches them to consider public virtue 
as a public jest. 

At such a period, corruption finds an easy 
access to men's hearts. To the promotion of 
interested pursuits, and the gratification of 
voluptuous wishes, a ready sacrifice is made 
of the general good at the shrine of power. 
Then slumbers that virtuous jealousy of public 
men and public measures, which was wont to 
scrutinize not only actions but motives : then 
nods that active zeal, which, with eagle eye 
watched, and with nervous arm defended the 



constitution. Every day new inroads are made 
upon public liberty, while encroachments, like 
temptations, grow more frequent and more 
dangerous in proportion as the power of resist- 
ance decreases. Thus, before a nation is com- 
pletely deprived of freedom, she must be fitted 
for slavery by her vices. 

Generally, but not always, for we have known 
a people ruled by a despot, who, from a private 
station, rose to uncontrolled dominion, at a 
time when they were sternly virtuous. And 
this mode of introducing bondage is ever to be 
apprehended at the close of a successful strug- 
gle for liberty, when a triumphant army, elated 
with victories, and headed by a popular general 
may become more formidable than the tyrant 
that has been expelled. Witness the last cen- 
tury in the English history ! witness the aspir- 
ing Cromwell! 

This audacious citizen, entrusted by his 
country with the command of her armies, to 
chastise the man whom previous folly* had 
enthroned, and who soon presumed to treat his 
subjects, as all kings are wont to do, with con- 
tempt and injury, had no sooner despatched 
the foolish, imperious monarch, than he at- 
tempted to succeed him : with a little manage- 
ment, he soon found his army as disposed to 
regify him, as they had been to depose Charles. 
With these mercenary associates at his heels, 
he appeared in the synod of the state, and 
dared with force displace the most glorious 
band of patriots that ever led a tyrant from his 
throne to a scaffold. Not content with this 
enormous outrage upon the constitution, this 
annihilating stroke upon the tottering liberties 
of his country, for a time to keep up the form 
of a popular government and to bring parlia- 
ment into contempt, he convened an house of 
commons, constituted entirely of his own 
creatures. They met, and in a few months 
discovered that they were utterly unequal to 
the posts they were raised to, they therefore 
petitioned their master to dissolve them. 
Cromwell granted their request, and became 
sole tyrant of three kingdoms. Tyrant — for of 
what consequence is it by what style or under 
what modification despotism operates to the 
public wrong — dictator, king, protector, it is 
not the appellation we reprobate, though even 
that we should guard against, but the thing. 

* If a man in private life finds his oldest son an idiot or 
a rascal, he may dispose of his estate among his other 
children-: but if the heir apparent (in hereditary monarch- 
ies) to a crown, an inheritance in which millions are inter- 
ested, turns to be a blockhead or a villain, still he must be 
the king, because such is the line of succession established 
by law. — Hence the few princes who have not beea 
either the scourge or disgrace of the kingdoms they have 
ruled. 



58 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Who but must own that Cromwell, under the 
name of protector, was as absolute a despot as 
he could have been with any other title ? 

The first Cssar affords us another instance 
among- the thousands which histor>' holds up 
to our view, to teach us what bold and unprin- 
cipled spirits have effected by the aid of armies. 
This ambitious subject, having been for several 
years engaged in the humane, the soldierly 
employment, of slaughtering his fellow-men, 
and in extending his conquests over countries 
which he had not even a pretence to invade ; 
this Ccesar, who boasted that he had slain a 
million of men,* was at length ordered home 
by the senate to answer to some charges against 
his conduct. He knew that at such an interview 
his sword would be his ablest advocate. He 
therefore led his veteran legions, " nothing 
loth," against his country; passed the Rubicon ; 
fought his way to Rome ; plunged a dagger in 
her vitals ; impiously trampled on her dearest 
rights ; and seized on empire crimsoned, execra- 
ble parricade ! crimsoned with the richest 
blood of Rome's best citizens ! 

Too late the patriot poignard reached the 
traitor's heart. Cffisar fell — alas ! the republic 
had fallen before. Rome changed her govern- 
ors, but the tyranny remained. The same 
army that had enabled Julius to triumph over 
the liberties of his country, led the cars of 
Octavius, Anthony and Lepidus, through seas 
of Roman blood, and bade the cursed trium- 
virate divide an enslaved world ! 

If Rome could have been saved, Brutus 
and his virtuous associates would have saved 
her ; but a standing army, and a perpetual 
dictator, were, and ever will, prove too hard 
for the patriotic few. Learn hence, my coun- 
trymen, that a state may sink so low in slavery 
that even virtue itself cannot retrieve her. 
From these examples, prudence dictates — 
resist beginnings. A free and wise people will 
never suffer any citizen to become too popular — 
much less too powerful. A man may be for- 
midable to the constitution even by his virtues. 
But why do I keep your attention fixed on 
remote transactions ! our own times furnish 
additional and convincing proofs of the destruc- 
tive consequences of practical corruption, and 
mercenary armies. 

Sweden, the bravest, hardiest, freest nation 
of the north — Sweden, in one hour, was plunged 
from the distinguished heights of liberty into 
abject vassalage. What ties can bind a king ? 

» Plutarch says that Csesar could boast, that he had 
slain a million of men, gave a million their liberty, and 
made a million prisoners. 

Vid. Ptut. in vit. Ccesar, 



Scarce had Gustavus the Third ascended the 
throne of limited monarchy ; scarce had the 
roofs of the senate house ceased to reverbe- 
rate the insidious accents of his inauguration 
speech,* whilst yet the venerable representa- 
tives of their country were fondly anticipating 
the blessings that would arise from the reign 
of so wise, so gracious a king. The unblushing 
parricide surrounded with an armed host, the 
temple in which the senate was assembled, 
planted his cannon against the gates, and with 
the swords of his guards at the throats of the 

* This speech is inserted at large, not only because it is 

fraught with excellent advice, but also to shew how little 
reliance ought to be placed on coronation speeches. 

The king of Sweden's speech to the states on the ist of 
June. 1772. 

*' You are this day assembled, in order to confirm in the 
manner of your ancestors, the band of union which ties 
you to me, and me to you, and both to the whole com- 
monwealth ; we must therefore remember, with the most 
sensible gratitude, the benevolence of the Almighty, who 
has ordered things so, that this ver>' ancient kingdom of 
the Swedes and Goths is still existing, after so many 
foreign, as well as natural shocks, and that I, in the 
throne of my ancestors, can yet address free and indepen- 
dent states. 

Assured of your hearts, most sincerely proposing to 
merit them, and to fix my throne upon your love and 
felicity, the public engagement which you are going to 
enter into, would, in my opinion, be needless, if ancient 
custom and the law of Sweden did not require it of you. 
Unhappy the king who wants the tie of oaths to secure 
himself on the throne, and who, not assured of the hearts 
of his subjects, is constrained to reign only by the force 
of laws, when he cannot bj' the love of his subjects ! 

I need not put you in mind of the weightiness of the 
engagement you are going to take ; the states of Sweden 
know best the extreme of their duty to themselves and the 
commonwealth ; may concord and harmony ever unite 
your hearts ; may foreign views and private gain ever be 
sacrificed to public interest; may this alone be a perpetual 
bond of union amongst you ; and may the ambition of any 
part of you, never raise any such disturbances as may 
endanger the freedom and independency of the whole 
commonwealth ! 

Genttemen of the house of nobles^ 
Preserve always the honor and intrepidity of your an- 
cestors ; be an example to your fellow-citizens ; and, as 
you are the first order of the kingdom, be also the first in 
virtue and love of your country. 

Good nun of the reverend order ofclergyy 
May mutual friendship and peace, obedience to the 
laws, reverence to God and the king, bear witness to me 
and the country, of your zeal in the execution of the sa- 
cred office, with which you are entrusted ! 

Good men of the respectable order of burghers^ 
Strive always with your fellow-subjects who shall con- 
tribute the most to the public good ; may the fruits of the 
extensive share which belongs to you, be general credit 
and confidence, useful institutions, frugal living, and 
moderate gain, which lead to sure and certain wealth. 
Good men of the zuorthy order of peasants^ 
May piety, diligence, temperance, and old Swedish 
faith and modesty, be the strongest confirmation of the 
honor always due to that order which gives subsistence 
to all the others ; an honor which the Swedish peasants 
have at all times attained. 

This is all I ask of you, when you observe this, you per- 
form in the best manner, that duty to me, and your coun- 
try, which according to the Swedish laws, I now call 
upon you to confirm by oath." 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



59 



senators, demanded immediate absolution from 
his coronation oath, by which he had most 
sacredly bound himself to preserve inviolate the 
laws and liberties of the Swedes ! astonishing 
that a stripling, whose language breathed the 
glowing sentiments of enthusiastic generosity, 
so natural to youth, could, with such facility, 
set at deliance all that is held sacred, honora- 
ble and obligatory among men ! but the lust of 
domination, so natural to human nature, will 
ever prove too hard for the checks of con- 
science and the dictates of right, when a favo- 
rable opportunity presents to gratify it. Gus- 
tavus, knowing that the army were ready to 
assist his iniquitous designs (as all standing 
armies are to promote despotism, because 
under such a system of rule, soldiers must be 
necessary and consequently favored) the bar- 
riers raised by justice and his plighted faith to 
Sweden, became slight indeed. Force backed 
inclination, and Gusta\ais changed circum- 
scribed authority, for unconfined sovereignty.* 

Let us now turn our eyes to that nation 
whom we once did love, and with whom we 
had yet been friends, had not an unparalleled 
series of folly and cruelty, compelled us to re- 
nounce the pleasing relationship. A short 
retrospect of whose public conduct, subsequent 
to the last war, will afford many and important 
instructions. 

In 1763 peace was restored after a war of 
seven years, successfully waged in every quar- 
ter of the globe. At that period what an un- 
rivalled figure did Great Britain stand amongst 
the nations ! great beyond all former example, 
in arms, in commerce, and in wealth. Not a 
corner of the earth but had witnessed her 
achievements. Wheresoever she directed her 
armies, victory and conquest attended ; while 
her irresistible navy, thundering over every 
ocean, not only subdued, but annihilated the 
fleets of her enemies. 

Triumphant in war, not less distinguished 
in peace. In many of the polite, in most of 
the useful arts and sciences, superior to her 
neighbors. In commerce unequalled ; not a 
sea but bore, not a wind but wafted her count- 
less ships laden with the riches of the earth, 
and made her crowded ports the marts of the 
world. Late glorious nation, how art thou 
fallen, how lost ! from so envied, so stupendous 
an height, by the perverted will of thy in- 
fatuated monarch, and the pernicious counsels 

* For an historical account of tllis revolution, vid. 
Gentleman's Magazine for 1773, page 397, &c. For the 
Swedish constitution, vid. the abbot Vertot. 

For a complete system of despotism, see the lex regia 
of Denmark, constituted by Frederick 3d, in 1665, and 
published by Christian sth, in 1683. 



of his nefarious ministers. Driven to the fear- 
ful edge of ruin, we now behold thee tottering 
o'er the gulf of annihilation, whilst France and 
her allies urge thee over the irremediable steep I 

When we consider the capital defects in the 
English constitution — the character of her 
present weak and ambitious monarch —the 
luxury, dissipation and venality of her influen- 
tial men, we shall cease to wonder at her de- 
clension and present circumstances. 

In a limited monarchy, where the prince, as 
supreme executive magistrate, and first branch 
of the legislature, is invested with the important 
prerogative of making peace and war, is con- 
stituted the sole fountam of honor, and be- 
comes the exclusive disposer of every lucrative 
and honorable appointment, civil, ecclesiastic, 
and military, his influence becomes too enor- 
mous to be compatible with the public liberty : 
but if to such extravagant powers (by a fatal 
error in the constitution, placed in the hands 
of the prince) he should superadd a detestable 
system of corruption to bribe the representa- 
tives of the people (a system which, during the 
reign of his present Britannic majesty, hath 
been urged to its utmost possible extent) the 
worst species of vassalage must ensue. That 
equipoise between the respective branches of 
the legislature (in which the seeming theoretic 
excellence of the English constitution consists) 
will be totally destroyed ; the executive will 
involve the powers of the legislative, and whilst 
the letter and formalities of the constitution 
are retained, its spirit and intendment will be 
totally lost. An absolutely arbitrarj', with the 
forms of a free government (that worst and 
surest of all tyrannies) will gradually succeed, 
and be finally established, unless a total revolu- 
tion is happily effected by timely exertions of 
the people, before the despot has strengthened 
himself with a mercenary army, and forever 
closed their chains. 

But this tyranny is already established in 
Great Britain : for what hopes can Britons en- 
tertain of effectinga revolution, whilst the crown, 
by the multiplicity of gifts in its power, can 
maintain an infamous majority in each house 
of parliament to legalize, and a standing army 
to enforce, its projects, however imperious, in- 
human or unjust. In vain, a few wise and 
virtuous men see and lament their dishonorable 
situation — an army of forty thousand soldiers, 
in time of peace, and a still more numerous 
band of placemen and pensioners, properly 
disposed throughout the kingdom, effectually 
stifle in their birth every effort of patriotism 
to restore the constitution to its primeval 
principles. 



6o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Such is the boasted constitution, such the 
prince, and such the present condition of the 
people of Britain. Unhappy nation, thus con- 
stitutionally enslaved — thus legally undone ! un- 
worthy descendants of illustrious ancestors — 
thus to suffer your most essential rights to be 
bartered away, your government not only cor- 
rupted, but perverted to purposes diametrically 
opposite to its original intention. An house of 
commons, at first constituted to watch over 
and preserve your rights and immunities from 
the encroaching steps of ambitious princes, 
you have permitted to become an engine in the 
hands of royalty, the more effectually to abridge 
or nullify those rights. A parliament, consti- 
tuted the stewards of your property, who, 
instead of guarding it from the insatiable grasp 
of royal avidity, you patiently see lavishingly 
indulging the utmost extravagance of regal 
profusion ; granting enormous sums for effect- 
ing the most pernicious purposes, traitorously 
leaguing with the servants of the crown in 
loading you with intolerable taxes, and, sharers 
in the spoil, prodigally complying with the 
most unbounded demands of ministerial rapa- 
city, while they, at the same time, treacherously 
unite to screen the most infamous defaulters 
of the public money. Instead of bravely draw- 
ing your swords in defence of your freedom 
and national honor, you first tamely acquiesced 
in an insidious and ignominious law,* by 
which you were basely disarmed, like slaves, 
and then from necessity, submitted to keeping 
on foot, in time of peace, a standing army, 
that, in time of war, had been raised profes- 
sedly for the defence of the national territories 
from foreign attacks — an army which you now 
behold without shame and without regret, 
spreading devastation and horror over a late 
peaceful and happy country ; and having at 
length dismembered the empire, are now at- 
tempting to reduce us to the most infamous 
and most miserable of all conditions, that of 
being the conquered vassals of your weak, vin- 
dictive, despotic monarch. 

Degenerate sons of mighty fathers ! how 
poor is the consolation for the loss of essential 
rights, that you still retain the empty privilege 
of pasquinading your king and his ministers, 
whilst you are destitute of that public spirit 
and solid virtue which should purge your cor- 
rupted government and reform your wretched 
constitution. 

From subjection to a government, thus de- 
fective and corrupt, and thus vilely adminis- 

/ ♦ Vid. Statutes at large — Particularly 2 Geo. 3d. ch. sg, 

and loth Geo. 3d. ch. 19 and Black. Com. B. a. ch. 37. — 
^ For the game and forest laws. 



tered, what freeman would not struggle for an 
emancipation ? but if there is an American 
present, who can yet secretly wish for a re- 
union with this nation, and a share in her ideal 
privileges, let him for a moment consider the 
innumerable indignities which, for fifteen years 
back, have been offered us by this haughty 
power, added to the savage barbarities which 
they have exercised in every part of America 
where their army have made any progress, and 
he must blush at the spiritless, the ignoble 
sentiment. 

In 1764 the plan for raising a revenue from 
this country was resolved on by the British 
ministry, and their obsequious parliament were 
instructed to pass an act for that purpose. 
Not content with having for a century directed 
the entire commerce of America, and centered 
its profits in their own island, thereby deriving 
from the colonies every substantial advantage 
which the situation and transmarine distance 
of the country could afford them : not content 
with appointing the principal officers in the dif- 
ferent governments, while the king had a nega- 
tive upon every law that was enacted : not 
content with our supporting the whole charge 
of our municipal establishments, although their 
own creatures held the chief posts therein 
not content with laying external duties upon 
our mutilated and shackled commerce, they, 
by this statute, attempted to rob us of even the 
curtailed property, the hard-earned peculium 
which still remained to us — to create a revenue 
for the support of a fleet and army, in reality 
to overawe and secure our subjection, not (as 
they insidiously pretended) to protect our trade, 
or defend our frontiers; the first of which they 
annoyed, and the latter deserted. 

After repealing this imperious edict, not 
because it was unjust in principle, but inexpedi- 
ent in exercise, they proceeded to declare, by a 
public act of the whole legislature, that we had 
no property but what was at their disposal, and 
that Americans, in future, were to hold their 
privileges and lives solely on the tenure of the 
good will and pleasure of a British parliament. 
Acts soon followed correspondent to this un- 
righteous determination, which, not quadrating 
with American ideas of right, justice and 
reason, a fleet and army were sent to give 
them that force which laws receive when pro- 
mulgated from the mouths of cannon, or at the 
points of bayonets. 

We then first saw our harbor crowded with 
hostile ships, our streets with soldiers — soldiers 
accustomed to consider military prowess as the 
standard of excellence, and vain of the splendid 
pomp attendant on regular armies, they con- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



6i 



temptuously looked down on our peaceful 
orders of citizens. Conceiving themselves 
more powerful, they assumed a superiority 
which they did not feel ; and whom they could 
not but envy, they affected to despise. Per- 
haps, knowing they were sent, and believing 
they were able to subdue us, they thought it 
was not longer necessary to observe any meas- 
ures with slaves — hence that arrogance in the 
carriage of the officers — hence that licentious- 
ness and brutality in the common soldiers, 
which at length broke out with insufferable 
violence, and proceeding to personal insults and 
outrageous assaults on the inhabitants, soon 
roused them to resentment, and produced the 
catastrophe which we now commemorate. The 
immediate horrors of that distressful night* 
have been so often and so strikingly painted, 
that I shall not again wring your feeling 
bosoms with the affecting recital : to the faith- 
ful pen of history I leave them to be repre- 
sented as the horrid prelude to those more 
extensive tragedies which, under the direction 
of a most obdurate and sanguinary prince, have 
since been acted in every corner of America 
where his armies have been able to pene- 
trate. 

Our citizens who fell on that memorable 
night, falling bequeathed us this salutary les- 
son, written indelibly with their blood. Con- 
fusion, murders, and misery must ever be the 
consequence of mercenary standing armies 
cantoned in free cities.t 

My countrymen, suffer not the slaughtered 
brethren we now lament to have bled in vain ; 
let us forever retain the important lesson, and 
•hey will not have ineffectually fallen. Security 
shall spring from their tombs, and their deaths 
preserve the lives of citizens yet unborn. Suc- 
ceeding generations shall celebrate the era of 
this anniversary as the epoch of American 
triumph, not as a day of sadness ; and future 
patriots nobly envy the death of those, who 
dying taught their countrymen e.xperimental 
wisdom. 



-Hecaten vocat altera, scevam 



Altera Tisiphonen serpentes, atque videres 
Infernas errare Canes ; Lunamque rubentem 
Ne foret his Testis post magna latere sepulchra. 

Hor. L.l.S. 

t Et altis urbibus ultim^e 



Stetere Caus^ cur perirent 
Funditus imprimeretque muris 
Hostile aratrum Exircitus insolens. 

Hor. Lib. I. Car. i6. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
1780. 

BY MR. JONATHAN MASON, JUN. . 

" Devotion to the public. Glorious flame \ 
Celestial ardor ! in what unknown worlds 
Hast thou been blessing myriads since in Rome, 
Old virtuous Rome, so many deathless names 
From thee their lustre drew ? since taught by thee 
Their poverty put splendor to the blush. 
Pain grew luxurious, and even death delight." 

Thomson^ voi. I. p. 336. 

" Unblest by virtue^ government and league 
Becomes a circling junto of the great 

To rob by law 

What are without it senates, save a face 

Of consultation deep and reason free. 

While the determin'd voice and heart are sold ? 

What boasted freedom, save a sounding name ? 

And what election, but a market vile 

Of slavery self-barter'd ? " — Id. p. 3. 

My friends and felhrw citizens. — That the 
greatness and prosperity of a people depend 
upon the proportion of public spirit and the 
love of virtue which is found to exist among 
them, seems to be a maxim established by the 
universal consent, and I may say, experience 
of all ages. 

Man is formed with a constitution wonder- 
fully adapted for social converse and connec- 
tion. Scarcely ushered into the world, but his 
wants teach him his inability, of himself, to 
provide for them. Wrapt in astonishment, 
with an anxiety inexpressible, the solitary exist- 
ent looks around for the aid of some friendly 
neighbor, and should he perchance meet the 
desired object ; should he find one, endowed 
with intellectual faculties, beset with the same 
wants and weaknesses, and in all respects the 
very image of himself ; should he find him with 
a heart open to mutual kind offices, and a hand 
stretched out to bestow a proportion of his 
labor, with a bosom glowing with gratitude, his 
soul is on the wing to express the sense he 
entertains of the generous obligation. 

A confidence is established between him and 
his benefactor, they swear perpetual friendship, 
and a compact for mutual protection and assist- 
ance becomes imperceptibly consented to. 
Thus doubly armed, together they pursue their 
morning route to satisfy those demands only 
which nature reminds them of. and while the 
ingenuity of the one is exercised to ensnare, 
the strength of the other is, perhaps, employed 
to subdue their vigorous opponent. 

Their little family soon increases ; and as 
their social ring becomes gradually enlarged, 
their obligations to each other are equally cir- 
cular. Honest industry early teaches them, 
that a part only is sufficient to provide for the 
whole, and that a portion of their time may be 



62 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



spared to cull the conveniences as well as 
appease the wants of nature. Property and 
personal security appear to be among the first 
objects of their attention, and acknowledged 
merit receives the unanimous suffrage to pre- 
side guardian over the rights and privileges of 
their infant society. The advantages derived 
are in a moment experienced. Their little 
policy, erected upon the broad basis of equality, 
they know of no superiority but that which 
virtue and the love of the whole demands ; 
and while, with cheerfulness, they entrust to 
his care a certain part of their natural rights, 
to secure the remainder, the agreement is 
mutual, and the obligation upon his part 
equally solemn and binding to resign them 
back, either at the instance and request of their 
sovereign pleasure, or whensoever the end 
should be perverted for which he received 
them. 

Integrity of heart, benevolence of disposition, 
the love of freedom and public spirit, are con- 
spicuous excellencies in this select neighbor- 
hood. Lawless ambition is without a friend, 
and the insinuating professional pleas of 
tyrants, ever accompanied by the magnificence 
and splendor of luxury',* are unheard of among 
them ; but simple in their manners, and 
honest in their intentions, their regulations are 
but few and those e.xpressive, and without the 
aid of extreme refinement.t by a universal ad- 
herence to the spirit of their constitution, and 
to those glorious principles from which that 
spirit originated, we find them attaining real 
glory — we find them crowned with every bles- 
sing that human nature hath ever known of— 
we find them in the possession of that summit 
of solid happiness that universal depravity will 
admit of. 

Patriotism is essential to the preservation 
and well being of every free government. To 
love one's country I has ever been esteemed 
honorable ; and under the influence of this 

* A mode of living above a man's annual income 
weakens the state, by reducing to poverty not only the 
squanderers themselves, but many innocent and industri- 
ous persons connected with them. Luxury is above all 
pernicious in a commercial state. Small profits satisfy the 
ft-ugal and industrious, but the luxurious despise almost 
every branch of trade but what returns great profits. 

Home's Hist, of Man, Tol. 2. /. 113, 

In the savage state man is almost all body with a very 
small proportion of mind. In the maturity of civil society, 
he is complete both in mind and body. In a state of de- 
generacy by luxury and voluptuousness, he has neither 
mind nor body. Id. 114. 

t There are very few laws which are not good while 
the state retains its principles. Montesq. 6. 8. 6. 13. 

X The amor patriee, or patriotism, stands at the head of 
social affections, and so high in our esteem, that no 
actions, but what proceed from it, are termed grand or 
heroic. It triumphs over ever^' sel£sb motive, is a firm 



noble passion, every social virtue is cultivated, 
freedom prevails through the whole, and the 
public good is the object of every one's con- 
cern. A constitution, built upon such princi- 
ples, and put in execution by men possessed 
with the love of virtue and their fellow-men, 
must always ensure happiness to its members. 
The industry of the citizen will receive encour- 
agement, and magnanimity, heroism and 
benevolence will be esteemed the admired 
qualifications of the age. Every, the least in- 
vasion on the public liberty, is considered as 
an infringement on that of the subject ; and 
feeling himself roused at the appearance of 
oppression, with a divine enthusiasm, he flies 
to obey the summons of his country, and does 
she but request, with zeal he resigns the life 
of the indi\idual for the preser\'ation of the 
whole. 

Without some portion of this generous prin- 
ciple, anarchy and confusion would immediately 
ensue, the jarring interests of individuals, re- 
garding themselves only, and indifferent to the 
welfare of others, would still further heighten 
the distressing scene, and with the assistance 
of the selfish passions, it would end in the ruin 
and subversion of the state. But where patri- 
otism is the leading principle, unanimity is 
conspicuous in public and private councils. 
The constitution receives for its stability the 
united efforts of every individual, and revered 
for its justice, admired for its principle, and 
formidable for its strength, its fame reaches to 
the skies. 

Should we look into the history of the ancient 
republics, we shall find them a striking example 
of what I have asserted, and in no part of their 
progress to greatness, producing so many 
illustrious actions, and advancing so rapidly in 
the road to glory, as when actuated by public 
spirit and the love of their country. The 
Greeks in particular ever held such sentiments 
as these in the highest veneration, and with 
such sentiments as these alone they established 
their freedom, and finally conquered the in- 
numerable armies of the east. 

When Xerxes,* the ambitious prince of 
Persia, vainly thinking that nature and the 
very elements were subject to his control, 
inflamed with the thoughts of conquest, threat- 
ening the seas, should they resist, with his dis- 
pleasure, and the mountains, should they oppose 
his progress : when, after having collected the 
armies of the then known world under his 

support to every virtue, and wherever it prevails the 
morals of the people are found to be pure and cor- 
rect. Elements 0/ Critieism, 
* Herod, C. F. C. 55, g9. and Rollin An. His 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



63 



banners, he entered the bowels of Greece, lead- 
ing forth his millions, resolutely bent upon the 
destruction and extirpation of this small but 
free people, what do we perceive to be their 
conduct upon so alarming an occasion ? do they 
tamely submit without a struggle ? do they 
abandon the property, their liberties, and 
their country, to the fury of these merciless 
invaders ? do they meanly supplicate the favor, 
or intreat the humanity of this haughty prince? 
no ! sensible of the justice of their cause, and 
that valor is oftentimes superior to numbers ; 
undaunted by the appearance of this innumer- 
able host, and fired with the glorious zeal, they, 
with one voice, resolve to establish their liber- 
ties, or perish in the attempt. 

View them at the moment when the armies 
of their enemies, like an inundation, overspread 
their whole Grecian territory ; when oppression 
seemed as though collecting its mighty force, 
and Hberty lay fettered at the shrine of ambi- 
tion ; then shone forth the heavenly principle, 
then flamed the spirit of the patriot, and laying 
aside all sentiments of jealousy, as though 
favored with the prophetic wisdom of heaven, 
with bravery unexampled, they charge their foe, 
and fighting in defence of their country, success 
crowns virtuous attempt. With three hun- 
dred Lacedemonians,* one only of whom was 
left to tell the fate of these intrepid men to their 
weeping country, they conquered the combined 
force of the whole eastern world. 

The privileges and immunities of the states 
of Holland, t after a contest of forty years, in 
which they withstood the exertions of their 
powerful neighbors, being established by the 
force of this single principle, which appears to 
prevail both in the senate and the field, might 
also be adduced in support of what I have 
advanced ; but, my fellow-countrymen, we can- 
not want additional proofs ; the living history 
of our own times, will carry conviction to the 
latest posterity, that no state, that no community, 
I may say that no family, nay even that no 
individual can possibly flourish and be happy 
without some portion of this sacred fire. It 
was this that raised America from being the 
haunt of the savage, and the dwelling-place of 

♦ These brave Lacedemonians thought it became them 
who were the choicest soldiers of the chief people of 
Greece, to devote themselves to certain death, in order to 
make the Persians sensible how difficult it is to reduce 
freemen to slavery, and to teach the rest of Greece, by 
their example, either to vanquish or to perish. A monu- 
ment was afterwards erected to the memory of Leonidas 
and those who fell with him at Thermopyl^ ; upon which 
was this inscription : 

Die hospes, Spartanis te hie vidisse jacentus 
Dum-, Sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur.— /Tf/Z/n. 

+ Temple's Observation. 



the beast, to her present state of civilization 
and opulence : it was this that hath supported 
her under the severest trials : it was this that 
taught her sons to fight, to conquer and to die 
in support of freedom and its blessings; and 
what is it, but this ardent love of liberty, that 
has induced you, my fellow-citizens, to attend 
on this solemn occasion, again to encourage 
the streams of sensibility, and to listen with so 
much attention and candor to one of the 
youngest of your fellow-citizens, whose youth 
and inability plead powerfully against him, 
while the annual tribute is paid to the memory 
of those departed citizens, who fell the first 
sacrifices to arbitrary power. Check not such 
generous feelings. They are the fruits of virtue 
and humanity, and while the obligations you 
remain under to those unhappy men, lead you 
to shed the sympathetic tear, to dwell with 
pleasure upon their memories, and execrate 
the causes of their death, remember that you 
"can never repay them. Ever bear it in your 
minds, that so implicit was the confidence you 
willingly placed in that country, that owed to 
you her affection, that, notwithstanding the 
introduction of that inhuman weapon of tyrants 
into the very heart of your peaceful villages, 
you still would fain rely on their deceitful asser- 
tions, and paint the deformed monster to 
your imaginations as the minister of peace and 
protection. Men, born in the bosom of liberty, 
in the exercise of the social affections in their 
full vigor, having once fi.xed them upon partic- 
ular objects, they are not hastily eradicated. 
Unaccustomed to sport with, and wantonly 
sacrifice these sensible overflowings of the 
heart, to run the career of passion and blinded 
lust, to be familiar with vice, and sneer at 
virtue, to surprise innocence by deceitful cun- 
ning and assume the shape of friendship to con- 
ceal the greater enmity, you could not at once 
realize the fi.xed the deliberate intention of 
those from whom you expected freedom, to 
load you with slavery and chains, and not till 
insult repeated upon insult ; not till oppression 
stalked at noon-day through every avenue in 
your cities : nay, not till the blood of your 
peaceful brethren flowed through your streets, 
was the envenomed serpent to be discovered in 
the bushes : not till a general trespass had been 
made upon the keenest feelings of human 
nature, and the widowed mother was summoned 
to entomb the cold remains of her affectionate 
son ; the virtuous bosom to resign its tender 
partner, and social circles their nearest friends , 
could you possibly convince yourselves that you 
and Britain were to be friends no more. 
Thrice happy day ! the consequences of which 



64 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



have taught the sons of America, that a pro- 
per exercise of public spirit and the love of 
virtue hath been able to surprise and baffle the 
most formidable and most powerful tyranny on 
earth. 

Patriotism is a virtue which will ever be 
universally admired, even by those incapable 
of possessing it. Its happy effects are equally 
visible in individuals as in states, and if we 
bestow a moment's reflection upon the heroes 
of antiquity, who have been deservedly cele- 
brated by succeeding generations, both for 
their abilities and conduct, we shall find that 
the true source of their greatness was this 
sjjirit of freedom, and their inviolable attach- 
ment to the interest of their country. 

With an attentive silence we listen to the 
historian while he relates to us the integrity of 
conduct, the invincible courage, the earnest 
glow of soul, and the ardent love of liberty 
which was exhibited in the lives of those illus- 
trious men, and so great were their virtues that 
we are scarce able to credit them, but as the 
dreams of fancy, or the fictions of the in- 
genious. 

It is recorded of the celebrated Timoleon,* 
general of Corinth, that notwithstanding he 
was blest with a temper singularly humane, 
and with feelings that were ever roused at the 
miseries of his fellow-men, he loved his country 
so passionately, that after making use of every 
argiiment in his power to convince an elder 
brother of his error, for attempting to become 
the tyrant of it, he devoted him to death ; a 
brother on whom he had previously placed his 
affection, and whose life being exposed to the 
fire of the enemy in a severe battle, he had 
before saved at the great risk of his own. 
Even in old age, after a period of rigid retire- 
ment for twenty years, we are attracted by the 
disinterested conduct of this exalted patriot. 

When the Syracusians, groaning under every 
species of cruelty, which lust, avarice and ambi- 
tion could inflict, supplicated their generous 
neighbors for assistance to alleviate those 
miseries they themselves had been exposed to, 
Timoleon, urged to accept the command of the 
Corinthian auxiliaries, at first hesitated, his 
age, his manners, his private happiness and 
the endearments of his family forbade it ; but 
sensible that he was but a member of the 
community, and stung by the cries of inno- 
cence, his inclinations were of but trivial 
moment in competition with his duty. 

View him at the head of his chosen army, 
assembled to plead the cause of sufi'ering 
virtue. In possession of arms and of power, 
• RolUn. 



if inclined to pervert them, are his principles 
changed with his station ? are his thoughts 
bent on conquest or on death ? or does he 
entertain a secret wish to seize the moment of 
confidence, or build his greatness upon the 
ruins of the distressed, or to remove one 
tyrant to reinstate another .' no ! but fired 
with a generous glow of soul, fired with the 
manly sentiments of freedom, with an implaca- 
ble hatred to oppression of all kinds, he 
marches his troops to the deliverance of his 
afflicted people, and with a firmness becoming 
soldiers fighting under the standard of liberty, 
after a series of fatigue and toil, harassing 
marches and fierce conflicts, he dethrones the 
tyrant, and is proclaimed the deliverer of Syra- 
cuse. Having restored tranquillity to this 
unhappy country, repeopled their cities, revived 
their laws, and dispensed justice to all ranks 
and classes, he resigned his command, and 
retreated once again to the private walks of 
life, accompanied with the grateful acknowledg- 
ments of millions, as the patron of their liberty 
and the savior of their country. Happy man ! 
endowed with such a noble soul, prone to feel 
for the misfortunes, and rejoice in the happi- 
ness of his fellow-creatures. 

But why need we resort to distant ages to 
furnish us with instances of the effects of 
patriotism upon individuals .' will not the 
present day afford at least one illustrious 
example to our purpose ? yes, my fellow-coun- 
tr)-men, America, young America too, can 
boast her patriots and heroes, men who have 
saved their country by their virtues, whose 
characters posterity will admire, and with a 
pleased attention, Hsten on tiptoe to the story 
of their glorious exertions. Let us pause a 
moment only upon the select catalogue, and 
take the first upon the list. 

View him in his private station, and here, as 
though Providence for his excellencies had 
selected him for her own from the extensive 
circle of humanity, we perceive him enjoying 
her richest dispensations. By an affluent for- 
tune, placed beyond the reach of poverty or 
dependence, blessed with the social circle of 
friends, and happily connected by yet more 
endearing ties, peaceful reflections are his 
companions through the day, and the soothing 
slumbers of innocence hover over his couch ; 
charity presides steward of his household, 
and the distressed are ever sure to receive 
from his bosom that sigh which never fails to 
console, and from his cheek the alleviating tear 
of sympathy. Having reached the summit of 
human felicity, beyond even the picture of his 
most sanguine expectations, it is indifferent to 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



65 



him, as an individual, whether prince or people 
rule the state, but nurtured in the bosom of 
freedom, endowed with a greatness of soul, 
swallowed up with public spirit and the love of 
mankind, does oppression scatter her baleful 
prejudices, does ambition rear its guilty crest, 
friends,* relations and fortunes are like the 
dust of the balance. The pleas of nature give 
way to those of his country, and urged on by 
heavenly motives, he flies instantly to her 
relief. Seehim, while grief distracts his bosom 
at the effusion of human blood, grasp the sword 
of justice and buckle on the harness of the war- 
rior. See him, with fortitude unparalleled, with 
perseverance indefatigable, deaf to pleasure and 
despising corruption, cheerfully encountering 
the severest tasks of duty, and the hardest 
toils of a military life. Modest in prosperity, 
and shining like a meteor in adversity, we 
behold this patriotic hero, with a small army 
of determined freemen, attacking, fighting and 
conquering an army composed of the bravest 
veteran troops of Britain. 

And shall we, my countrymen, stop the cur- 
rent of gratitude .' and can we forbear testi- 
fying our joy upon the success of such singular 
exertions .' shall we seal his death before we 
thank him for his senices ? by no means. — Our 
acknowledgments will irresistibly flow from us 
to this deserved object of admiration, and his 
very actions will sting the soul of the ungrateful 
wretch, until he is forced to admire their lustre, 
and confess his inability to equal them. 

Some there are who, Roman-like, would 
banish him for his good conduct ; but while we 
copy the spirit of this great people, let us not 
be as diligent to catch their vices. Such con- 
duct is inconsistent with the sentiments of 
freemen, and surely we cannot forget that he 
has saved our country. 

Rewards! and punishments are in the hands 
of the public, and it is equally consistent with 
generosity and humanity to bestow the one. 
as inflict the other. We cannot be too cautious 
in the objects of our gratitude ; let merit, con- 
spicuous merit, be the standard to which our 
praises shall resort, and it will excite a noble 
emulation in others, and let us rather forbear 
that respect, which is too often found attendant 

* Cari sunt parentes. cari liberi, propinqui, familiares, 
sed omnes omnium caritates patriae unae complexa est. 
pro qua quU bonus dubitel mortem oppetere ? Cic, 

t One method of preventing crimes is to reward virtue. 
If the rewards for the discovering of useful truths have 
increased our knowledge and multiplied good boolts, is it 
not probable that rewards, distributed by the beneficent 
hand of a sovereign, would also multiply virtuous actions? 
The coin of honor is inexhaustible, and is abundantly 
fruitful in the hands of a prince who distributes it wisely. 

Marq. o/ Becoa. 



upon the rich, though their wealth has been 
amassed with the ruin of their country. 

But the praises of us are not the patriot's 
only reward ; with an approving conscience 
sweetening the declivity of life, his invitation is 
to the skies, there to receive a far more pre- 
cious reward, for the establishment of that 
principle to which, since the origin of mankind, 
heaven hath paid an immediate attention. 

" Where the brave youth with love of glory fired, 
Who greatly in his country's cause expired, 
Shall know he conquered. The firm patriot there. 
Who made the welfare of mankind his care, 
Though still by faction, vice, and fortune crost. 
Shall find his generous labor was not lost." — Caio, 

Such is the progress of public spirit and the 
love of virtue, and it is the only pillar upon 
which can safely be erected the happiness of 
mankind. Without some play of the social 
affections in every society, without some barrier 
to oppose the stormy passions of individuals, 
without some general attachment to the public 
welfare, a door is open to ambition and politi- 
cal corruption ; * luxury and selfishness become 
fashionable vices, and the spirit of the govern- 
ment is perverted ; the public good is neglected, 
the riches of the state insecure, the liberty of 
the subject slighted, and the attempt of the 
tyrant made successful by the follies of the 
people. 

What but the want of patriotism, that hath 
buried in ruins the mighty empires of Greece 
and Rome, that standing armies, the scourge 
of the innocent, prevail throughout all Europe, 
that the pages of history present to our view 
so melancholy a picture of the human species, 
and that America and Britain are not at this 
day running the road to greatness and glory 
in concert ; and what is it but the want of pa- 
triotism that could induce that haughty nation, 
divested of every public virtue, of every bosom 
feeling, of every pretension to humanity, without 
apology or pretext, to usher a standing army, 
composed of vagrants, criminals, and mercena- 
ries, into our peaceful countr>-. 

O my countr)men, it is the want of pa- 
triotism that we are at this time called to weep 
over the wanton massacre of innocent men ; 
that this is not the only house of mourning; 
that the fields of America have become devoted 
to war, and scenes of slaughter familiar to her 
sons ; that our oppressors yet persist in their 
destructive system of tyranny, and if their 

• The Assyrian, the Persian and Cracsian, the three 
first universal monarchies, finally sunk under luxury and 
corruption ; and it is well known that the Romans did not 
preserve their liberties for half a century after being de- 
bauched by the luxury of Asia, but fell a prey to its vices; 
and was at length divided by the Goths and Vandals. 



66 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



power was equal to their thirst of blood, with 
the spirit of ambition by which they are now 
directed, would lead them to destroy and extir- 
pate the whole human race. But thanks be to 
heaven, that by the force of those virtues which 
they have discarded, we have nobly resisted 
the attempts of these cruel men, and the 
miseries they have so profusely dealt out to us, 
are returning, with additional vengeance, upon 
their own heads. The danger of the issue is 
now past, and if we but retain the same pa- 
triotic ardor, with which we first defended our 
rights from the grasp of our enemies, they are 
every day in our power. We have every thing 
to hope ; they on the other hand have every- 
thing to fear. Youth, vigor, and the invincible 
arm of justice, are on our side : — The genius 
of liberty also is our advocate, who, though 
persecuted, hath never been conquered. 

In our day we are called to see a happy 
country laid waste at the shrine of ambition ; 
to experience those scenes of distress which 
history is filled with : but experience rivets its 
lessons upon the mind, and if we resolve with 
deliberation, and execute with vigor, we may 
yet be a free and flourishing people. Repine 
not too much at the ravages of war, nor mur- 
mur at the dispensations of Providence. We 
oftentimes rate our blessings in proportion to 
the difficulty in attaining thtm, and if, without 
a struggle, we had secured our liberties, per- 
haps we should have been less sensible of their 
value. Chastisements in youth are not without 
their advantages ; blessings most commonly 
spring from them in old age. They lead us to 
reflect seriously in the hour of retirement, and 
to cherish those qualifications which are fre- 
quently lost in the glare of prosperity. 

The important prophecy is nearly accom- 
plished. The rising glory of this western 
hemisphere is already announced, and she is 
summoned to her seat among the nations. 
We have publicly declared ourselves convinced 
of the destructive tendency of standing armies : 
we have acknowledged the necessity of public 
spirit and the love of virtue to the happiness of 
any people, and we profess to be sensible of 
the great blessings that flow from them. Let 
us not then act unworthy of the reputable 
character we now sustain : like the nation we 
have abandoned, be content with freedom in 
form and tyranny in substance, profess virtue 
arid practice vice, and convince an attentive 
world that in this glorious struggle for our 
lives and properties, the only men capable of 
prizing such exalted privileges, were an illus- 
trious set of heroes, who have sealed their 
principles with their blood. Dwell, my fellow- 



citizens, upon the present situation of your 
country. Remember that though our enemies 
have dispensed with the hopes of conquering, 
our land is not entirely freed of them, and 
should our resistance prove unsuccessful by 
our own inattention and inactivity, death will 
be far preferable to the yoke of bondage. 

Let us therefore be still vigilant over our 
enemies — instil into our armies the righteous 
cause they protect and support, and let not the 
soldier and citizen be distinct characters among 
us. By our conduct let us convince them, * 
that it is for the preservation of themselves and 
their country they are now fighting ; that they, 
equally with us, are interested in the event, 
and abandon them not to the insatiable ra- 
pacity of the greedy executioner. 

As a reward for our exertions in the great 
cause of freedom, we are now in the possession 
of those rights and privileges attendant upon 
the original state of nature, with the opportu- 
nity of establishing a government t for ourselves, 
independent upon any nation or any people 
upon the earth. We have the experience of 
ages to copy from, advantages that have been 
denied to any that have gone before us. Let 
us then, my fellow-citizens, learn to value the 
blessing. Let integrity of heart, the spirit of 
freedom and rigid virtue be seen to actuate 
every member of the commonwealth. Let not 
party rage, private animosities, or self in- 
terested motives, succeed that religious attach- 
ment to the public weal which has brought us 
successfully thus far ; for vain are all the 
boasted charms of liberty if her greatest vo- 
taries are guided by such base passions. The 
trial of our patriotism is yet before us, and we 
have reason to thank heaven that its principles 
are so well known and diffused. Exercise to- 
wards each other the benevolent feelings of 
friendship, and let that unity of sentiment, 
which has shone in the field, be equally ani- 
mating in our councils. 

Remember that prosperity is dangerous : 
that though successful, we are not infallible ; 
that like the rest of mankind we are capable of 
erring. The line of our happiness may be 
traced with exactness, and still there may be a 
difficulty in pursuing it. Let us not forget 
that our enemies have other arts in store for 
our destruction ; that they are tempting us into 

* It has ever been thought inconsistent with good policy 
and common sense to commit the defence of a country 
to men who have no interest in its preservation. 

Diod. Lib. i.p. 67. 
t The true definition of a free state is where the legis- 
lature adheres strictly to the laws of nature, and calculates 
every one of its regulations for improving society and for " 
promoting industry and honesty among the people. 

Home's Hist, vol. 2. /. 132. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



^7 



those snares which, after successful struggles, 
proved the ruin of the empires of the east ; and 
let this sacred maxim receive the deepest im- 
pression upon our minds, that if avarice, if 
extortion, if luxury and political corruption, are 
suffered to become popular among us, civil 
discord and the ruin of our country will be the 
speedy consequence of such fatal vices ; but 
while patriotism is the leading principle, and 
our laws are contrived with wisdom, and exe- 
cuted with vigor, while industr\', frugality and 
temperance, are held in estimation, and we 
depend upon public spirit and the love of vir- 
tue for our social happiness, peace and afflu- 
ence will throw their smiles upon the brow of 
the individual, our commonwealth will flourish, 
our land become the land of liberty, and 
America an asylum for the oppressed. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
I781. 

BY THOMAS DAWES, JUN. 

" Patria cara — carter Libertas t^^ 

Fathers, friends and citizens— k\o\&x\% 
apolog)', even at a time when uncommon pro- 
priety might justify it, and trusting rather to a 
continuance of the same liberality which has 
ever noted my countiymen, I attempt the 
duties of this solemn anniversary. 

And it is conceived that we shall, in some 
measure, perform those duties, if we sketch 
out some general traits of liberty, and mark 
the lines of her progress in particular nations, 
if we paint the wounds she has suffered from 
corruption and despotic force, and iVom the 
whole deduce such sentiments as become a 
brave and free, though injured people. 

Numerous as the descriptions are of prime- 
val man, the reflective eye is not yet wear)'. 
We still feel an interest in that Arcadian state 
which so well imitated the world we are look- 
ing for. And we shall continue to feel it so 
long as nature is pleasing and the heart retains 
a feature of innocence. Like the gods,* our 
first fathers had but few desires, and those to 
be satisfied by the works of virtue. Their 
passions were as the gales of their own Eden — 
enough to give a spring to good actions — to 
keep the waters of life in motion without in- 
ducing storm and whirlwind.t Conversing 

* II was represented of Marcus Aurelius. thai in imita- 
ting the gods, his study was to have as few wants as 
possible. I'id. Spectator Na. 634. 

t The passions of every kind, under proper restraints, 
are the gentle breezes which keep life from stagnation; but, 
let loose, they are the storms and whirlwinds which tear 
up all before them. Mrs. Brooke, 



with divinities, liberty, sent from aoove, was 
their peculiar inmate : that liberty, whose 
spirit, mingling with the nature of man at his 
formation, taught him, unlike the other ani- 
mals, to look upward and hope for a throne 
above the stars : * that liberty who taught him 
to pluck, with confidence, the fruits of nature ; 
to pursue the direction of reason upon his 
heart, and, under that direction, to acquire, 
secure and enjoy all possible happiness, not 
impeding, but assisting others in the same 
privilege.! When families, and consequently 
human wants were aftenvard multiplied, it 
was this same liberty who, joined with justice, 
led the patriarchs to some aged oak. There, 
in the copious shade, misunderstandings were 
explained, and charity and peace embraced 
each other.— Such was the morning cf man I 

But misunderstandings are quarrels in em- 
bryo. Satisfaction of one want originated ano- 
ther. Depravity grew enraptured with strife. 
The wind was up. Passion raged. Brother's 
blood then smoked from the ground and 
cried for vengeance. Nimrod commenced his 
prelude to tyranny, and Fame was clamorous 
with the deeds of death.— Liberty heard and 
trembled— considered herself an outcast, and 
has, on many times since, travelled up and 
down the world forlorn, forsaken, majesty, in 
rao-s. Nor will she, perhaps, until the millen- 
nium comes, if America does not now retain 
her, ever command that complete and perma- 
nent homage which is suitable to her nature. 
The old republics may have been the most per- 
fect seats of her residence while they lasted, 
and are often mustered up from the tomb of 
empire to witness the adoration which they 
paid her. But even there she received so fre- 
quent violence that the continuance of her 
reign was for the most part precarious ; and 
when even at the summit of her glor)', she 
was only elevated that her fall might be more 
astonishing. Having passed all the degrees 
of fortune, thank God she has found her way 
to these remote shores, and, if from effects we 
may judge, she is well pleased with her new 
abode. O cherish the divine inhabitant! O 
let her not return to the courts above with a 
story that shall fire the heavens against 
us— that she had blessings for us, but that we 
were not prepared to receive them— that she 
could find among us no lasting habitation; 
but that, Uke the dove after the deluge, she 



* Pronaque cum spectent animalia csetera terram, 
Is homina sublime dedit, cffilumque tueri 
Jussit. -O^'''- 'Y"- 

t No man's social liberty is lessened by another s en- 

iuying the same. — BoUan. 



68 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



was scarce favored with the top of some 
friendly mountain for a melancholy mo- 
ment. 

Liberty, my friends, is a palladium to the 
place of her dwelling, a rock and a sure de- 
fence. Wherever she is, every man has some- 
thing to protect. He knows what are his 
riches, and that while he liveth himself shall 
gather them. He views, with conscious joy, 
his circumstances. His social affections shoot 
out and flourish. Even his prejudices are a 
source of satisfaction, and among them local 
attachment, a fault which leads to the side of 
patriotism. 

Supported by, and tenacious of these fruits 
of liberty, some little free states, which the 
geographer in his map and otherways never 
noticed, have long stood uninjured by change, 
and some of them inaccessible by the greatest 
efforts of power. There is now, in a distant 
quarter of the globe, a living illustration of this 
remark. Situate upon a venerable pile of rocks, 
in Italy, stands the commonwealth of St. 
Marino. It was founded by a holy man whose 
name it bears, and who fled to this romantic 
fairy-land to erjoy religion and free air unpur- 
sued by power and the restless spirit of the 
world. His example was followed by the 
pious, the humane, and the lovers of freedom. 
And these, a favorite few, who were before 
scattered up and down through other parts of 
Italy ; who had lived all their days under arbi- 
trary rule, and whom nature had secretly, 
taught that there was somewhere a happier 
institution for man — these hurried away to the 
snowy top of St. Marino ; and having there first 
tasted those rights which come down from 
God, made it their life's labor to support and 
hand them down in purity. There every man 
finds his prosperity in submitting to those laws 
which diffuse equality. There every man feels 
himself happily liable to be called to the senate 
or the field : every man divides his day be- 
tween alternate labor and the use of arms — on 
tip-toe, ready to start for the prize, the mark 
of universal emulation — the common weal ; 
officious to promote that interest which is at 
once the public's and his own. So stands a 
constitution informed with the very essence of 
liberty. It has so stood, while other neigh- 
boring states have been blackened and defaced 
with frequent revolution. And we prophesy 
that till the approach of some unforeseen vice 
— till some degeneracy unknown to the sires 
creep upon the sons, St. Marino must stand 
admired : as, in its present circumstance, no 
prince or potentate, after sitting down and 
counting the cost, will ever attempt the im- 



penetrable union of so much prudence and 
virtue.* 

The name of 'Venice now occurs to memory 
as another modern example of genuine great- 
ness. The ascendency gained by that single 
city over the whole Ottoman power — the uni- 
versal panic that struck and pervaded all 
orders of the Turks when routed at Darda- 
nelles, and the reasonable fear of approaching 
dissolution that reached even to the throne and 
blasted the heart and withered the nerves of a 
despot : these, amazing at first, nevertheless 
appear, when their springs are laid open, the 
natural issues of a contest between free agents 
and slaves.t 

A more ancient and perhaps still more bril- 
liant proof of the proportionate powers of dif- 
ferent degrees of liberty, may be gathered from 
the annals of the city of Tyre. The Lybian 
madman J who thought he had conquered all 
and wept that he had no more to conquer § — 
the invincible son of Jove, before whom princi- 
palities and powers had bowed down their 
heads as a bulrush — behold him, with his 
phalanx, puzzled and Confounded at the walls 
of Tyre. To overrun Asia cost him less labor, 
enterprise and valor, than the reduction of this 
one favorite haunt of liberty. J And perhaps 
he had never reduced her but for her own fall- 
ing off from her pristine wisdom. Her liberty 
was not in first full vigor, but had received a 
shock from corruption introduced with riches. 
Briber}', pride, and oppression followed close 
behind. She was then cast out as profane 
from the mountain of God.T Tyre is become 
like the top of a rock — a place to spread nets 
upon. 

Let us consider the story of Tyre as a monu- 
ment which upon one side shews the force of 
excellence, and upon the other the baneful 
influence of vice ; a memento that every state 
below the sun has, like Achilles of old, some 
vulnerable part. As not a nation is exempted ; 
and lest, in a fond prejudice, we might exclude 
our own America, and so induce a fatal secu- 
rity, even .America has received a caveat from 
heaven, and in her youthful purity has been 

* Many of Uie facts here mentioned of St. Marino may 
be seen in Addison's more complete accounts of that 
republic. 

t This alludes only to a particular era in the Venetian 
history, 

? And the horned head belied the Lybian god. 

Pa/r. 

§ Alexander, after all his conquests, complained that 
he had no more worlds to subdue. 

Seneca on a Hap/y Life. 

\ For an illustration of this see ancient universal history 
vol. ii. page 75 and on ; also — tliat part of Newton on the 
prophecies which relate to Tyre, vol. i. 

\ Ezekiel, xxxiit. 16. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



6^ 



tempted by her enemies. With what sort of 
success tempted we need but remember the 
machinations and flight of the most infamous 
Arnold, and the affecting, though just separa- 
tion of the unfortunate Andre. 

Happy the nation that, apprised of the whole 
truth, impartially weighs its own alloy, and 
bars, with tenfold adamant, its gate of danger. 
— But to return. 

I had cherished some aversion to names 
grown trite by repetition, and had, on that 
account, evaded the ancient republics. But 1 
find the observation just, that " half our learn- 
ing is their epitaph." I conceive that the 
" moss-grown " columns and broken arches of 
those once-renowned empires are full with 
instruction as were the groves of Lyceum or 
the school of Plato. Let Greece then be the 
subject ofa moment's reflection. When liberty 
fled from the gloom of Egypt, she sought out 
and settled at infant Greece — there dissemi- 
nated the seeds of greatness — there laid the 
ground-work of republican glorj'. Simplicity 
of manners, piety to the gods, generosity and 
courage were her earliest character. " Human 
nature shot wild and free." * Penetrated with 
a spirit of industry, her sons scarcely knew of 
relaxation ; even their sports were heroic. 
Hence that elevated, independent soul, that 
contempt of danger, that laudable bias to their 
country and its manners. Upon the banks of 
Eurota flourished her principal state. Frugal- 
ity of living and an avarice of time were of the 
riches of Lacedsmon. Her ma.xims were 
drawn from nature, and one was " that nothing 
which bore the name of Greek was born for 
slavery." From this idea flowed an assistance 
to her sister states. From a like idea in her sis- 
ter states that friendship was returned in grate- 
ful measure. This, had it continued, would 
have formed the link of empire, the charm that 
would have united and made Greece invulner- 
able. While it lasted, the joint efforts of her 
states rendered her a name and a praise through 
the whole earth. And here, was it not for the 
sake of a lesson to my countr)-, I would not 
only drop my eulogium of Greece, but draw an 
impervious veil over her remaining history. Her 
tenfold lustre might at this day have blazed to 
heaven, had the union t of her states been held 

* From Dr. Blair's dissertation upon the works of 
Ossian. 

t Accuracy has been offended that this example is em- 
ploj'ed for the American states — which resemble each 
other in constitution and are united in their last resort ; 
whereas the Grecian were unlike among themselves and 
professedly separate. Rut attention to the history of 
Greece will discover in the causes of her fall a lesson 
sufficiently apposite to our purpose. The anonymous 
translator of Tourreil writes as follows : " When Persia, 



more sacred. But that union of her states, 
that cement of her existence once impaired 
— hear the consequence ! the fury of civil- 
war blows her accursed clarion. The banners 
late of conquering freedom now adorn the 
triumphs of oppression. Those states which 
lately stood in mighty concert, invincible, now 
breathe mutual jealousy and fall piecemeal a 
prey to the common enemy. Attic wisdom, 
Theban hardihood. Spartan valor, would not 
combine to save her. That very army, which' 
Greece had bred and nourished to reduce the 
oriental pride, is turned vulture upon her own 
vitals — a damnable parricide, the faction of a 
tyrant. Behold the great and God-like Greece, 
with all her battlements and towers about her, 
borne headlong from her giddy height — the 
shame, the pity of the world. 

Having attempted some general sketches of 
liberty, from the dawn of social life to the fall 
of national glory, I would be somewhat more 
particular upon those qualities to which her 
triumphs are chiefly indebted. 

In the vile economy of depraved man, there 
appears an inclination to bestow upon one part 
power and affluence, and to impose upon the 
other debility and woe. When that inclination 
is gratified, the majority being slaves, the re- 
mains of freedom are shared among the great ; 
like the triumphal bridge at the Archipelago, 
so strangely dignified, that, by a decree of the 
senate, none of the vulgar were suffered to 
enjoy it. When that inclination is counter- 
balanced by the laws ; when the true interests 
of both those parts are reconciled ; when socie- 
ty is considered as " a public combination for 
private protection,"* — and the governed find 
their happiness in their submission — there is 
the essence of all powerful liberty. Not to 
wire-draw a sentiment already graven upon the 
hearts of this audience, it is such a liberty, as 
that every man who has once tasted it, becomes 
a temporary soldier as soon as it is invaded, and 

so often vanquished by the Grecians, despaired of subdu- 
injj them, her last shift was to divide them ; to which 
their prosperity opened her a means. Spirits naturally 
quick and too licentious, blown up with their frequent- 
victories, could not contain themselves or govern their 
good fortune ; they abandoned themselves to jealousies 
and ambition.— These divisions ended, at last in a geireral 
slavery." 

Thomson most beautifully speaks the truth upon the 
same occasion — 

When Greece with Greece, 
Embroil'd with foul contention, fought no more 
For common glory and for common weal ; 
Hut. false to freedom, sought to quell the free ; 
Broke the lirra band of peace, and sacred love. 
That lent the whole irrefragable force ; 
And as around the partial trophy blush'd, 
Prepared the wav for total overflow. 
• Earl of Abingdon. 



70 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



resents any violence offered it, as an attack 
upon his life — hence it is that, in free states, as 
such, there is no such thing as a perpetual 
standing army. For the whole body of the 
people, ever ready, flock to the general stand- 
ard upon emergency, and so preclude the use 
of that infernal engine. I say infernal engine, 
for the tongue " labors, and is at a loss to ex- 
press," the hideous and frightful consequences 
that flow wherever the powers of hell have pro- 
cured its introduction. Turkey and Algiers 
are the delight of its vengeance. Denmark, 
once over-swarmed with the brave inhabitants 
of the north, has suffered depopulation, poverty 
and the heaviest bondage from the quartering 
troops amongst their peasants in time of peace : 
if it can be called peace, when robbery, confla- 
gration and murder are let loose upon the sons 
of men. Indeed, it is said that no nation ever 
kept up an army in time of peace that did not 
lose its liberdes. I believe it. Athens, Corinth, 
Svracuse, and Greece in general were all over- 
turned by that tremendous power: and the 
same power has been long operating with other 
causes to humble the crest of Britain. Let 
us hear a passage from Davenant ; " If (says 
he, speaking of standing armies) they who 
believed this eagle in the air frighted all 
motions towards liberty ; if they who heretofore 
thought armies in times of peace and our free- 
dom inconsistent ; if the same men should 
throw off a whig principle so fundamental, and 
thus come to clothe themselves with the 
detested garments of the tories, and if all that 
has been here discoursed on should happen, 
then will the constitution of this country be 
utterly subverted."* It would exceed the 
limits of the present occasion to expatiate upon 
all the instances wherein the liberties of 
Britain have in fact suffered according to the 
views of Davenant. Suffice it to say that a 
standing army has been, long since, virtually 
engrafted a limb upon her constitution, has 
frequently overawed her parliament, sometimes 
her elections.t and has carried distraction and 
massacre} into different parts of her empire. 

That standing mercenary troops must sooner 
or later entail servitude and misery upon their 
employers, is an eternal truth that appears 

* For the whole passage, which was too lengthy for our 
purpose, vid. the works of Dr. Davenant, corrected by 
Whitworth, vol. ii. p. 333. — Edition 1771. 

t The election of the Scotch Peers in the year 1735, and 
the misconduct of Blackerby and others, at the election of 
the Westminster members in the year 1741, are instances 
well kn )wn.— Vid. Burgh's Politic Disq. 2d vol. p. 444 
and 473. 

X Theaffair of Capt. Porteus at Edinburgh (vid. London 
Magazine for 1737, in a variety of pages) and of Capt. 
PrestoD, at Boston, are of themselves sufficient examples. 



from the nature of things. On the one hand 
behold an inspired yeomanry, all sinew and 
soul, having stepped out and defended their 
ancient altars, their wives and children, return- 
ing in peace to till those fields which their own 
arms have rescued. Such are the troops of 
every free people.* Such were the troops who, 
led on by the patriot Warren, gave the first 
home-blow to our oppressors. Such were the 
troops who, fired by Gates in the northern 
woods, almost decided the fate of nations. 
Such were the troops who, under the great and 
amiable Lincoln, sustained a siege in circum- 
stances that rank him and them with the 
captains and soldiers of antiquity. Such, we 
trust, are the troops who, inferior in number, 
though headed indeed by the gallant and 
judicious Morgan, lately vanquished a chosen 
veteran band long dedicated to Mars and dis- 
ciplined in blood. And such, we doubt not, 
are the troops who beat the British legions 
from the Jerseys, and have ever since preserved 
their country, under the conduct of that superior 
man who combines in quality the unshaken 
constancy of Cato, the triumphant delay of 
Fabius, and upon proper occasions the enter- 
prising spirit of Hannibal. 

May the name of Washington continue 
steeled, as it ever has been, to the dark slander- 
ous arrow that flies in secret. As it ever has 
been ! for who have offered to ecHpse his glory, 
but have afterward sunk away diminished, and 
" shorn of their own beams." 

Justice to other characters forbids our stop- 
ping to gaze at this constellation of heroes, and 
would fain draw forth an eulogium upon all 
who have gathered true laurels from the fields 
of America. 

" Thousands — the tribute of our praise 
Demand ; but who can count the stars of heaven ? 
Who speak their influence on this lower world." 

T/to»tson. 

Whither has our gratitude borne us ? let us 
behold a contrast — the army of an absolute 
prince — a profession distinct from the citizen 
and in a different interest — a haughty phalanx, 
whose object of warfare is pay, and who, the 
batde over, and if perchance they conquer, re- 
turn to slaughter the sons of peace. This is a 
hard saying. But does not all history press 
forward to assert its justice ? do not the pras- 

* " That the yeomanry are the bulwark of a free people *' 
— was, if memory serves, in a celebrated extempore speech 
of the honorable Samuel Adams, made in the year 1773. 
The steadiness of that great republican to his political 
creed, evinces that sentiments grounded upon just data 
will not easily bend to a partial interest, or accommodate 
to the changes of popular opinion. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



71 



torian bands of tottering Rome now crowd 
upon the affrighted memor)' ? do not the em- 
bodied guards from Petersburg and Constantino- 
ple stalk horrid the tools of revolution and mur- 
der? to come nearer home for an example, do 
we not see the darkened spring of 1770, like the 
moon in a thick atmosphere, rising in blood and 
ushered in by the figure of Britain plunging her 
poignard in the young bosom of America? Oh, 
our bleeding country ! was it for this our hoary 
sires sought thee through all the elements, * 
and having found thee sheltering away from the 
western wave, disconsolate, cheered thy sad 
face, and decked thee out like the garden of 
God ? Time was when we could all affirm to 
this gloomy question — when we were ready to 
cry out that our fathers had done a vain thing. 
— I mean upon that unnatural night which we 
now commemorate ; when the fire of Brutus 
was on many a heart — when the strain of Grac- 
chus was on many a tongue. "Wretch that I 
am, whither shall 1 retreat ? whither shall I 
turn me? to the capitol? the capitol swims in 
my brother's blood. To my family ? there 
must I see a wretched, a mournful and afflicted 
mother ? " t — Misery' loves to brood over its own 
woes : and so peculiar were the woes of that 
night, so expressive the pictures of despair, so 
various the face of death, { that not all the grand 
tragedies which have been since acted, can 
crowd from our minds that era of the human 
passions, that preface to the general conflict 
that now rages. May we never forget to offer 
a sacrifice to the manes of our brethren who 
bled so early at the foot of liberty. Hitherto 
we have nobly avenged their fall : but as ages 
cannot expunge the debt, their melancholy 
ghosts still rise at a stated season, and will for- 
ever wander in the night of this noted anni- 
versary. Let us then be frequent pilgrims at 
their tombs — there let us profit of all our feel- 
ings ; and, while the senses are " struck deep 
with woe," give wing to the imagination. 
Hark ! even now in the hollow wind I hear the 
voice of the departed. O ye, who listen to wis- 
dom and aspire to immortality, as ye have 
avenged our blood, thrice blessed ! as ye still 
war against the mighty hunters of the earth, 
your names are recorded in heaven ! 

Such are the suggestions of fancy : and hav- 
ing given them their due scope ; having de- 
scribed the memorable fifth of March as a sea- 
son of disaster, it would be an impiety not to 
consider it in its other relation. For the rising 
honors of these states are distant issues, as it 

— elementa per omnia qu^erunt. — Juv. 



t Guthrie's Cicero de Oratore. 
t " Plurima mortis imago.' 



were, from the intricate * though all-wise Divinity 
which presided upon that night. Strike that night 
out of time, and we quench the first ardor of a 
resentment which has been ever since increas- 
ing, and now accelerates the fall of tyranny. 
The provocations of that night must be num- 
bered among the master-springs which gave the 
first motion to a vast machinery, a noble and 
comprehensive system of national independence. 
"The independence of America," says the 
writer, under the signature of Common Sense, 
" should have been considered as dating its era 
from the first musket that was fired against 
her." Be it so ! but Massachusetts may cer- 
tainly date many of its blessings from the Bos- 
ton massacre — a dark hour in itself, but from 
which a marvellous light has arisen. From 
that night revolution became inevitable, and the 
occasion commenced of the present most beau- 
tiful form of government. We often read of 
the original contract, and of mankind, in the 
eariy ages, passing from a state of nature to 
immediate civilization. But what eye could 
penetrate through gothic night and barbarous 
fable to that remote period. Such an eye, per- 
haps, was present, when the Deity conceived 
the universe and fixed his compass upon the 
great deep. t 

And yet the people of Massachusetts have 
reduced to practice the wonderful theory. A 
numerous people have convened in a state of 
nature, and, like our ideas of the patriarchs, 
have deputed a few fathers of the land to draw 
for them a glorious covenant. It has been 
drawn. The people have signed it with rap- 
ture, and have, thereby, bartered, among 
themselves, an easy degree of obedience for 
the highest possible civil happiness. To 
render that covenant eternal, patriotism and 
political virtue must forever blaze — must blaze 
at the present day with superlative lustre ; 
being watched, from different motives, by the 
eyes of all mankind. Nor must that patriotism 
be contracted to a single commonwealth. A 
combination of the states is requisite to support 
them individually. "Unite or die" is our 
indispensable motto. Every step from it is a 
step nearer to the region of death. This idea 
was never more occasional than at the present 

* " Tlie ways of heaven are dark and intricate." 

Addison^ s Cato. 

t Not that we can believe, with some theoretical writers, 
that individuals met together in a large plain, entered into 
an original contract, etc. 

But though society had not its formal beginning from 
any convention of individuals, etc. And this is what we 
mean by the original contract of society ; which though 
perhaps, in no instance it has been formally expressed, at 
the first institution of a state, yet, etc. — 

\st Btack^tone s Com. p. 47, vid, the ivkoU passage. 



72 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



crisis — a crisis pregnant with fate and ready to 
burst with calamity. I allude to that languor 
which, like a low hung cloud, overshadows a 
great part of the thirteen states. That the 
young, enterprising America, who stepped out 
in the cause of human kind, and no other arm 
daring, lopped the branches of wide despotic 
empire — that the same America should now 
suffer a few insolent bands to ravage her 
borders with impunity — that her now tardy 
hand should suspend the finishing stroke of 
resentment, and leave to her generous allies a 
labor which her own vigor ought to effect ; this 
must disturb those, illustrious, who fell in her 
infant exertions ; this must stab the peace of 
the dead, however it may affect the hearts of 
the living. Oh could I bear a part among the 
means of awakening virtue — oh could I call 
strength to these feeble lungs and borrow that 
note which shook the throne of Julius ! vain 
wish ! if the silent suggestions of truth — if the 
secret whispers of reason are not sufficient — 
the efforts of human eloquence might be futile, 
her loudest bolt might roll unheeded ! 

This is not intended to inspire gloom ; but 
only to persuade to those exertions which are 
necessary to life and independence. Let jus- 
tice then be done to our country — let justice be 
done to our great leader ; and, the only means 
under heaven of our salvation, let his army be 
replenished. That grand duty over, we will 
once more adopt an enthusiasm sublime in itself 
but still more so as coming from the lips of a 
first patriot — the chief magistrate of this com- 
monwealth. " I have, said he, a most animat- 
ing confidence that the present noble struggle 
for liberty will terminate gloriously for Ameri- 
ca." Aspiring to such a confidence, 

I sA the expressive leaves of fale thrown wide ; 

Of future times I see the mighty tide. 

And borne triumphant on its buoyant wave, 

A god-like number of the great and brave. 

The bright, wide ranks of martyrs — here they rise — 

Heroes and patriots move before my eyes : 

These crown'd with olive, those with laurel come. 

Like the first fathers of immortal Rome. 

Fly time ! oh lash thy fiery steeds away — 

Roll rapid wheels and bring the smiling day,* 

When these blest states, another promis'd land, 

Chosen out and foster'd by the Almighty hand, 

Supreme shall rise their crowded shores shall be 

The fix'd abodes of empire and of liberty. 

* Sun gallop down the western skies. 
Gang soon to bed and quickly rise ; 
O lash your steeds, post time away, 
And haste about the bleezing day. 

Aiian Rant lay. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
1782, 

BY GEORGE RICHARDS MINOT. 

Quid tantum insano juvat indulgere dolori ? 

non hsec sine numine divum. 

Virg. j^n. 2dy 776. 



Eveniunt — — 

Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum ; 
Et documenta damus, qua sinus origine nati. 

Ovid Metatn. Lib. i, 414. 

Fathers, friends, and fellow citisens — When 
I consider the important occasion from which 
this anniversary derives its origin, and the 
respectable characters that have exerted them- 
selves to perpetuate its history, I confess there 
is an unusual security in my feelings : since no 
mistaken effort of mine can injure an institution 
founded on so memorable an event, and sup- 
ported by names so justly claiming the applause 
of posterity. 

While I rely, then, upon that honesty of in- 
tention, which is itself the best apology for its 
errors, permit me to employ the present hour, 
which your united voices have annually made 
sacred to the commemoration of our country's 
wrongs, in recapitulating the most injurious of 
her sufferings, among which that on the tragi- 
cal fifth of March is by no means the least, and 
in recounting the blessings which have followed 
from measures as really disgraceful to those 
who adopted them, as they were intentionally 
destructive to those against whom they were 
levelled. 

A nation falling from those great principles 
of justice and virtue which had made her 
respectable; subverting the boasted improve- 
ments of her arts to the savage purposes of 
revenge ; with venality and corruption en- 
trenched on her cabinet, affords a spectacle too 
serious for the amusement of the beholder. 
He turns for relief to the annals of those people 
whose masculine virtues have obstinately, will 
he not say wisely, resisted the refinement of a 
civilized world. But from the misfortunes of 
such a nation, much is to be learned. As she 
is hurried onwards by the vortex of that im- 
measurable gulf, in which empires sink to 
rise no more, let her serve us as a signal to 
avoid the first impulse of its resistless tide. 

To trace Great Britain through the whole 
progress of her ambition in this country, would 
be to step back to a very eariy period ; for, 
long before she avowed her system of colonial 
slavery in the stamp-act, the liberties of our 
ancestors had endured the most alarming inno- 
vation from her throne. Without cause, and 
without notice, she had invalidated their 
charters ; laid impositions upon their trade ; 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



73 



attempted a most dangerous influence over 
their internal government, by endeavoring to 
make it independent of the people ; — and all 
this with the same confidence, as though her 
policy and foresight, and not her persecutions, 
had settled them on this side the Atlantic. 

But the full display of her despotic policy 
was reserved to add accumulated disgrace to 
the inglorious reign of the third George. Then, 
intoxicated with America, she slumbered upon 
the tottering pillars of her own constitution ; 
the hand of slavery rocked her as she lay on 
the giddy height ; falsehood gilded her visions 
and bound her senses with the enchantment 
of success ; while her blind ambition alone 
remained awake, to misdirect the ordinary 
assistance of fortune, and to make her fall 
equally certain and complete. 

The genius of Britain once interred, the first 
spectre which shot from its tomb was the 
stamp-act. This promulgation of a scheme so 
repugnant to the fundamental principles of the 
late English constitution, announced the fall, but 
did not obliterate the memory of that much re- 
spected system, in this country. America saw 
that the act bore not a single feature of its 
reputed parent, and having detected its illegiti- 
macy, effectually resisted its operation. But, 
as though conviction must ever be productive 
of obstinacy, Britain desisted not to rend in 
pieces the charters of her colonies, which served 
to remind her of the violence she committed 
on her own. Her administration affecting to 
realize the fables* of its minions, whose very 
fears were as subservient to its purposes, as 
their hopes were dependent on its venality, 
and making pretence of trespasses, which, if 
real, the laws were open to punish, unmasked 
its true designs, by quartering an armed force 
in this metropolis in a time of peace. 

Where was the citizen whose indignation 
did not flash at this undisguised attack on his 
liberties ? the soldier's pride too grew sanguin- 
ary at the idea of contempt from the people he 
himself had been taught to despise ; and, as 
though heaven designed to effect its greatest 
purposes by the sacrifice of what men conceive 
to be the dearest objects of its guardianship, 
the lives and rights of citizens were delivered 
over to the scourge of military rancor. 

Venerable t patrons of freedom, wherever 
your country may lie ! boast not that the rea- 
son and speculative truths of this our common 

• For some of these fanciful misrepresentitions, see a 
vindication of the town of Hoston, from many false and 
malicious aspersions, contained in certain letters written 
by Governor Bernard and others, published by order of 
the town, 1769. 

t See Abbe Raynal's Hist. American Revolution, p. 65. 



cause, armed an extensive world in support of 
its justice. Turn to the tragedy we commemo- 
rate, as imprinted by the bloody hand of the 
tyrant, and view the highest outrage his power 
could commit, or the forbearance of humanity 
sustain. There hecatombs of slaughtered citi- 
zens were offered at the shrine of cursed 
ambition. — What can we add to their memories 
through whose wounds their country bled ; 
whose names are handed round the globe with 
the great occasion on which they fell ; and 
whose tombs shall ever stand a basis to the 
stateliest pillar in the temple of freedom ? 
heaven has avenged their fall by realizing the 
prophecy of the indignant American, as he 
vented his anguish over their rankling blood. 
" These are indeed my country's wounds,* but 
oh ! said he, the deep and tremendous restitu- 
tions are at hand ; I see them with a prophetic 
eye this moment before me. Horrors shall be 
repaid with accumulation of horror. The 
wounds in America shall be succeeded by 
deep-mouthed gashes in the heart of Britain ! 
the chain of solemn consequences is now 
advancing. Yet, yet my friends, a little while, 
and the poor, forlorn one, who has fought and 
fallen at the gate of her proper habitation, for 
freedom, for the common privileges of life, for 
all the sweet and binding principles in human- 
ity, for father, son, and brother, for the cradled 
infant, the wailing widow, and the weeping 
maid ; yet, yet and she shall find an avenger. 
Indignant nations shall arm in her defence. 
Thrones and principalities shall make her 
cause their own, and the fountains of blood 
that have run from her exhausted veins shall be 
answered by a yet fuller measure of the horri- 
ble effusion — blood for blood ; and desolation 
for desolation ; O my injured country ! my 
massacred America ! " 

Melancholy scene ! the fatal, but we trust 
the last effect in our country, of a standing 
army quartered in populous cities in a time of 
peace. 

Britain having thus violated the greatest law 
nations or individuals can be held by, to use 
the language of the ancients, threw a veil over 
the altars of her gods whom she was too 
haughty to appease. Would to heaven, for her 
sake, we too had a veil to hide from the eye of 
justice, the ashes of our desolated towns, and 
the tracks which her ravages have imprinted 
through every quarter of our once peaceful 
land. 

Iff "every act of authority of one person 
over another, for which there is not an absolute 

• Anonymous. 

t liecaeria on Crimes and Punishments, p. 10. 



74 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



necessity, is tyrannical," and if tyranny justifies 
resistance, to have remained inactive, under 
these injuries, had been a kind of political 
stoicism, equally inconsistent with the laws of 
nature and society. On such principles arose 
the memorable declaration of July, 1776. — A 
declaration which at once gave life and freedom 
to a nation ; dissolved a monopoly unnatural as 
unjust ; and extended the embraces of our 
country to the universe. — A declaration which 
heaven has since ratified by the successful 
event of her arms. For, when we consider the 
number of her victories ; the disadvantages 
under which they were obtained ; the chain of 
important consequences which depended upon 
the very moment of their decision, who but 
must acknowledge, after allowing to our mili- 
tary actors every thing heroism can claim, that 
there appeared peculiar marks of more than 
human assistance .•' the surrender of entire ar- 
mies to a power which they affected to look 
upon rather as an object of their chains than 
of their swords, was a degree of glory of which 
no enemy that ever passed the Roman yoke 
afforded to that republic. Hapless Britain ! for 
even those whom you injure must pity you, 
how has fortune added acrimony to her fickle- 
ness, in choosing for a scene of your dis- 
grace, that climate where, in a late war, she 
so loudly vaunted the invincibility of your 
arms ! 

America once unfettered, nobly relied upon 
the uprightness of her cause and the bravery 
of her sons. But, as though the virtues of one 
crown were to apologize for the merciless 
cruelty of another, a monarch, equally wise in 
council as brilliant and powerful in arms, met 
her in alliance which must ever enliven her 
gratitude ; exalt the honor of France, and we 
trust too, promote the interests of both. 

Among the advantages which have risen 
from these great events to the people of Massa- 
chusetts, that of securing their lives, their 
liberties, and property, the great object of all 
civil government, by a constitution of their own 
framing, is not to be accounted the least. 
Dismembered from a government, which had 
long stood by the exactest balance of its powers, 
even against the corruption of its ministers, 
they found themselves accustomed to princi- 
ples, which age had stamped with authority, 
and patriots sealed with their blood. The 
cause of their separation had taught them the 
avenues through which despotism insinuates 
itself into the community, and pointed out the 
means of excluding it. Under these circum- 
stances they produced a system which, we 
trust, experience will evince to be an improve- 



ment * upon the best mankind have hitherto 
admired. The quick return of all delegated 
power to the people, from which it is made to 
spring, and the check which each part of the 
government has upon the excesses of the other, 
seem to warrant us in placing on it all the 
confidence human laws can deserve. But, 

Let us not trust laws : an uncorrupted peo- 
ple can exist without them ; a corrupted people 
cannot long exist with them, or any other hu- 
man assistance. They are remedies which at 
best always disclose and confess our evils. 
The body politic, once distempered, they may 
indeed be used as a crutch to support it a 
while, but they can never heal it. Rome, when 
her bravery conquered the neighboring nations, 
and united them to her own empire, was free 
from all danger within, because her armies, 
being urged on by a love for their country, 
would as readily suppress an internal as an ex- 
ternal enemy. In those times she made no 
scruple to throw out her kings who had abused 
their power. But when her subjects fought 
not for the advantage of the commonwealth ; 
when they thronged to the Asiatic wars for the 
spoils they produced, and preferred prostituting 
the rights of citizenship upon any barbarian 
that demanded them, to meeting him in the 
field for their support, then Rome grew too 
modest to accept from the hands of a dictator 
those rights, which she ought to have impaled 
him for daring to invade. No alteration in her 
laws merely, could have effected this. Had 
she remained virtuous she might as well have 
expelled her dictators as her kings. But what 
laws can save a people who, for the very pur- 
pose of enslaving themselves, choose to con- 
sider them rather as councils which they may 
accept or refuse, than as precepts which they 
are bound to obey .'' t with such a people they 
must ever want a sanction and be contemned. 
— I Virtue and long life seem to be as inti- 
mately allied in the political as in the moral 
world : she is the guard which providence has 
set at the gate of freedom. 

True it is, when the nature and principles of a 
government are pure, we have a right to suppose 
it at the farthest possible distance from falling. 

♦ Is it not so in the equality of representation and mode 
of election ? 

t A conscience more scrupulous, than it is probable 
Sylla ever had, would be apt to imagine this general dis- 
position of the people wiped away the guilt of enslaving 
them from any hand that effected it. If m any case, 'tis in 
this that we may apply the maxim volenti non fit in- 
juria. 

X Virtue, in a republic, is a most single thing, it is a 
love for the republic; it is a sensation, and not a conse- 
quence of acquired knowledge : a sensation that may be 
felt by the meanest as well as by the highest person in the 
state. SJ>irit 0/ Laws, Book ^thy chap, id. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



75 



But when we consider that those countries * 
in which the wisest institutions of republican 
governments have been established, now 
exhibit the strongest instances of apostacy, we 
cannot but see the necessity of vigilance. 
Commerce, which makes, perhaps, the greatest 
distinction between the old world and the 
modern, having raised new objects for our 
curiosity, habitual indulgence hath at length 
made them necessary to our infirmities. Thus 
effeminated, can we hope to exceed the rigor 
of their principles, who even forbade the men- 
tioning of a foreign custom, and whose sump- 
tuary laws are held up in our age as objects of 
astonishment ? Such nations have mouldered 
away, an uncontrovertible proof, that the best 
constructed human governments, like the 
human body, tend to corruption ; but as with 
that too, there are not wanting remedies to 
procrastinate their final decay. 

Among the causes of their fall there are 
none more common or less natural than that 
of their own strength. Continual wars making 
a military force necessary, the habit of conquest 
once acquired and other objects being wanting, 
history is not without t instances of its turning 
itself inwards, and gnawing as it were, upon 
its own bowels. Happy are we in the frequent 
change of our soldiery.^ This seems to be the 
best antidote against such an evil. It prevents 
that lethargy which would be a symptom of 
death in the citizen at home : and checks that 
immoderation in the soldier which is apt to 
mislead his virtues in the field. By this ex- 
change of their qualities they mutually warrant 
happiness to each other, and freedom to their 
countr)'. 

America once guarded against herself, what 
has she to fear ? her natural situation may well 
inspire her with confidence. Her rocks and 
hermountainsare the chosen temples of liberty. 
The extent of her climate, and the variety of its 
produce, throw the means of her greatness into 
her own hands, and insure her the traffic of the 
world. Navies shall launch from her forests, 

* The politic Greeks who lived under a popular govern- 
ment, who knew no other support but virtue. The modern 
inhabitants of that country are entirely taken up with 
manufactures, commerce, finances, riches, and luxuries. 
S/irt/ 0/ Laii's^ Book ^d. chap -^d. 

+ For a complete collection of these, I beg leave to refer 
to the 3d book of the political disquisitions. 

% The design of society being to protect the weak 
against the more powerful, whatever tends to taking away 
the distinction between them, and to putting all its mem- 
bers upon the same level, must be consonant to its first 
principles. This was an object with the old republics ; 
Rome obliged her citizens to serve in the tield ten years, 
between the age of sixteen years and forty-seven. Vid. 
Refleczions on the rise and /all 0/ the Rom, Emp. c. 10. 
last note. 



and her bosom be found stored with the most 
precious treasures of nature. May the industry 
of her people be a still surer pledge of her 
wealth. The union of her states too is founded 
upon the most durable principles: the simi- 
larity of the manners, religion, and laws of 
their inhabitants, must ever support the mea- 
sure which their common injuries originated. 
Her government, while it is restrained from 
violating the rights of the subject, is not dis- 
armed against the public foe. 

Could Junius Brutus, and his colleagues, 
have beheld her republic erecting itself on this 
disjointed neck of tyranny, how would they 
have wreathed a laurel for her temples as eter- 
nal as their own memories ! America ! fairest 
copy of such great originals ! be virtuous, and 
thy reign shall be as happy as durable, and as 
durable as the pillars of the world you have 
enfranchised. 



ORATION DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 
1783. 

BY DR. THOMAS WELSH. 

Non tali auxilio, nee defensoribus istis 
Tempus eget : Virgil Aineid,, Lib. 2. line 521. 

Friends and fellovj-ctfizcns — Invited to this 
place by your choice, and recollecting your well 
known indulgence, I feel myself already pos- 
sessed of your candor, while I " impress upon 
your minds, the ruinous tendency of standing 
armies being placed in free and populous cities 
in a time of peace." 

A field here presents, annually traversed by 
those who, by their sagacity have discovered, 
and by their voices declared, in strains of 
manly eloquence, the source from whence 
those fatal streams originate, which like the 
destroying pestilence, have depopulated king- 
doms and laid waste the fairest empires. 

In prosecution of the subject, I presume I 
shall not offend a respectable part of my audi- 
ence, I mean the gentlemen of the American 
patriot army * — an army whose glor}' and vir- 
tues have been long since recorded in the tem- 
ple of fame — her trumpet has sounded their 
praises to distant nations — her wing shall bear 
them to latest ages. 

When the daring spirit of ambition, or the 
boundless lust of domination, has prompted 

• I should not have neglected so favorable an opening 
to have shewn my poor respects to the character of the 
commander in chief of the .American army, but from a 
consciousness of inability to add to a name, more durable 
than marble, which will outlive the assaults of envy and 
the ravages of time. 



76 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



men to invade the * natural peaceful state of 
society, it is among the first emotions of the 
heart, to repel the bold invader. Men, assem- 
bled from such motives, having expelled the 
enemy from their borders, re-assuming the 
pruning hook and the spade, for the sword and 
the spear, have, in all ages, been called the 
saviours of their country. 

A militia is the most natural defence of a 
free state, from invasion and tyranny : they 
who compose the militia, are the proprietors 
of the soil ; and who are so likely to defend it, 
as they who have received it from their ances- 
tors — acquired it by their labor — or obtained 
it by their valor .' every free man has within his 
breast the great essentials of a soldier, and 
having made the use of arms familiar, is ever 
ready for the field. And where is the tyrant 
who has not reason to dread an army of 
freemen .' 

In the battle of Naseby.t in the days of 
Cromwell, the number of forces was equal on 
both sides ; and all circumstances equal. In 
the parliament's army only nine officers had 
ever seen actual service and most of the sol- 
diers were London apprentices, drawn out of 
the city two months before. In the king's 
army there were about a thousand officers 
who had served abroad, yet the veterans were 
routed by the apprentices. 

Rome advanced on the zenith of glory and 
greatness, and conquered all nations in the 
times of the republic, while her army was an 
unpaid militia. 

The Grecians carried on their wars against 
Persia by means of their militia ; and at last 
beat the numerous mercenary armies, and sub- 
dued the vast empire of Persia. 

The deeds of valor performed by my own 
countrymen, and in our day, are numerous and 
recent, and point out, as with a sun-beam, that 
the militia is to a free country a lasting 
security. 

You will now permit me to consider the 
condition and consequences of a standing 
army. 

Men who enlist themselves for life soon 
lose the feelings of citizens. To command 
and be commanded, e.xcites an idea of servi- 
tude and dependence, which degrades the 

• The natural state of nations with respect to each other . 
is certainly that of society and peace. Such is the natu- 
ral and primitive state of one man with respect to ano- 
ther ; and whatever alteration mankind may have made in 
regard to their original state, they cannot, without viola- 
ting their duty, break in upon that state of peace and 
society, in which nature has placed them, and which, by 
her laws, she has strongly recommended to their observ- 
ance. Purlamaqui^Part ^. Chap i. S^c. 4. 

t Vid. Political Disquisitions. 



mind, and in a social view, destroys the char- 
acter of a free agent.* 

They who follow the profession of arms con- 
ceive themselves exempted from the useful oc- 
cupations of life, and thence contract a habit 
of dissipation ; soldiers inured to exercise and 
labor in their duty, at leisure to roam, will not 
be wholly inactive in a city, where the means 
of gratification abound ; pursuing the objects 
of pleasure with the same zeai with which 
they engaged in the toils and enterprises of 
the field, whole armies have too late found 
themselves destroyed by the dissolving power 
of luxury. 

We have a remarkable instance of this, my 
fellow-citizens, in the army of Hannibal, which, 
having withstood the greatest hardships, and 
which the most dreadful dangers had never 
been able to discourage, in winter quarters, at 
Capua, was entirely conquered by plenty and 
pleasures.! 

The effects of luxur)-, though productive of 
the greatest misfortunes to an army stationed 
in a city, are by no means confined to that 
class of men. The great body of the people, 
smote by the charms and blandishments of a 
life of ease and pleasurement, fall easy victims 
to its fascinations. The city, reared by the 
forming hand of industry, soon feels the symp- 
toms of dissolution — the busy merchant now 
no more extends his commerce ; the mechanic 
throws aside his chisel ; the voice of riot suc- 
ceeds to the sounds of the hammer, and the 
midnight revel to the vigils of labor. 

When a large respectable standing army has 
been stationed in a city, commanded by officers 
of known patriotism, who have taught those 
under their orders to interchange the kind and 
friendly offices of life ; citizens, conceiving them- 
selves secured from domestic broils and the dan- 
ger of invasion from abroad, imperceptibly relax 
in their attention to military exercises, and may 
thus be exposed as a tempting bait to an aspir- 
ing despot ; besides, a people who have made 
themselves respectable by their personal atten- 
tion to their own defence, neglecting their 
militia, may be insulted by those neighbors 

* Moore, in his view of society and manners in Europe, 
observes — " As to the common soldiers, the leading idea 
of the discipline is, to reduce them in many respects, to 
the nature of machines : that they may have no volition 
of their own, but be actuated solely by that of their offi- 
cers ; that they may have such a superlative dread of 
their officers, as annihilates all fear of the enemy ; that 
they may move forward when ordered, without deeper 
reasoning or more concern than the firelocks they carry 
along with them-" 

+ Vid. Livy's Roman history for an account of the bat- 
tles, sufferings, and almost incredible march and destruc- 
tion of the renowned Carthaginian general and his 
army. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



17 



who had formerly been accustomed to revere 
their power. 

When communities have so far mistaken 
their interest as to commit the defence of ever)' 
thing valuable in life to a standing army, the 
love of ease will scarcely permit them to re- 
assume the unpleasant task of defending them- 
selves. 

At the conclusion of a long and bloody war, 
the liberties of a people are in real danger from 
the admission of troops into a free city. When 
an anny has suffered every hardship to which 
the life of a soldier is peculiarly incident, and 
has returned crowned with the well-earned 
laurels of the field, they justly expect to be 
received into the open arms, and with the 
applauses of those for whom they have fought, 
and in whose cause they have bled ; in a situa- 
tion like this, whole communities, in transport 
of gratitude, have weakly sacrificed at the 
shrine of a deliverer, every thing for which 
their armies have fought, or their heroes bled. 

Nations, the most renowned among the 
ancients for their wisdom and their policy, have 
viewed the army with an eye of attentive 
jealousy ; the Romans, characterized for per- 
sonal braver)',* trembled for their countrj', at 
the sight of one hundred and fifty lictors, or 
peace officers, as a guard of the decemviri. 
Such an army was dangerous, they said, to 
liberty. These politic people knew the prevail- 
ing propensity in all mankind to power. The 
history of later times has abundantly justified 
the wisdom of their jealousies. All parts of 
Europe which have been enslaved, have been 
enslaved by armies. No nation can be said to 
enjoy internal liberty which admits them in a 
time of peace. When a government has a 
body of standing troops at command, it is easy 
to form pretensions for the distribution of them, 
so as to effect their own purposes ; when a 
favorite point is to be carried, a thousand 
soldiers may convey irresistible argument, and 
compel men to act against their feelings, inter- 
est, and country. 

Such were the arguments employed by 
Philip the Second, of Spain, to persuade the 
inhabitants of the Netherlands to relinquish 
their liberties, their property, and their religion ; 
the progress of these dreadful measures pro- 
duced scenes of massacre and devastation, the 

* In the battles fought in our age, every single soldier 
has very little security and confidence except in the multi- 
tude ; but among the Romans, every individual, more 
robust and of greater experience in war, as well as more 
inured to the fatigues of it. than the enemy, relied upon 
himself only. He was naturally endued with courage, or 
in other words, with that virtue which a sensibility of our 
own strength inspires. Montesquieu. 



recital of which must excite exquisite horror in 
the most savage breast. 

One of the commanders of the army under 
the duke of Alva, demanding a pass through 
the city of Rotterdam,* was at first refused, 
but assuring the magistrates that he meant only 
to lead his troops through the town, and not to 
lodge them in it, they consented to suffer the 
companies to pass through one by one : no 
sooner had the first company entered the city, 
than the officer, without regard to his engage- 
ments, ordered them to keep the gates open 
until the other companies should arrive : one 
of the citizens, endeavoring to shut the gate, 
was killed by his own hand ; his troops, eager 
to follow his example, drew their swords, and, 
giving a-loose to their fury, spread themselves 
over the town, and butchered more than three 
hundred of the inhabitants. 

This was among the first events of that war 
which rendered the Netherlands a scene of 
horror and devastation for more than thirty 
years ; but which, whilst it proved the source, 
on many occasions, of extreme distress to the 
people, called forth an exertion of virtue, spirit, 
and intrepidity, which seldom occurs in the 
annals of history. — Never was there a more 
unequal contest, than between the inhabitants 
of the Low-Countries and the Spanish mon- 
arch ; and never was the issue of anv dispute 
more contrary to what the parties had reason 
to expect. 

Under similar circumstances, my fellow- 
citizens, a standing army was introduced and 
stationed in this city ; which produced the 
scene we now commemorate, and which I 
know you cannot all remember, but let the 
stranger hear and let the listening youth be 
told — that on the evening of the fifth of March, 
seventeen hundred and seventy, under the 
orders of a mercenary officer, murder, with 
her polluted weapons, stood trampling in the 
blood of our slaughtered countr\-men ; imagi- 
nation cannot well conceive what mingling 
passions then convulsed the soul and agonized 
the heart ! — those pangs were sharp indeed, 
which ushered into life a nation ! — like Her- 
cules t she rose brawny from the cradle, the 
snakes of Britain yet hung hissing round her 
horrible, and fell ! — at her infant voice they 

* The whole affair is related at length in Watson's His- 
tory of the Low Countries, to which the reader is referred. 

t Hercules is represented, when very young, engaged 
in the most courageous and dangerous enterprises — such 
as encountering lions, squeezing them to death against 
his own breast, or tearing their jaws asunder ; sometimes, 
when an infant, grasping serpents with a little smile upon 
his cheek, as if he was pleased with their fine colors and 
their motions, and killing them by his strong gripe with so 
much ease, that he scarce deigns to look upon them. 



78 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



hasted — at the dread of her rising arm they 
fled away. 

America, separated from the nations of 
Europe by the mighty ocean, and from Britain 
by the miglitier hand of heaven, is acknow- 
ledged an independent nation ; she has now to 
maintain her dignity and importance among 
the l<ingdoms of the earth. May she never be 
seduced from her true interest, by subtle in- 
trigue, mistaken policy, or misguided ambition ! 
but, considering her own condition, may she 
follow the maxims of wisdom, which are better 
than the weapons of war ! 

It has become fashionable in Europe, to 
keep a large standing army in times of peace. 
The people of Great Britain have professed 
their aversion to the establishment, yet have 
suffered it to gain ground upon the idea of 
preser\ing the balance of power. This custom 
is so deeply rooted and so firmly established, 
that nothing short of annihilation of the govern- 
ments where they have been so long tolerated 
can abolish the institution. 

From the situation and vicinity of the nations 
of Europe with respect to each other, the dif- 
ferent extent of territory rendering it more 
difficult to repel an invasion from some coun- 
tries than others, for the celerity of defence 
and the more complete security of extensive 
countries ; from these and similar considera- 
tions, even wise politicians have defended the 
propriety of the establishment, but let their 
motives be ever so pure the ambitious and the 
aspiring have views extensive and ruinous ; 
they have felt the charms and experienced the 
utility of this engine, and are not wanting in 
their exertions to suppori its existence. 

Our fortunate alliances in Europe have 
secured us from any danger of invasion from 
thence ; this security is derived from considera- 
tions of the best policy and true interest of the 
allied powers. 

The new and glorious treaty concluded, 
since the last anniversary', with the states of 
Holland, whose manners, laws, religion, and 
bloody contest for freedom, so nearly resemble 
our own,* affords a happy presage of lasting 

* If there was ever among nations a natural alliance, 
one may be formed between the two republics. The 
6rst planters of the four northern states found in this coun- 
try an asylum from persecution, and resided here from 
the year one thowsand six hundred and eipht, to the year 
one thousand six hundred and twenty, twelve years pre- 
ceding their migration. They ever entertained and have 
transmitted to posterity, a grateful remembrance of that 
protection and hospitality, and especially of that religious 
liberty they found here, having sought it in vain in Eng- 
land. 

" The first inhabitants of two other states. New York 
and New Jersey, were immediate emigrants from this 
natioa, and have transmitted their religion, language, 



security. We may add the situation of our 
country, with respect to other dominions, is so 
secured by nature, that no one can feign pre- 
tensions sufficiently plausible to convince the 
people of America of the propriety of support- 
ing a standing army in a time of peace ; whilst 
memory retains the exploits of our brave citizens 
in the field, who have joined the standard ot 
freedom, and successfully defended her injured 
altars and her devoted rites. The community 
will be assured that, upon the basis of a well- 
regulated militia, an army may be raised upon 
all future occasions sufficient to oppose the 
most formidable invaders. 

Here, were it pertinent, I would express a 
confidence, that when the army shall be dis- 
banded, justice, with impartial scale, will 
distribute due rewards to those who have 
jeoparded their lives in the high places of the 
field. 

Every American is conscious of the effects 
produced by the knowledge of the people in 
the use of arms, and from that experience need 
not be exhorted to an attention to their militia. 

When we consider our own prosperous con- 
dition, and view the state of that nation, of 



customs, manners and character ; and America in general 
until her connections with the house of Bourbon, has ever 
considered this nation as her first frieod in Europe, whose 
history, and the great character it exhibits, in the various 
arts of peace, as well as achievements of war by sea and 
land, have been particularly studied, admired, and imi- 
tated in every state. 

" A similarity of religion, although it is not deemed so 
essential in this as in former ages, to the alliance of nations 
is still, as it ever will be thought, a desirable circumstance. 
Now It may be said with truth, that there are no two 
nations, whose worship, doctrine and discipline, are, 
more alike than those of the two republics. In this partic- 
ular, therefore, as far as it is of weight, an alliance 
would be perfectly natural. 

" A similarity in the forms of government is usually con- 
sidered as another circumstance which renders alliances 
natural ; and although the constitutions of the two repub- 
lics are not perfectly alike, there is yet analogy enough 
between them to make a connection easy in this respect. 

*' The originals of the two republics are so much alike, 
that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of 
the other : so that every Dutchman, instructed in the sub- 
ject, must pronounce the American revolution just and 
necessary or pass a censure upon the greatest actions of 
his immortal ancestors ; actions which have been approved 
and applauded by mankind, and justified by the decision 
of heaven. 

" If therefore an analog>' of religion, government, origi- 
nal manners, and the most extensive and lasting com- 
mercial interests, can form a ground and an invitation to 
political connexions, the subscriber flatters himself, that 
in all these particulars the union is so obviously natural, 
that there has seldom been a more distinct designation of 
Providence to any two distant nations to unite themselves 
together." 

Extracts from the memorial to their high mightinesses, 
the states general of the United Provinces of the Low- 
Countries, by that great statesman and patriot, his excel- 
lency John .Adams, esq., minister plenipotentiary at the 
Hague, dated Leyden, .\pril 19, 1781. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



79 



which we were once a part, we even weep over 
our enemy, when we reflect that she was once 
great ; that her navies rode formidable upon 
the ocean ; that her commerce was extended to 
ever>' harbor of the globe ; that her name was 
revered wherever it was known ; that the wealth 
of nations was deposited in her island ; and that 
America was her friend, but by means of her 
standing armies, an immense continent is 
separated from her kingdom,* and that once- 
mighty empire, ready to fall an untimely victim 
to her own mad policy. 

Near eight full years have now rolled away 
since America has been cast off from the bo- 
som and embraces of her pretended parent, 
and has set up her own name among the empires. 
The assertions of so young a country, were at 
first beheld with dubious expectation ; and the 
world were ready to stamp the name of rash- 
ness or enterprise according to the event. 

But a manly and fortunate beginning soon 
ensured the most generous assistance. The 
renowned and the ancient Gauls came early 
to the combat — wise in council — mighty in bat- 
tle ! then with new fury raged the storm of 
war ! the seas were crimsoned with the richest 
blood of nations ! America's chosen legions 
waded to freedom through rivers, dyed with the 
mingled blood of her enemies and her citizens ; 
through fields of carnage, and the gates of 
death ! 

At length independence is ours — the halcyon 
day appears ! lo from the east I see the har- 
binger, and from the train, 'tis peace herself, 
and as attendants, all the gentle arts of life ; 
commerce displays her snow-white navies 
fraught with the wealth of kingdoms ; plenty 
from her copious horn, pours forth her richest 
gifts. Heaven commands ! the east and the 
west give up, and the north keeps not back ! all 
nations meet I and beat their swords into 
plough-shares and their spears into pruning- 
hooks, and resolve to learn war no more. 
Henceforth shall the American wilderness blos- 
som as the rose, and every man shall sit under 
his vine and under his fig-tree, and none shall 
make him afraid. 

• A doubt may be entertained of the truth of this asser- 
tion ; but we can hardly believe that it would have entered 
into the head o( a minister or parliament, to collect a 
militia in Great Britain to enforce their acts in America ; 
so that in our view, had the army been disbanded at the 
end of the last war, .America and Britain at this moment 
would have been parts of the same kingdom. 



IMPORTANT LETTER 

WRITTEN BY GOV. HUTCHINSON OF MASSA- 
CHUSETTS, July 20, 1770. 

A great number of governor Hutchinson's 
letters have lately fallen into the hands of our 
people. A correspondent at Roxbury has 
favored us with the following extract from one 
of them to general Gage, then at New York, 
dated at Boston, July 20, 1770. '• It appears 
to me to be a matter of great importance to 
his majesty's general service, and to the real 
interest of the colonies, that the discord begin- 
ning between New York and us should be en- 
couraged : I wrote some time ago to Mr. 

C upon this subject, but he rather declined 

concerning himself in it ; he certainly has a 
strange aversion, which nothing but the con- 
federacy against Great Britain could have 
conquered : this has too much the appearance 
of Machiavelian policy; but it is justifiable, as 
it has the most obvious tendency to save the 
colonies ruining themselves, as well as pre- 
venting them destroying the mother country. 
If Pennsylvania could be brought to take part 
with New York, I think the fiusi'iwss would be 
done. I must beg the favor of you not to let 
this letter come under any other than your own 
observation." 



MASSACHUSETTS STATE PAPERS. 
SPEECH 

OF Gov. T. Hutchinson to the Council 
AND House of Representatives, Feb. 
16, 1773- 

Gentlemeti of the Council, and 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives . 

The proceedings of such of the inhabitants 
of the town of Boston, as assembled together, 
and passed and published their resolves or 
votes, as the act of the town, at a legal town 
meeting, denying, in the most express terms, 
the supremacy of parliament, and inviting every 
other town and district in the province, to 
adopt the same principle, and to establish com 
mittees of correspondence, to consult upon 
proper measures to maintain it, and the pro- 
ceedings of divers other towns, in consequence 
of this invitation, appeared to me to be so un- 
warrantable, and of such a dangerous nature 
and tendency, that I thought myself bound to 
call upon you in my speech at opening the ses- 
sion, to join with me in discountenancing and 
bearing a proper testimony against such irreg- 
ularities and innovations. 



8o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



I stated to you fairly and truly, as I con- 
ceived, the constitution of the kingdom and of 
the province, so far as relates to the depend- 
ence of the former upon the latter ; and I de- 
sired you, if you differed from me in sentiments, 
to show me, with candor, my own errors, and 
to give your reasons in support of your opinions, 
so far as you might differ from me. I hoped 
that you would have considered my speech by 
your joint committees, and have given me a joint 
answer: but as the house of representatives 
have declined that mode of proceeding, and as 
your principles in government are very differ- 
ent, I am obliged to make separate and dis- 
tinct replies. I shall first apply myself to 
you. 

Gentlemen of the Council : 

The two first parts of your answer, which re- 
spect the disorders occasioned by the stamp 
act, and the general nature of supreme author- 
ity, do not appear to have a tendency to invali- 
date anything which I have said in my speech ; 
for, however the stamp act may have been 
the immediate occasion of any disorders, the 
authority of parliament was, notwithstanding, 
denied, in order to justify or excuse them. And. 
for the nature of the supreme authority of par- 
liament, I have never given you any reason to 
suppose, that I intended a more absolute power 
in parliament, or a greater degree of active or 
passive obedience in the people, than what is 
founded in .the nature of government, let the 
form of it be what it may. I shall, therefore, 
pass over those parts of your answer, without 
any other remark. I would also have saved 
you the trouble of al! those authorities which 
you have brought to show, that all taxes upon 
English subjects, must be levied by virtue of 
the act, not of the king alone, but in conjunc- 
tion with the lords and commons, for I should 
very readily have allowed it ; and I should as 
readily have allowed, that all other acts of 
legislation must be passed by the same joint 
authority, and not by the king alone. 

Indeed, I am not willing to continue a con- 
troversy with you, upon any other parts of 
your answer. I am glad to find, that inde- 
pendence is not what you have in contem- 
plation, and that you will not presume to 
prescribe the exact limits of the authority 
of parliament, only, as with due deference to it, 
you are humbly of opinion, that, as all human 
authority in the nature of it is, and ought to be 
limited, it cannot constitutionally extend, for 
the reasons you have suggested, to the levying 
of taxes, in any form, on his majesty's subjects 
of this province. 



I will only observe, that your attempts tc 
draw a line as the limits of the supreme author- 
ity in government, by distinguishing some natu- 
ral rights, as more peculiarly exempt from such 
authority than the rest, rather tend to evince 
the impracticability of drawing such a line : 
and that some parts of your answer seem to 
infer a supremacy in the province, at the same 
time that you acknowledge the supremacy of 
parliament ; for otherwise, the rights of the 
subjects cannot be the same in all essential re- 
spects, as you suppose them to be, in all parts 
of the dominions, " under a like form of 
legislature." 

From these, therefore, and other considera- 
tions, I cannot help flattering myself, that upon 
more mature deliberation, and in order to a 
more consistent plan of government, you will 
choose rather to doubt the expediency of par- 
liament's exercising its authority in cases that 
may happen, than to limit' the authority itself, 
especially, as you agree with me in the proper 
method of obtaining a redress of grievances by 
constitutional representations, which cannot 
well consist with a denial of the authority to 
which the representations are made ; and from 
the best information I have been able to obtain, 
the denial of the authority of parliament, ex- 
pressly, or by implication, in those petitions to 
which you refer, was the cause of their being 
admitted, and not any advice given by the min- 
ister to the agents of the colonies. I must en- 
large, and be more particular in my reply to you. 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives : 

I shall take no notice of that part of your 
answer, which attributes the disorders of the 
province, to an undue exercise of the power of 
parliament ; because you take for granted, what 
can by no means be admitted, that parliament 
had exercised its power without just authority. 
The sum of your answer, so far as it is perti- 
nent to my speech, is this. 

You allege that the colonies were an acqui- 
sition of foreign territor)', not annexed to the 
realm of England ; and, therefore, at the abso- 
lute disposal of the crown ; the king, having, as 
you take it, a constitutional right to dispose of, 
and alienate any part of his territories, not 
annexed to the realm : that Queen Elizabeth 
accordingly conveyed the property, dominion, 
and sovereignty of Virginia, to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, to be held of the crown by homage 
and a certain render, without resening any 
share in the legislative and executive authority: 
that the subsequent grants of America were 
similar in this respect ; that they were without 
any reseri'ation for securing the subjection of 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



8i 



the colonists to the parliament, and future laws 
of England ; that this was the sense of the 
English crown, the nation, and our predeces- 
sors, w-hen they first took possession of this 
countr)' ; that, if the colonies were not then an- 
nexed to the realm, they cannot have been an- 
nexed since that time ; that, if they are not now 
annexed to the realm, they are not part of the 
kingdom ; and, consequently, not subject to the 
legislative authority of the kingdom ; for no 
country, by the common law, was subject to 
the laws or to the parliament, but the realm of 
England. 

Now, if this foundation shall fail you in 
every part of it, as I think it will, the fabric 
which you have raised upon it must certainly 
fall. 

Let me then observe to you, that as English 
subjects, and agreeable to the doctrine of feu- 
dal tenure, all our lands and tenements are 
held mediately, or immediately, of the crown, 
and although the possession and use, or profits, 
be in the subject, there still remains a dominion 
in the crown. When any new countries are 
discovered by English subjects, according to 
the general law and usage of nations, they 
become part of the state, and, according to the 
feudal system, the lordship or dominion, is in 
the crown ; and a right accrues of disposing of 
such territories, under such tenure, or for such 
ser\-ices to be performed, as the crown shall 
judge proper ; and whensoever any part of 
such territories, by grant from the crown, be- 
comes the possession or property of private 
persons, such persons, thus holding, under 
the crown of England, remain, or become sub- 
jects of England, to all intents and purposes, 
as fully as if any of the royal manors, forests, 
or other territory, within the realm, had been 
granted to them upon the like tenure. But 
that it is now, or was, when the plantations 
were first granted, the prerogative of the kings 
of England to alienate such territories from the 
crown, or to constitute a number of new gov- 
ernments, altogether independent of the sove- 
reign legislative authority of the English empire, 
I can by no means concede to you. I have 
never seen any better authority to support such 
an opinion, than an anonymous pamphlet, by 
which, I fear, you have too easily been misled ; 
for I shall presently show you, that the declara- 
tions of king James the I. and of king Charles 
the I, admitting they are truly related by the 
author of this pamphlet, ought to have no 
weight with you ; nor does the cession or res- 
toration, upon a treaty of peace, of countries 
which have been lost or acquired in war, mili- 
tate with these pnnciples ; nor may any partic- 
6 



ular act of power of a prince, in selling, or 
delivering up any part of his dominions to a 
foreign prince or state, against the general 
sense of the nation, be urged to invalidate 
them ; and, upon examination, it will appear, 
that all the grants which have been made of 
America, are founded upon them, and are 
made to conform to them, even those which you 
have adduced in support of very different 
principles. 

You do not recollect that, prior to what you 
call the first grant by queen Elizabeth to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, a grant had been made by 
the same princess, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
of all such countries as he should discover, 
which were to be of the allegiance of her, her 
heirs and successors ; but he dying in the 
prosecution of his voyage, a second grant was 
made to Sir Walter Raleigh, which, you say, 
conveyed the dominion and sovereignty, with- 
out any reserve of legislative or executive 
authority, being held by homage and a render. 
To hold by homage, which implies fealty and 
a render, is descriptive of soccage tenure, as 
fully as if it had been said to hold, as of our 
manor of East Greenwich, the words in your 
charter. Now, this alone was a reserve of 
dominion and sovereignty in the queen, her 
heirs and successors ; and, besides this, the 
grant is made upon this express condition, 
which you pass over, that the people remain 
subject to the crown of England, the head of 
that legislative authority, which, by the Eng- 
lish constitution, is equally extensive with the 
authority of the crown, throughout every part 
of the dominions. Now, if we could suppose 
the queen to have acquired, separate from her 
relation to her subjects, or in her natural 
capacity, which she could not do, a title to a 
country discovered by her subjects, and then 
to grant the same country to English subjects, 
in her public capacity as queen of England, 
still, by this grant, she annexed it to the crown. 
Thus, by not distinguishing between the crown 
of England and the kings and queens of Eng- 
land, in their personal or natural capacities, 
you have been led into a fundamental error, 
which must prove fatal to your system. It is 
not material, whether Virginia reverted to the 
crown by Sir Walter's attainder, or whether he 
never took any benefit from his grant, though 
the latter is most probable, seeing he ceased 
from all attempts to take possession of the 
country after a few years'trial. There were, 
undoubtedly, divers grants made by king James 
the I. of the continent of America, in the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth centur)-, and similar 
to the grant of queen Elizabeth, in this respect. 



82 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



that they were dependent on the crown. The 
charter to the council at Plymouth, in Devon, 
dated November 3, 1620, more immediately 
respects us, and of that we have the most 
authentic remains. 

By this charter, upon the petition of Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges, a corporation was constitu- 
ted, to be, and continue by succession, forever 
in the town of Plymouth aforesaid, to which 
corporation, that part of the American conti- 
nent, which lies between 40 and 48 degrees of 
latitude, was granted, to be held of the king, 
his heirs and successors, as of the manor of 
East Greenwich, with powers to constitute 
subordinate governments in America, and to 
make laws for such governments, not repug- 
nant to the laws and statutes of England. 
From this corporation, your predecessors ob- 
tained a grant of the soil of the colony of Mas- 
sachusetts-Bay, in 1627, and in 1628, they 
obtained a charter from king Charles the I. 
making them a distinct corporation, also with- 
in the realm, and giving them full powers 
within limits of their patent, very like to those 
of the council of Plymouth, throughout their 
more extensive territory. 

We will now consider what must have been 
the sense of the king, of the nation, and of the 
patentees, at the time of granting these patents. 
From the year 1602, the banks and sea coasts 
of New England had been frequented by Eng- 
lish subjects, for catching and dr)'ing cod-fish. 
When an exclusive right to the fisher)' was 
claimed, by virtue of the patent of 1620, the 
house of commons was alarmed, and a bill 
was brought in for allowing a free fishery ; 
and it was upon this occasion, that one of the 
secretaries of state declared, perhaps as his 
own opinion, that the plantations were not an- 
nexed to the crown, and so were not within 
the jurisdiction of parliament. Sir Edwin 
Sandys, who was one of the Virginia company, 
and an eminent lawyer, declared, that he knew 
Virginia had been annexed, and was held of 
the crown, as of the manor of East Greenwich, 
and he believed New England was so also ; and 
so it most certainly was. This declaration, made 
by one of the king's servants, you say, shewed 
the sense of the crown, and, being not secretly. 
but openly declared in parliament, you would 
make it the sense of the nation also, not- 
withstanding your own assertion, that the 
lords and commons passed a bill, that shewed 
their sense to be directly the contrary. But if 
there had been full evidence of express declara- 
tions made by king James the I. and king 
Charles the I. they were declarations contrary 
to their own grants, which declare this country 



to be held of the crown, and consequently it 
must have been annexed to it. And may not 
such declarations be accounted for by other 
actions of those princes, who, when they were 
soliciting the parliament to grant the duties of 
tonnage and poundage, with other aids, and 
were, in this way, acknowledging the rights of 
parliament, at the same time were requiring 
the payment of those duties, with ship money, 
etc., by virtue of their prerogative ? 

But to remove all doubts of the sense of the 
nation, and of the patentees of this patent, or 
charter, in 1620, I need only refer you to the 
account published by Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
himself, of the proceedings in parliament upon 
this occasion. As he was the most active 
member of the council of Plymouth, and, as he 
relates what came within his own knowledge 
and observation, his narrative, which has all 
the appearance of truth and sincerity, must 
carry conviction with it. He says, that soon 
after the patent was passed, and whilst it lay 
in the crown office, he was summoned to ap- 
pear in parliament, to answer what was to be 
objected against it ; and the house being in a 
committee, and Sir Edward Coke, that great 
oracle of the law, in the chair, he was called 
to the bar, and was told by Sir Edward, that 
the house understood that a patent had been 
granted to the said Ferdinando, and divers 
other noble persons, for establishing a col- 
ony in New England, that this was deemed 
a grievance of the commonwealth, contrary to 
the laws, and to the privileges of the subject, 
that it was a monopoly, etc., and he required 
the deliver)' of the patent into the house. Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges made no doubt of the 
authority of the house, but subinitted to their 
disposal of the patent, as, in their wisdom, 
they thought good ; " not knowing, under 
favor, how any action of that kind could be a 
grievance to the public, seeing it was under- 
taken for the advancement of religion, the en- 
largement of the bounds of our nation, etc. 
He was willing, however, to submit the whole 
to the honorable censures." After divers 
attendances, he imagined he had satisfied the 
house, that the planting a colony was of much 
more consequence, than a simple disorderly 
course of fishing. He was, notwithstanding 
disappointed; and. when the public grievances 
of the kingdom were presented by the two 
houses, that of the patent for New England 
was the first. I do not know how the parlia- 
ment could have shewn more fully the sense 
they then had of their authority over this new 
acquired territory ; nor can we expect better 
evidence of the sense which the patentees had 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



83 



of it, for I know of no historical fact, of which 
we have less reason to doubt. 

And now, gentlemen, I will shew you how it 
appears from our charter itself, which you say 
I have not yet been pleased to point out to you, 
except from that clause, which restrains us 
from making laws repugnant to the laws of 
England ; that it was the sense of our prede- 
cessors, at the time when the charter was 
granted, that they were to remain subject to 
the supreme authority of parliament. 

Besides this clause, which I shall have occa- 
sion further to remark upon before I finish, you 
will find that, by the charter, a grant was made 
of exemption from all taxes and impositions 
upon any goods imported into New England, 
or exported from thence into England, for the 
space of twenty-one years, except the custom 
of five per cent, upon such goods as, after the 
expiration of seven years, should be brought 
into England. Nothing can be more plain, than 
that the charter, as well as the patent to the 
council of Plymouth, constitutes a corporation 
in England, with powers to create a subordi- 
nate government or governments within the 
plantation, so that there would always be sub- 
jects of taxes and impositions both in the king- 
dom and in the plantation. An exemption for 
twenty-one years, implies a right of imposition 
after the expiration of the term, and there is 
no distinction between the kingdom and the 
plantation. By what authority then, in the 
understanding of the parties, were those impo- 
sitions to be laid ? If any, to support a system, 
should say by the king, rather than to ac- 
knowledge the authority of parliament, yet this 
could not be the sense of one of our principal 
patentees, Mr. Samuel Vassal, who, at that 
instant, 1628, the date of the charter, was 
suffering the loss of his goods, rather than sub- 
mit to an imposition laid by the king, without 
the authority of parliament ; and to prove that, 
a few years after, it could not be the sense of 
the rest, I need only to refer you to your own 
records for the year 1642, where you will find 
an order of the house of commons, conceived 
in such terms as discover a plain reference to 
this part of the charter, after fourteen years of 
the twenty-one were expired. By this order, 
the house of commons declare, that all goods 
and merchandise exported to New England, or 
imported from thence, shall be free from all 
taxes and impositions, both in the kingdom 
and New England, until the house shall take 
further order therein to the contrary. The 
sense which our predecessors had of the bene- 
fit which they took from this order, evidently 
appears from the vote of the general court, 



acknowledging their humble thankfulness, and 
preserving a grateful remembrance of the 
honorable respect from that high court, and 
resolving, that the order sent unto them, under 
the hand of the clerk of the honorable house 
of commons, shall be entered among their public 
records, to remain there unto posterity. And, 
in an address to parliament, nine years after, 
they acknowledge, among other undeserved 
favors, that of taking off the customs from 
them. 

I am at a loss to know what your ideas could 
be, when you say that, if the plantations are 
not part of the realm, they are not part of the 
kingdom, seeing the two words can properly 
convey but one idea, and they have one and 
the same signification in the different languages 
from whence they are derived. I do not charge 
you with any design ; but the equivocal use of 
the word realm, in several parts of your an- 
swer, makes them perplexed and obscure. 
Sometimes you must intend the whole dominion, 
which is subject to the authority of parliament ; 
sometimes only strictly the territorial realm, 
to which other dominions are, or may be an- 
nexed. If you mean that no countries, but the 
ancient territorial realm, can, constitutionally 
be subject to the supreme authority of Eng- 
land, which you have very incautiously said is 
a rule of the common law of England — this is 
a doctrine which you will never be able to sup- 
port. That the common law should be con- 
troled and changed by statutes, every d^y's 
experience teaches ; but that the common law 
prescribes limits to the extent of the legislative 
power, I believe has never been said upon any 
other occasion. That acts of parliaments, for 
several hundred years past, have respected 
countries, which are not strictly within the 
realm, you might easily have discovered by the 
statute books. You will find acts for regula- 
ting the affairs of Ireland, though a separate 
and distinct kingdom. Wales and Calais, 
whilst they sent no representatives to parlia- 
ment, were subject to the like regulations ; so 
are Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, &c. which send 
no members to this day. These countries are 
not more properly a part of the ancient realm, 
than the plantations, nor do I know they can 
more properly be said to be annexed to the 
realm, unless the declaring that acts of pariia- 
ment shall extend to Wales, though not par- 
ticularly named, shall make it so, which I 
conceive it does not, in the sense you intend. 

Thus, I think, I have made it appear that 
the plantations, though not strictly within the 
realm, have, from the beginning, been consti- 
tutionally subject to the supreme authority of 



84 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the realm, and are so far annexed to it, as to 
be, with the realm and the other dependencies 
upon it, one entire dominion ; and that the 
plantation, or colony of Massachusetts-Bay in 
particular, is holden as feudatory of the impe- 
rial crown of England. Deem it to be no part 
of the realm, it is immaterial ; for, to use the 
words of a very great authority in a case, in 
some respects analogous, " being feudatory, the 
conclusion necessarily follows, that it is under 
the government of the king's laws and the 
king's courts, in cases proper for them to in- 
terpose, (like counties Palatine) it has peculiar 
laws and customs, jura regalia, and complete 
j.urisdiction at home." 

Your remark upon, and construction of the 
words, not repugnant to the laws of England, 
are much the same with those of the council ; 
but can any reason be assigned why the laws 
of England, as they stood just at that period, 
should be pitched upon as the standard, more 
than at any other period ? If so, why was it 
not recurred to when the second charter was 
granted, more than sixty years after the first ? 
It is not improbable, that the original intention 
might be a repugnancy in general, 3.\\A fortiori, 
such laws as were made more immediately to 
respect us, but the statute of 7th and 8th of 
king William and queen Mary, soon after the 
second charter, favors the latter construction 
only, and the province agent, Mr. Dummer, in 
his much applauded defence of the charter, 
says that, then, a law in the plantations may 
be said to be repugnant to a law made in 
Great Britain, when it flatly contradicts it, so 
far as the law made there mentions and relates 
to the plantations. But, gentlemen, there is 
another clause, both in the first and second 
charier, which, I think, will serve to explain 
this, or to render all dispute upon the construc- 
tion of it unnecessary. You are enabled to 
impose such oaths only, as are warrantable by, 
or not repugnant to the laws and statutes of 
the realms. 1 believe you will not contend, 
that these clauses must mean such oaths only 
as were warrantable at the respective times 
when the charters were granted. It has often 
been found necessary, since the date of the 
charters, to alter the forms of oaths to the 
government by acts of parliament, and such 
alterations have always been conformed to in 
the plantations. 

Lest you should think that I admit the au- 
thority of king Charles the II., in giving his 
assent to an act of the assembly of Virginia, 
which you subjoin to the authorities of James 
the I. and Charles the I. to have any weight, I 
must observe to you, that I do not see any 



greater inconsistency with Magna Charta, in 
the king's giving his assent to an act of a sub- 
ordinate legislature immediately, or in person, 
than when he does it mediately by his gover- 
nor or substitute; but if it could be admitted, 
that such an assent discovered the king's judg- 
ment that Virginia was independent, would you 
lay any stress upon it, when the same king was, 
from time to time, giving his assent to acts of 
parliament, which inferred the dependence of 
all the colonies, and had, by one of those acts, 
declared the plantations to be inhabited and 
peopled by his majesty's subjects of England ? 

I gave you no reason to remark upon the 
absurdity of a grant, to persons not bom with- 
in the realm, of the same liberties which 
would have belonged to them, if they had been 
born within the realm : but rather guarded 
against it, by considering such grant as declara- 
tory only, and in the nature of an assurance, 
that the plantations would be considered as the 
dominions of England. But is there no absur- 
dity in a grant from the king of England, of 
the liberties and immunities of Englishmen to 
persons born in, and who are to inhabit other 
territories than the dominions of England ; and 
would such grant, whether by charter, or other 
letters patent, be sufficient to make them in- 
heritable, or to entitle them to the other liber- 
ties and immunities of Englishmen, in any part 
of the English dominions? 

As I am willing to rest the point between us, 
upon the plantations having been, from their 
first discovery and settlement under the crown, 
a part of the dominions of England, I shall not 
take up any time in remarking upon your argu- 
ments, to show that, since that time, they 
cannot have been made a part of those domin- 
ions. 

The remaining parts of your answer are 
principally intended to prove that, under both 
charters, it hath been the sense of the people 
that they were not subject to the jurisdiction of 
parliament, and, for this purpose, you have 
made large extracts from the history of the 
colony. Whilst you are doing honor to the 
book, by laying any stress upon its authority, 
it would have been no more than justice to the 
author, if you had cited some other passage in 
my speech to the history. I have said that, 
except about the time of the anarchy, which 
preceded the restoration of king Charles the II. 
I have not discovered that the authority of 
parliament had been called in question, even 
by particular persons. It was, as 1 take it from 
the principles imbibed in those times of anarchy, 
that the persons of intluence, mentioned in the 
history, disputed the authority of parliament, 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



but the government would not venture to dis- 
pute it. On tlie contrary, in four or five years 
after the restoration, the government declared 
to the king's commissioners, that the act of 
navigation had been for some years observed 
here, that they knew not of its being greatly 
violated, and that such laws as appeared to be 
against it, were repealed. It is not strange, 
that these persons of influence should prevail 
upon a great part of the people to fall in, for a 
time, with their opinions, and to suppose acts 
of the colony necessary to give force to acts of 
parliament. The government, however, several 
years before the charter was vacated, more ex- 
plicitly acknowledged the authority of parlia- 
ment, and voted that their governor should 
take the oath required of him, faithfully to do 
and perform all matters and things enjoined 
him by the acts of trade. I have not recited in 
my speech, all these particulars, nor had I 
them all in my mind ; but I think, I have said 
nothing inconsistent with them. My principles 
in government, are still the same with what 
they appear to be in the book you refer to ; nor 
am I conscious that, by any part of my conduct 
I have given cause to suggest the contrar>-. 

Inasmuch as you say that I have not partic- 
ularly pointed out to you the acts and doings 
of the general assembly, which relate to acts 
of parliament, I will do it now, and demonstrate 
to you that such acts have been acknowledged 
by the assembly, or submitted to by the people. 

From your predecessors' removal to America, 
until the year 1640, there was no session of 
parliament ; and the first short session, of a few- 
days only, in 1640, and the whole of the next 
session, until the withdraw of the king, being 
taken up in the disputes between the king and 
the parliament, there could be no room for 
plantation affiiirs. Soon after the king's with- 
draw, the house of commons passed the mem- 
orable order of 1642; and, from that time to 
the restoration, this plantation seems to have 
been distinguished from the rest ; and the 
several acts and ordinances, which respected 
the other plantations, were never enforced 
here ; and, possibly, under color of the exemp- 
tion, in 1642, it might not be intended they 
should be executed. 

For fifteen or sixteen years after the restora- 
tion, there was no officer of the customs in the 
colony, except the governor, annually elected 
by the people, and the acts of trade were but 
little regarded ; nor did the governor take the 
oath required of governors, by the act of the 
12th of king Charles the II. until the time 
which I have mentioned. — Upon the revolu- 
tion, the force of an act of parliament was 



evident, in a case of as great importance as 
any which could happen to the colony. King 
William and queen Mary were proclaimed in 
the colony, king and queen of England, France, 
and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto 
belonging, in the room of king James ; and 
this, not by virtue of an act of the colony, for 
no such act ever passed, but by force of an act 
of parliament, which altered the succession to 
the crown, and for which the people waited 
several weeks, with anxious concern. By force 
of another act of parliament, and that only, 
such officers of the colony as had taken the 
oaths of allegiance to king James, deemed 
themselves at liberty to take, and accordingly 
did take, the oaths to king William and queen 
Mary. And that I may mention other acts of 
the like nature together, it is by force of an act 
of parliament, that the illustrious house of 
Hanover succeeded to the throne of Britain 
and its dominions, and by several other acts, 
the forms of the oaths have, from time to time, 
been altered ; and, by a late act, that form was 
established which every one of us has complied 
with, as the charter, in express words, requires, 
and makes our duty. Shall we now dispute 
whether acts of parliament have been submitted 
to, when we find them submitted to, in points 
which are of the very essence of our constitu- 
tion ? If you should disown that authority, 
which has power even to change the succession 
to the crown, are you in no danger of denying 
the authority of our most gracious sovereign, 
which I am sure none of you can have in your 
thoughts ? 

I think I have before shewn you, gentlemen, 
what must have been the sense of our predeces- 
sors at the time of the first charter; let us now, 
whilst we are upon the acts and doings of the 
assembly, consider what it must have been at 
the time of the second charter. Upon the first 
advice of the revolution in England, the 
authority which assumed the government, 
instructed their agents to petition parliament 
to restore the first charter, and a bill for that 
purpose passed the house of commons, but 
went no further. Was not this owning the 
authority of parliament ? By an act of parlia- 
ment, passed in the first year of king William 
and queen Mary, a form of oaths was estab- 
lished, to be taken by those princes, and by all 
succeeding kings and queens of England, at 
their coronation ; the first of which is, that 
they will govern the people of the kingdom, 
and the dominions thereunto belonging, ac- 
cording to the statutes in parliament agreed 
on, and the laws and customs of the same. 
When the colony directed their agents to make 



86 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



their humble application to king William, to 
grant the second charter, they could have no 
other pretence than, as they were inhabitants 
of part of the dominions of England ; and they 
also knew the oath the king had taken, to 
govern them according to the statutes in par- 
liament. Surely, then, at the time of this 
charter, also, it was the sense of our predeces- 
sors, as well as of the king and of the nation, 
that there was, and would remain, a supremacy 
in the parliament. About the same time, they 
acknowledge, in an address to the king, that 
they have no power to make laws repugnant to 
the laws of England. And, immediately after 
the assumption of the powers of government, 
by virtue of the new charter, an act was passed 
to revive, for a limited time, all the local laws 
of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New 
Plymouth, respectively, not repugnant to the 
laws of England. And, at the same session, 
an act passed, establishing naval officers, in 
several ports of the province, for which this 
reason is given, that all undue trading, contrary 
to an act of parliament, made in the fifteenth 
year of king Charles 11. may be prevented in 
this, their majesty's province. The act of this 
province, passed so long ago as the second 
year of king George the I. for stating the fees 
of the custom house officers, must have relation 
to the acts of parliament, by which they are 
constituted ; and the provision made in that 
act of the province, for extending the port of 
Boston to all the roads, as far as Cape Cod, 
could be for no other purpose, than for the 
more effectual carrying the acts of trade into 
execution. And, to come nearer to the present 
time, when an act of parliament had passed, in 
1771, for putting an end to certain unwarranta- 
ble schemes, in this province, did the authority 
of government, or those persons more immedi- 
ately affected by it, ever dispute the validity of 
it.' On the contrary, have not a number of 
acts been passed in the province, the burdens 
to which such persons were subjected, might 
be equally apportioned ; and have not all those 
acts of the province been very carefully framed, 
to prevent their militating with the act of par- 
liament ? 1 will mention, also, an act of 
parliament, made in the first year of queen 
Anne, although the proceedings upon it more 
immediately respected the council. By this act 
no office, civil or military, shall be void, by the 
death of the king, but shall continue six months, 
unless suspended, or made void, by the next 
successor. By force of this act, governor 
Dudley continued in the administration six 
months from the demise of queen Anne, 
and immediately after, the council assumed 



the administration, and continued it until 
a proclamation arrived from king George, by 
virtue of which governor Dudley reassumed 
the government. It would be tedious to 
enumerate the addresses, votes and messages, 
of both the council and house of representa- 
tives, to the same purpose. I have said enough 
to shew that this government has submitted to 
parliament, from a conviction of its constitu- 
tional supremacy, and this not from inconsider- 
ation, nor merely from reluctance at the idea 
of contending with the parent state. 

If, then, I have made it appear that, both by 
the first and second charters, we hold our lands, 
and the authority of government, not of the 
king, but of the crown of England, that being 
a dominion of the crown of England, we are 
consequently subject to the supreme authority 
of England. That this hath been the sense 
of this plantation, except in those few years 
when the principles of anarchy, which had 
prevailed in the kingdom, had not lost their 
influence here ; and if, upon a review of your 
principles, they shall appear to you to have 
been delusive and erroneous, as I think they 
must, or, if you shall only be in doubt of them, 
you certainly will not draw that conclusion, 
which otherwise you might do, and which I 
am glad you have hitherto avoided ; especially 
when \ou consider the obvious and inevitable 
distress and misery of independence upon oui 
mother country, if such independence could be 
allowed or maintained, and the probability of 
much greater distress, which we are not able 
to foresee. 

You ask me, if we have not reason to fear 
we shall soon be reduced to a worse situa- 
tion than that of the colonies of France, Spain, 
or Holland. I may safely affirm that we have 
not ; that we have no reason to fear any evils 
from a submission to the authority of parlia- 
ment, equal to what we must feel from its 
authority being disputed, from an uncertain 
rule of law and government. For more than 
seventy years together, the supremacy of par- 
liament was acknowledged, without complaints 
of grievance. The effect of every measure 
cannot be foreseen by human wisdom. What 
can be expected more, from any authority, than 
when the unfitness of a measure is discovered, 
to make it void .' When, upon the united 
representations and complaints of the Ameri- 
can colonies, any acts have appeared to parlia- 
ment to be unsalutary, have there not been 
repeated instances of the repeal of such acts.' 
We cannot expect these instances should be 
carried so far as to be equivalent to a disa- 
vowal, or relinquishment of the right itself. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



87 



Why, then, shall we fear for ourselves, and our 
posterity, greater rigor of government for 
seventy years to come, than what we and our 
predecessors have felt, in the seventy years 
past. 

You must give me leave, gentlemen, in a few 
words, to vindicate myself from a charge, in 
one part of your answer, of having, by my 
speech, reduced you to the unhappy alternative 
of appearing, by your silence, to acquiesce in 
my sentiments, or of freely discussing this 
point of the supremacy of parliament. I saw, 
as I have before observed, the capital town of 
the province, without being reduced to such an 
alternative, voluntarily, not only discussing but 
determining this point, and inviting every other 
town and district in the province to do the like. 
I saw that many of the principal towns had 
followed the example, and that there was immi- 
nent danger of a compliance in most, if not all 
the rest, in order to avoid being distinguished. 
Was not I reduced to the alternative of ren- 
dering myself justly obnoxious to the displea- 
sure of my sovereign, by acquiescing in such 
irregularities, or of calling upon you to join 
with me in suppressing them .' Might I not 
rather have expected from you an expression 
of your concern, that any persons should pro- 
ject and prosecute a plan of measures, which 
would lay me under the necessity of bringing 
this point before you .■" It was so far from 
being my inclination, that nothing short of a 
sense of my duty to the king, and the obliga- 
tions I am under to consult your true interest, 
could have compelled me to it. 

Gentlemen of the Council, and 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, 

We all profess to be the loyal and dutiful 
subjects of the king of Great Britain. His 
majesty considers the BriUsh empire as one 
entire dominion, subject to one legislative 
power ; a due submission to which, is essen- 
tial to the maintenance of the rights, liberties 
and privileges of the several parts of this do- 
minion. We have abundant evidence of his 
majesty's tender and impartial regard to the 
rights of his subjects ; and I am authorized to 
say, that " his majesty will most graciously 
approve of every constitutional measure that 
may contribute to the peace, the happiness, 
and prosperity of his colony of Massachusetts- 
Bay, and which may have the effect to shew 
to the world, that he has no wish beyond that 
of reigning in the hearts and affections of 
his people." 

T. Hutchinson. 



ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
SENTATIVES. 

TO THE SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR, OF FEB- 
RUARY SIXTEENTH; MARCH 2, 1 773. 

May it please your Excellency, 

In your speech, at the opening of the present 
session, your excellency expressed your dis- 
pleasure at some late proceedings of the town 
of Boston, and other principal towns in the 
province. And, in another speech to both 
houses, we have your repeated exceptions at 
the same proceedings, as being " unwarrant- 
able," and of a dangerous nature and tendency ; 
" against which, you thought yourself bound to 
call upon us to join with you in bearing a 
proper testimony." This house have not dis- 
covered any principles advanced by the town 
of Boston, that are unwarrantable by the con- 
stitution ; nor does it appear to us, that they 
have " invited every other town and district in 
the province to adopt their principles." We 
are fully convinced, that it is our duty to bear 
our testimony against " innovations, of a dan- 
gerous nature and tendency ; " but it is clearly 
our opinion, that it is the indisputable right of 
all, or any of his majesty's subjects, in this 
province, regularly and orderly to meet to- 
gether, to state the grievances they labor under ; 
and to propose, and unite in such constitutional 
measures, as they shall judge necessary or 
proper, to obtain redress. This right has been 
frequently exercised by his majesty's subjects 
within the realm ; and we do not recollect an 
instance, since the happy revolution, when the 
two houses of parliament have been called 
upon to discountenance, or bear their testimony 
against it, in a speech from the throne. 

Your excellency is pleased to take notice of 
some things which we " allege," in our answer 
to your first speech ; and the observation you 
make, we must confess, is as natural and un- 
deniably true, as any one that could have been 
made ; that, " if our foundation shall fail us 
in every part of it, the fabric we have raised 
upon it must certainly fall." You think this 
foundation will fail us ; but we wish your ex- 
cellency had condescended to a consideration 
of what we have "adduced in support of our 
principles." We might then, perhaps, have 
had some things offered for our conviction, 
more than bare affirmations ; which, we must 
beg to be excused if we say, are far from being 
sufficient, though they came with your excel- 
lency's authority, for which, however, we have 
a due regard. 

Your excellency says that, " as English sub- 



88 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



jects, and agreeable to the doctrine of the 
feudal tenure, all our lands are held mediately, 
or immediately, of the crown." We trust your 
excellency does not mean to introduce the 
feudal system in its perfection ; which, to use 
the words of one of our greatest historians, 
was " a state of perpetual war, anarchy, and 
confusion, calculated solely for defence against 
the assaults of any foreign power ; but, in its 
provision for the interior order and tranquillity 
of society, extremely defective. A constitution, 
so contradictory to all the principles that 
govern mankind, could never be brought about, 
but by foreign conquest or native usurpation." 
— And a very celebrated writer calls it, " that 
most iniquitous and absurd form of govern- 
ment, by which human nature was so shame- 
fully degraded." This system of iniquity, by a 
strange kind of fatality, " though originally 
formed for an encampment, and for military 
purposes only, spread over a great part of 
Europe ; " and, to serve the purposes of 
oppression and tyranny, " was adopted by 
princes, and wrought into their civil constitu- 
tions;" and, aided by the canon law, cal- 
culated by the Roman Pontiff to exalt himself 
above all that is called God, it prevailed to the 
almost utter extinction of knowledge, virtue, 
religion and liberty from that part of the earth. 
But, from the time of the reformation, in pro- 
portion as knowledge, which then darted its 
rays upon the benighted world, increased and 
spread among the people, they grew impatient 
under this heavy yoke ; and the most virtuous 
and sensible among them, to whose steadfast- 
ness we, in this distant age and climate, are 
greatly indebted, were determined to get rid 
of it ; and, though they have in a great measure 
subdued its power and influence in England, 
they have never yet totally eradicated its 
principles. 

Upon these principles, the king claimed an 
absolute right to, and a perfect estate in, all the 
lands within his dominions ; but how he came 
by this absolute right and perfect estate, is a 
mystery which we have never seen unravelled, 
nor is it our business or design, at present, to 
inquire. He granted parts or parcels of it to 
his friends, the great men, and they granted 
lesser parcels to their tenants. All, therefore. 
derived their right and held their lands, upon 
these principles, mediately or immediately of 
the king, which Mr. Blackstone, however, calls, 
" in reality, a mere fiction of our English 
tenures." 

By what right, in nature and reason, the 
christian princes in Europe, claimed the lands 
of heathen people, upon a discovery made by 



any of their subjects, is equally mysterious. 
Such, however, was the doctrine universally 
prevailing, when the lands in America were 
discovered ; but, as the people of England, 
upon those principles, held all the lands they 
possessed, by grants from the king, and the 
king had never granted the lands in America to 
them, it is certain they could have no sort of 
claim to them. Upon the principles advanced, 
the lordship and dominion, like that of the lands 
in England, was in the king solely, and a right 
from thence accrued to him, of disposing such 
territories, under such tenure, and for such 
services to be performed, as the king or lord 
thought proper. But how the grantees became 
subjects of England, that is, the supreme au- 
thority of the parliament, your excellency has 
not explained to us. We conceive that, upon 
the feudal principles, all power is in the king; 
they afford us no idea of parliament. "The 
lord was in early times, the legislator and judge 
over all his feudatories," says Judge Blackstone. 
By the struggle for liberty in England, from the 
days of king John, to the last happy revolution, 
the constitution has been gradually changing 
for the better ; and, upon the more rational 
principles that all men, by nature, are in a state 
of equality in respect of jurisdiction and do- 
minion, power in England has been more 
equally divided. And thus, also, in America, 
though we hold our lands agreeably to the 
feudal principles of the king, yet our predeces- 
sors wisely took care to enter into compact 
with the king, that power here should also be 
equally divided, agreeably to the original funda- 
mental principles of the English constitution, 
declared in Magna Charta, and other laws and 
statutes of England, made to confirm them. 

Your excellency says, " you can by no means 
concede to us that it is now, or was, when the 
plantations were first granted, the prerogative 
of the kings of England, to constitute a number 
of new governments, altogether independent of 
the sovereign authority of the English empire." 
By the feudal principles, upon which you say 
" all the grants which have been made of 
America are founded, the constitution of the 
emperor have the force of law." If our gov- 
ernment be considered as merely feudatory, 
we are subject to the king's absolute will, and 
there is no authority of parliament, as the sov- 
ereign authority of the British empire. Upon 
these principles, what could hinder the king's 
constituting a number of independent govern- 
ments in America .' That king Charles the I. 
did actually set up a government in this colony, 
conceding to it powers of making and executing 
laws, without any resen'ation to the English 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



89 



parliament, of authority to make future laws 
binding therein, is a fact which your excellency 
has not disproved, if you have denied it. Nor 
have you shown that the parliament or nation 
objected to it ; from whence we have inferred 
that it was ar. acknowledged right. And we 
cannot conceive, why the king has not the same 
right to alienate and dispose of countries ac- 
quired by the discovery of his subjects, as he 
has to " restore, upon a treaty of peace, coun- 
tries w-hich have been acquired in war," carried 
on at the charge of the nation ; or to "sell and 
deliver up any part of his dominions to a for- 
eign prince or state, against the general sense 
of the nation ; " which is " an act of power," or 
prerogative, which your excellency allows. 
You tell us, that " when any new countries are 
discovered by English subjects, according to 
the general law and usage of nations, they be- 
come part of the state." The law of nations is, 
or ought to be, founded on the law of reason. 
It was the saying of Sir Edwin Sandis, in the 
great case of the union of the realm of Scotland 
with England, which is applicable to our pres- 
ent purpose, that "there being no precedent for 
this case in the law, the law is deficient ; and 
the law being deficient, recourse is to be had to 
custom ; and custom being insufficient, we 
must recur to natural reason " — the greatest of 
all authorities, which, he adds, "is the law of 
nations." The opinions, therefore, and deter- 
minations of the greatest sages and judges of 
the law in the exchequer chamber, ought not to 
be considered as decisive or binding in our 
present controversy with your excellency, any 
further than they are consonant to natural rea- 
son. If, however, we were to recur to such 
opinions and determinations, we should find 
very great authorities in our favor, to show that 
the statutes of England are not binding on 
those who are not represented in parliament 
there. The opinion of Lord Coke, that Ireland 
was bound by statutes of England, wherein 
they were named, if compared with his other 
writings, appears manifestly to be grounded 
upon a supposition, that Ireland had, by an act 
of their own, in the reign of king John, con- 
sented to be thus bound ; and, upon any other 
supposition, this opinion would be against rea- 
son ; for consent only gives human laws their 
force. We beg leave, upon what your excel- 
lency has obser\'ed of the colony becoming a 
part of the state, to subjoin the opinions of 
several learned civilians, as quoted by a very 
able lawyer in this country. " Colonies," says 
Puffendorf, " are settled in different methods ; 
for, either the colony continues a part of the 
commonwealth it was set out from, or else is 



obliged to pay a dutiful regard to the mother 
commonwealth, and to be in readiness to de- 
fend and vindicate its honor, and so is united 
by a sort of unequal confederacy ; or, lastly, is 
erected into a separate commonwealth, and 
assumes the same rights with the state it de- 
scended from." And king Tullius, as quoted 
by the same learned author from Grotius, says, 
" we look upon it to be neither truth nor justice, 
that mother cities ought, of necessity, and by 
the law of nature, to rule over the colonies." 

Your excellency has misinterpreted what we 
have said, " that no country, by the common 
law, was subject to the laws or the parliament, 
but the realm of England ; " and are pleased 
to tell us, " that we have expressed ourselves 
incautiously." We beg leave to recite the 
words of the judges of England, in the before 
mentioned case, to our purpose. " If a king go 
out of England with a company of his servants, 
allegiance remaineth among his subjects and 
servants, although he be out of his realm, 
whereto his laws are confined." We did not 
mean to say, as your excellency would sup- 
pose, that " the common law prescribes limits 
to the extent of the legislative power," though 
we shall always affirm it to be true, of the law 
of reason and natural equity. Your excellency 
thinks you have made it appear, that the 
" colony of Massachusetts-Bay is holden as 
feudatory of the imperial crown of England ; " 
and, therefore, you say, "to use the words of a 
very great authority in a case, in some respects 
analogous to it," being feudatory, it necessarily 
follows that " it is under the government of 
the king's laws." Your excellency has not 
named this authority ; but we conceive his 
meaning must be, that, being feudatory, it is 
under the government of the king's laws abso- 
lutely ; for, as we have before said, the feudal 
system admits of no idea of the authority of 
parliament ; and this would have been the case 
of the colony, but for the compact with the 
king in the charter. 

Your excellency says, that " persons thus 
holding under the crown of England, remain 
or become subjects of England," by which, we 
suppose your excellency to mean, subject to the 
supreme authority of parliament, " to all intents 
and purposes, as fully as if any of the royal 
manors, etc., within the realm, had been granted 
to them upon the like tenure." We appre- 
hend, with submission, your excellency is mis- 
taken in supposing that our allegiance is due 
to the crown of England. Every man swears 
allegiance for himself, to his own king, in his 
natural person. " Every subject is presumed 
by law to be sworn to the king, which is to his 



go 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



natural person," says lord Coke — Rep. on Cal- 
vin's case. " The allegiance is due to his nat- 
ural body;" and, he says, "in the reign of 
Edward II. the Spencers, the father and the 
son, to cover the treason hatched in their 
hearts, invented this damnable and damned 
opinion, that homage and oath of allegiance 
was more by reason of the king's crown, that 
is, of his politic capacity, than by reason of the 
person of the king ; upon which opinion they 
inferred execrable and detestable consequents." 
The judges of England, all but one, in 
the case of the union between Scotland and 
England, declared that " allegiance followeth 
the natural person, not the politic," and, " to 
prove the allegiance to be tied to the body nat- 
ural of the king, and not to the body politic, the 
lord Coke cited the phrases of divers statutes, 
mentioning our natural liege sovereign." If, 
then, the homage and allegiance is not to the 
body politic of the king, then it is not to him as 
the head, or any part of that legislative au- 
thority, which your excellency says " is equally 
extensive with the authority of the crown 
throughout every part of the dominion ; " and 
your excellency's observation thereupon must 
fail. The same judges mention the allegiance 
of a subject to the kings of England, who is 
out of the reach and extent of the laws of Eng- 
land, which is perfectly reconcilable with the 
principles of our ancestors, quoted before from 
your excellency's histoiy, but, upon your excel- 
lency's principles, appears to us to be absurdity. 
The judges, speaking of a subject, say, " al- 
though his birth was out of the bounds of the 
kingdom of England, and out of the reach and 
extent of the laws of England, yet, if it were 
within the allegiance of the king of England, 
etc., Normandy, Aquitain, Gascoign, and other 
places, within the limits of France, and, conse- 
quently, out of the realm or bounds of the king- 
dom of England, were in subjection to the kings 
of England." And the judges say, "Rex et 
RegiuDit, be not so relatives, as a king can be 
king of but one kingdom, which clearly holdeth 
not, but that his kingly power extending to 
divers nations and kingdoms, all owe him 
equal subjection, and are equally born to the 
benefit of his protection ; and although he is 
to govern them by their distinct laws, yet any 
one of the people coming into the other, is to 
have the benefit of the laws, wheresoever he 
cometh." So they are not to be deemed aliens, 
as your excellency in your speech supposes, in 
any of the dominions, all which accords with 
the principles our ancestors held. " And he is 
to bear the burden of taxes of the place where 
he cometh, but living in one, or for his liveli- 



hood in one, he is not to be taxed in the other, 
because laws ordain taxes, impositions, and 
charges, as a discipline of subjection, particu- 
larized to every particular nation." Nothing, 
we think, can be more clear to our purpose 
than the decision of judges, perhaps as learned 
as ever adorned the English nation, or in favor 
of America, in her present controversy with 
the mother state. 

Your excellency says that, by " our not dis- 
tinguishing between the crown of England and 
the kings and queens of England, in their per- 
sonal or natural capacities, we have been led 
into a fundamental error." Upon this very 
distinction we have availed ourselves. We have 
said, that our ancestors considered the land, 
which they took possession of in America, as 
out of the bounds of the kingdom of England, 
and out of the reach and extent of the laws of 
England ; and that the king also, even in the 
act of granting the charter, considered the ter- 
ritory as not within the realm ; that the king 
had an absolute right in himself to dispose of 
the lands, and that this was not disputed by 
the nation ; nor could the lands, on any solid 
grounds, be claimed by the nation ; and, there- 
fore, our ancestors received the lands, by grant, 
from the king ; and, at the same time, com- 
pacted with him, and promised him homage 
and allegiance, not in his public or politic, but 
natural capacity only. If it be difficult for us 
to show how the king acquired a title to this 
country in his natural capacity, or separate 
from his relation to his subjects, which we con- 
fess, yet we conceive it will be equally difficult 
for your excellency to show how the body poli- 
tic and nation of England acquired it. Our 
ancestors supposed it was acquired by neither; 
and, therefore, they declared, as we have before 
quoted from your history, that, saving their 
actual purchase from the natives of the soil, 
the dominion, the lordship, and sovereignty, 
they had, in the sight of God and man, no 
right and title to what they possessed. How 
much clearer then, in natural reason and equity, 
must our title be, who hold estates dearly pur- 
chased at the expense of our own, as well as 
our ancestors' labor, and defended by them 
with treasure and blood. 

Your excellency has been pleased to confirm, 
rather than deny or confute, a piece. of history, 
which, you say, we took from an anonymous 
pamphlet, and by which you " fear we have 
been too easily misled." It may be gathered 
from your own declaration, and other authori- 
ties, besides the anonymous pamphlet, that the 
house of commons took exception, not at the 
king's having made an absolute grant of the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



91 



territory, but at the claim of an exclusive right 
to the fishery on the banks and sea coast, by 
virtue of the patent. At this you say " the 
house of commons was alarmed, and a bill was 
brought in for allowing a free fishery." And, 
upon this occasion, your excellency allows that 
" one of the secretaries of state declared, that 
the plantations were not annexed to the crown, 
and so were not within the jurisdiction of par- 
liament." If we should concede to what your 
excellency supposes might possibly, or, " per- 
haps," be the case, that the secretary made 
this declaration " as his own opinion," the 
event showed that it was the opinion of the 
king too ; for it is not to be accounted for upon 
any other principle, that he would have denied 
his royal assent to a bill, formed for no other 
purpose, but to grant his subjects in England 
the privilege of fishing on the sea coasts in 
America. The account published by Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges himself, of the proceedings of 
parliament on this occasion, your excellency 
thinks will remove all doubt of the sense of 
the nation, and of the patentees of this patent 
or charter, in 1620. "This narrative," you 
say, " has all the appearance of truth and sin- 
cerity," which we do not deny ; and, to us, it 
carries this conviction with it, that " what was 
objected " in parliament, was the exclusive 
claim of fishing only. His imagining that he 
had satisfied the house, after divers attendan- 
ces, that the planting a colony was of much 
more consequence than a simple disorderly 
course of fishing, is sufficient for our convic- 
tion. We know that the nation was at that 
time alarmed with apprehensions of monopo- 
lies ; and, if the patent of New England was 
presented by the two houses as a grievance, it 
did not show, as your excellency supposes, 
" the sense they then had of their authority 
over this new acquired territory," but only their 
sense of the grievance of a monopoly of the 
sea. 

We are happy to hear your excellency say, 
that " our remarks upon, and construction of 
the words, not repugnant to the laws of Eng- 
land, are much the same with those of the 
council." It serves to con^rm us in our opin- 
ion, in what we take to be the most important 
matter of difference between your excellency 
and the two houses : After saying, that the 
statute of 7th and 8th of William and Mary 
favors the construction of the words, as intend- 
ing such laws of England as are made more 
immediately to respect us, you tell us, that 
" the province agent, Mr. Dummer, in his much 
applauded defence, says that then a law of 
the plantations may be said to be repugnant to 



a law made in Great Britain, when it flatly con- 
tradicts it, so far as the law made there men- 
tions and relates to the plantations." This is 
plain and obvious to common sense, and, there- 
fore, cannot be denied. But, if your excellency 
would read a page or two further, in that ex- 
cellent defence, you will see that he mentions 
this as the sense of the phrase, as taken from 
an act of parliament, rather than as the sense 
he would choose himself to put upon it ; and 
he expressly designs to show, in vindication of 
the charter, that, in that sense of words, there 
never was a law made in the plantations repug- 
nant to the laws of Great Britain. He gives 
another construction, much more likely to be 
the true intent of the words, namely, " that the 
patentees shall not presume, under color of 
their particular charters, to make any laws 
inconsistent with the great charter, and other 
laws of England, by which the lives, liberties, 
and properties of Englishmen are secured." 
This is the sense in which our ancestors un- 
derstood the words ; and, therefore, they are 
unwilling to conform to the acts of trade, and 
disregarded them till they made provision to 
give them force in the colony, by a law of their 
own ; saying, " that the laws of England did 
not reach America ; and those acts were an in- 
vasion of their rights, liberties, and properties," 
because they w'ere not " representedin parlia- 
ment." The right of being governed by laws, 
which were made by persons in whose election 
they had a voice, they looked upon as the 
foundation of English liberties. By the com- 
pact with the king, in the charter, they were to 
be as free in America as they would have been 
if they had remained within the realm ; and, 
therefore, they freely asserted that they " were 
to be governed by laws made by themselves, 
and by officers chosen by themselves." Mr. 
Dummer says, " it seems reasonable enough to 
think that the crown," and, he might have 
added, our ancestors, " intended by this injunc- 
tion to provide for all its subjects, that they 
might not be oppressed by arbitrary power ; 
but, being still subjects, they should be pro- 
tected by the same mild laws, and enjoy the 
same happy government, as if they continued 
within the realm." And, considering the words 
of the charter in this light, he looks upon 
them as designed to be a fence against oppres- 
sion and despotic power. But the construction 
which your excellency puts upon the words, 
reduces us to a state of vassalage, and exposes 
us to oppression and despotic power, whenever 
a parliament shall see fit to make laws for that 
purpose, and put them in execution. 

We flatter ourselves that, from the large 



92 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



extracts we have made from your excellency's 
history of the colony, it appears evidently that, 
under both charters, it hath been the sense of 
the people and of the government, that they 
were not under the jurisdiction of parliament. 
We pray you again to turn to those quotations, 
and our observations upon them ; and we wish 
to have your excellency's judicious remarks. 
When we adduced that history, to prove that 
the sentiments of private persons of influence, 
four or five years after the restoration, were 
very different from what your excellency appre- 
hended them to be, when you delivered your 
speech, you seem to concede to it, by telling us, 
" it was, as you take it, from the principles 
imbibed in those times of anarchy, (preceding 
the restoration,) that they disputed the authority 
of parliament ; " but, you add, " the govern- 
ment would not venture to dispute it." We 
find, in the same history, a quotation from a 
letter of Mr. Stoughton, dated seventeen years 
after the restoration, mentioning " the country's 
not taking notice of the acts of navigation, to 
observe them." And it was, as we take it, 
after that time that the government declared, 
in a letter to their agents, that they had not 
submitted to them ; and they ventured to " dis- 
pute " the jurisdiction, asserting that they 
apprehended the acts to be an invasion of the 
rights, liberties, and properties of the subjects 
of his majesty in the colony, they not being 
represented in parliament, and that " the laws 
of England did not reach America." It very 
little avails in proof, that they conceded to the 
supreme authority of parliament, their telling 
the commissioners, " that the act of navigation 
had for some years before been observed here ; 
that they knew not of its being greatly violated ; 
and that such laws as appeared to be against 
it, were repealed." It may as truly be said now, 
that the revenue acts are obsened by some of 
the people of this province ; but it cannot be 
said that the government and people of this 
province have conceded that the parliament had 
authority to make such acts to be obsen'ed 
here. Neither does their declaration to the 
commissioners, that such laws as appeared to 
be against the act of navigation, were repealed, 
prove their concession of the authority of par- 
liament, by any means, so much as their mak- 
ing provision for giving force to an act of 
parliament within this province, by a deliberate 
and solemn act or law of their own, proves the 
contrary. 

You tell us, that "the government, four or 
five years before the charter was vacated, more 
explicitly," that is, than by a conversation with 
the commissioners, " acknowledged the author- 



ity of parliament, and voted that their governor 
should take the oath required of him, faithfully 
to do and perform all matters and things en- 
joined him by the acts of trade." But does this, 
may it please your excellency, show their ex- 
plicit acknowledgment of the authority of par- 
liament ? Does it not rather show directly the 
contrary ? For, what could there be for their 
vote, or authority, to require him to take the 
oath already required of him by the act of par- 
liament, unless both he and they judged that 
an act of parliament was not of force sufficient 
to bind him to take such an oath ? We do not 
deny, but, on the contrary, are fully persuaded, 
that your excellency's principles in government 
are still of the same with what they appear to 
be in the history ; for you there say, that " the 
passing this law, plainly shows the wrong 
sense they had of the relation they stood unto 
England." But we are from hence convinced, 
that your excellency, when you wrote the his- 
tory, was of our mind in this respect, that our 
ancestors, in passing the law, discovered their 
opinion, that they were without the jurisdiction 
of parliament ; for it was upon this principle 
alone, they shewed the wrong sense they had, 
in your excellency's opinion, of the relation they 
stood unto England. 

Your excellency, in your second speech, con- 
descends to point out to us the acts and doings 
of the general assembly, which relates to acts 
of parliament, which, you think, " demonstrates 
that they have been acknowledged by the as- 
sembly, or submitted to by the people," neither 
of which, in our opinion, shows that it was 
the sense of the nation, and our predecessors, 
when they first took possession of this planta- 
tion, or colony, by a grant and charter from 
the crown, that they were to remain subject to 
the supreme authority of the English parlia- 
ment. 

Your excellency seems chiefly to rely upon 
our ancestors, after the revolution, " proclaim- 
ing king William and queen Mar)-, in the room 
of king James," and taking the oaths to them, 
'• the alteration of the form of oaths, from time 
to time," and finally, "the establishment of the 
form, which every c*ie of us has complied with, 
as the charter, in express terms, requires and 
makes our duty." We do not know that it has 
ever been a point in dispute, whether the kings 
of England were ipso facto kings in, and over, 
this colony, or province. The compact was 
made between king Charles the I. his heirs and 
successors, and the governor and company, 
their heirs and successors. It is easy, upon 
this principle, to account for the acknowledg- 
ment of, and subnr.ission to, king William and 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



93 



queen Mary, as successors of Charles the I. in 
the room of king James ; besides, it is to be 
considered, that the people in the colony, as 
well as in England, had suffered under the 
tyrant James, by which he had alike forfeited 
his right to reign over both. There had been a 
revolution here, as well as in England. The 
eyes of the people here were upon William and 
Mary ; and the news of their being proclaimed 
in England was, as your excellency's history 
tells us, •' the most joyful news ever received 
in New England." And, if they were not pro- 
claimed here, " by virtue of an act of the 
colony," it was, as we think may be concluded 
from the tenor of your history, with the general 
or universal consent of the people, as apparent- 
ly as if " such act had passed." It is consent 
alone that makes any human laws binding; 
and, as a learned author observes, a purely 
voluntary submission to an act, because it is 
highly in our favor and for our benefit, is in all 
equity and justice, to be deemed as not at all 
proceeding from the right we include in the 
legislators, that they thereby obtain an authori- 
ty over us, and that ever hereafter, we must 
obey them of duty. We would observe, that 
one of the first acts of the general assembly 
of this province, since the present charter, was 
an act requiring the taking the oaths mentioned 
in an act of parliament, to which you refer us. 
For what purpose was this act of the assembly 
passed, if it was the sense of the legislators 
that the act of parliament was in force in the 
province .' And, at the same time, another act 
was made for the establishment of other oaths 
necessary to be taken, both which acts have 
the royal sanction, and are now in force. Your 
excellency says, that when the colony applied 
to king William for a second charter, they 
knew the oath the king had taken, which was 
to govern them according to the statutes in 
parliament, and (which your excellency here 
omits,) the laws and customs of the same. By 
the laws and customs of parliament, the people 
of England freely debate and consent to such 
statutes as are made by themselves or their 
chosen representatives. This is a law or cus- 
tom, which all mankind may justly challenge 
as their inherent right. According to this law, 
the king has an undoubted right to govern us. 
Your excellency, upon recollection, surely will 
not infer from hence, that it was the sense of 
our predecessors that there was to remain a 
supremacy in the English parliament, or a full 
power and authority to make laws binding upon 
us, in all cases whatever, in that parliament, 
where we cannot debate and deliberate upon 
the necessity or expediency of any law, and. 



consequently, without our consent ; and, as it 
may probably happen, destructive of the first 
law of society, the good of the whole. You tell 
us that, " after the assumption of all the powers 
of government, by virtue of the new charter, 
an act passed for the reviving, for a limited 
time, all the local laws of the Massachusetts 
Bay and New Plymouth, respectively, not 
repugnant to the laws of England. And, at 
the same session, an act passed establishing 
naval officers, that all undue trading, contrary 
to an act of parliament, may be prevented." 
Among the acts that were then revived, we 
may reasonably suppose was that, whereby 
provision was made to give force to this act of 
parliament in the province. The establish- 
ment, therefore, of the naval officers, was to 
aid the execution of an act of parliament, for 
the obsen-ance of which, within the colony, the 
assembly had before made provision, after free 
debates, with their own consent, and by their 
own act. 

The act of parliament, passed in 1741, for 
putting an end to several unwarrantable 
schemes, mentioned by your excellency, was 
designed for the general good ; and, if the 
validity of it was not disputed, it cannot be 
urged as a concession of the supreme authority, 
to make laws binding on us in all cases what- 
ever. But. if the design of it was for the gen- 
eral benefit of the province, it was. in one 
respect, at least greatly complained of by the 
persons more immediately affected by it ; and 
to remedy the inconvenience, the legislature of 
this province passed an act, directly militating 
with it ; which is the strongest evidence that, 
although they may have submitted, sui si7i:>i//o, 
to some acts of parliament, that they conceived 
might operate for their benefit, they did not 
conceive themselves bound by any of its acts 
which, they judged, would operate to the injury 
even of individuals. 

Your excellency has not thought proper to 
attempt to confute the reasoning of a learned 
writer on the laws of nature and nations, 
quoted by us, on this occasion, to shew that 
the authority of the legislature does not extend 
so far as the fundamentals of the constitution. 
We are unhappy in not having your remarks 
upon the reasoning of that great man ; and, 
until it is confuted, we shall remain of the 
opinion, that the fundamentals of the constitu- 
tion being excepted from the commission of 
the legislators, none of the acts or doings of the 
general assembly, however deliberate and sol- 
emn, could avail to change them, if the people 
have not, in very express terms, given them the 
power to do it ; and that, much less ought 



94 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



their acts and doings, however numerous, 
which barely refer to acts of parliament made 
expressly to relate to us, to be taken as an 
acknowledgment that we are subject to the 
supreme authority of parliament. 

We shall sum up our own sentiments in the 
words of that learned writer, Mr. Hooker, in 
his ecclesiastical policy, as quoted by Mr. 
Locke. — " The lawful power of making laws to 
command whole political societies of men, be- 
longing so properly to the same entire societies 
that for any prince or potentate of what kind 
soever, to exercise the same of himself, and 
not from express commission, immediately and 
personally received from God, is no better than 
mere tyranny. Laws, therefore, they are not, 
which public approbation hath not made so ; 
for laws human, of what kind soever, are avail- 
able by consent. " " Since men, naturally, 
have no full and perfect power to command 
whole politic multitudes of men, therefore, 
utterly without our consent, we could in such 
sort, be at no man's commandment living. 
And to be commanded, we do not consent, 
when that society, whereof we be a party, hath 
at any time before consented." We think 
your excellency has not proved, either that the 
colony is a part of the politic society of Eng- 
land, or that it has ever consented that the 
parliament of England or Great Britain, should 
make laws binding upon us, in all cases, 
whether made expressly to refer to us or not. 

We cannot help, before we conclude, expres- 
sing our great concern, that your excellency 
has thus repeatedly, in a manner, insisted upon 
our free sentiments on matters of so delicate a 
nature and weighty importance. The question 
appears to us to be no other, than whether we 
are the subjects of absolute unlimited power, 
or of a free government, formed on the princi- 
ples of the English constitution. If your excel- 
lency's doctrine be true, the people of this pro- 
vince hold their lands of the crown and people 
of England ; and their lives, liberties, and pro- 
perties, are at their disposal ; and that, even 
by compact and their own consent, they were 
subject to the king, as the head alterius populi 
of another people, in whose legislature they 
have no voice or interest. They are, indeed, 
said to have a constitution and a legislature of 
their own ; but your excellency has explained 
it into a mere phantom ; limited, controled, 
superseded, and nullified at the will of another. 
Is this the constitution which so charmed our 
ancestors, that, as your excellency has miormed 
us, they kept a day of solemn thanksgiving to 
Almighty God when they received it .' And 
were they men of so little discernment, such 



children in understanding, as to please them- 
selves with the imagination, that they were 
blessed with the same rights and liberties 
which natural born subjects in England en- 
joyed, when at the same time, they had fully 
consented to be ruled and ordered by a legisla- 
ture, a thousand leagues distant from them, 
which cannot be supposed to be sufficiently 
acquainted with their circumstances, if con- 
cerned for their interest, and in which they 
cannot be in any sense represented ? 

[The committee who reported the above, 
were Mr. Gushing, (the speaker), Mr. S. 
Adams, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Philips, Major Fos- 
ter, Col. Bowers, Mr. Hobson, Col. Thayer, 
and Mr. Denny.] 



RESOLUTIONS, 

House of Representatives. 

On motion of Mr. S. Adams, the following re- 
solutionswere adopted, no to 4, Afajy 28, 1773. 

Whereas, the speaker hath communicated to 
this house, a letter from the truly respectable 
house of Burgesses, in his majesty's ancient 
colony of Virginia, enclosing a copy of the 
resolves entered into by them, on the 12th of 
March last, and requesting that a committee 
of this house may be appointed to communi- 
cate, from time to time, with a corresponding 
committee, then appointed by the said house 
of Burgesses in Virginia : 

And, whereas this house is fully sensible of 
the necessity and importance of a union of the 
several colonies in America, at a time when it 
clearly appears, that the rights and liberties of 
all are systematically invaded ; in order that 
the joint wisdom of the whole may be em- 
ployed in consulting their common safety : 

Resolved, That this house have a very grate- 
ful sense of the obligations they are under to 
the house of Burgesses, in Virginia, for the 
vigilance, firmness and wisdom, which they 
have discovered, at all times, in support of the 
rights and liberties of the American colonies ; 
and do heartily concur with their said judicious 
and spirited resolves. 

Resoh'ed, That a standing committee of cor- 
respondence and enquir}- be appointed, to con- 
sist of fifteen members, any eight of whom to 
be a quorum ; whose business it shall be, to 
obtain the most early and authentic intelligence 
of all such acts and resolutions of the British 
parliament, or proceedings of administrations 
as may relate to, or affect the British colonies 
in America, and to keep up and maintain a 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



95 



correspondence and communication with our 
sister colonies, respecting these important con- 
siderations ; and the result of such their pro- 
ceedings, from time to time, to lay before the 
house. 

Resolved, That it be an instruction to the 
said committee, that they do, without delay, 
inform themselves particularly of the principles 
and authority, on which was constituted a 
court of enquiry, held in Rhode Island, said to 
be vested with powers to transport persons, 
accused of offences committed in America, to 
places beyond the seas, to be tried.* 

Resolved, That the said committee be further 
instructed to prepare and report to this house, 
a draft of a very respectful answer to the letter, 
received from the speaker of the honorable 
house of Burgesses of Virginia, and another, 
to a letter received from the speaker of the 
honorable house of representatives, of the 
colony of Rhode Island : also, a circular letter 
to the several other houses of assembly, on 
this continent, enclosing the aforesaid resolves, 
and requesting them to lay the same before 
their respective assemblies, in confidence, that 
they will readily and cheerfully comply with 
the wise and salutary resolves of the house of 
Burgesses, in Virginia. 

[The committee of correspondence, chosen 
in pursuance of the resolves aforesaid, were 
Mr. Gushing, (the speaker), Mr. Adams, hon. 
John Hancock, Mr. William Phillips, captain 
William Heath, hon. Joseph Hawley, James 
Warren, esq. R. Derby, jun. esq. Mr. Elbridge 
Gerry, J. Bowers, esq., Jedediah Foster, esq. 
Daniel Leonard, esq. captain T. Gardner, capt. 
Jonathan Greenleaf, and J. Prescott, esq.] 



LETTER FROM THE HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES. 

ADDRESSED TO THE SPEAKERS OF THE 
SEVERAL HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY, ON THE 
CONTINENT. BOSTON, JUNE 3, 1773. 

Sir — The house of representatives of this 
province, being earnestly attentive to the con- 
troversy between Great Britain and the colo- 
nies, and considering that the authority claimed 
and exercised by parliament, on the one side, 
and by the general assemblies of this conti- 

* In consequence of burning the Gaspee, a British 
armed vesseL which had greaUy harassed the navigation 
of Rhode Island, a court of enquiry was appointed, under 
the great seal of England, to be holden at Newport. They 
met once and again, but linally dissolved, without doing 
any thing important. It was supposed that many persons, 
suspected of burning the Gaspee, would have been sent 
to England for trial. 



nent, on the other, greatly militates, and is 
productive of this unhappy contention, think it 
of the utmost importance to the welfare of 
both, and particularly of the colonies, that the 
constitutional powers of each be inquired into, 
delineated and fully ascertained. 

That his majesty's subjects of America, are 
entitled to the same rights and liberties as 
those of Great Britain, and that these ought, 
in justice, by the constitution, to be as well 
guaranteed and secured, to the one as to the 
other, are too apparent to be denied. 

It is, by this house, humbly conceived, to 
be likewise undeniable, that the authority 
assumed, and now forcibly exercised by parlia- 
ment, over the colonies, is utterly subversive 
of freedom in the latter ; and that, while his 
majesty's loyal subjects in America have the 
mortification, daily, to see new abridgments 
of their rights and liberties, they have not the 
least security for those which at present 
remain. Were the colonist only affected by a 
legislature, subject to their control, they would, 
even then, have no other security than belongs 
to them by the laws of nature, and the English 
constitution ; but should the authority, now 
claimed by pariiament, be fully supported by 
power, submitted to by the colonies, it appears 
to this house that there will be an end to 
liberty in America; and that the colonists 
will then change the name of freemen for that 
of slaves. 

In order to adjust and settle these important 
concerns, the free and magnanimous Bur- 
gesses of Virginia have proposed a method 
for uniting the councils of its sister colonies ; 
and it appearing to this house to be a measure 
very wise and salutary, is cheerfully received 
and heartily adopted. 

With great respect for your honorable as- 
sembly, and in confidence that a matter, which 
so nearly affects the safety of each colony, will 
be assisted by its wise councils, permit this 
house to enclose a copy of resolutions, lately 
entered into here, and to request you to com- 
municate the same at a convenient opportunity. 
Thomas Gushing, Speaker. 

[June 2, 1773, the galleries having been 
cleared, by a vote of the house, Mr. S. Adams 
observed, " that he perceived the minds of the 
people were much agitated by a report, that let- 
ters of an extraordinary nature had been written 
and sent to England, greatly to the prejudice of 
this province : that he had obtained certain let- 
ters, with different signatures, with the consent 
of the gentleman from whom he received them, 
that they should be read in the bouse ; under 



96 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



certain restrictions, namely, that the said let- 
ters be neither printed nor copied, in whole, or 
in part," — and he accordingly offered them for 
the consideration of the house. A vote then 
passed, that the letters be read ; and they were 
read accordingly ; being signed, Thomas Hutch- 
inson, Andrew Oliver, Charles Paxton, Robert 
Auchmutty, etc. The whole house was then 
resolved into a committee, to take said letters 
into consideration, and the house adjourned to 
the afternoon. Mr. Hancock, from the com- 
mittee of the whole house, reported, that the 
committee were of opinion, the tendency and 
design of the said letters, was to overthrow the 
constitution of this government, and to intro- 
duce arbitrary power into the province, and the 
report was accepted, loi to 5. A committee 
of nine was, thereupon, chosen, to consider 
what was proper to be done, in reference to the 
letters aforesaid ; and the speaker (Mr. Gush- 
ing), Mr. Adams, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Gorham, 
Mr. Pickering, Maj. Hawley, Col. Warren, Mr. 
Payne and Major Foster, were chosen.] 



DESTRUCTION OF TEA 

In Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, De- 
cember 16, 1773. 

Tea. — There have been some doubts con- 
cerning the destruction of the tea on the i6th 
of December, 1773. The number of the ships, 
and the place where they were situated is not 
quite certain. — One gentleman, now living, over 
70 years of age, thinks that they were at Hub- 
bard's wharf, as it was then called, about half 
way between Griffin's (now Liverpool) and 
Foster's wharf, and that the number of ships 
was four or five. Another gentleman, who is 
75 years of age, and who was one of the guard 
detached from the new grenadier company, 
says that he spent the night, but one, before 
the destruction of the tea, in company with 
gen. Knox, then a private in that company, on 
board of one of the tea ships; that this ship 
lay on the south side of Russell's wharf; and 
that there were two more on the north side of 
the same wharf, and he thinks one or two at 
Griffin's wharf A gentleman now living, who 
came from England in one of the tea ships, 
thinks there were but two, but he is uncertain 
where they lay. A song, written soon after the 
time, tells of " Three ill-fated ships at Griffin's 
wharf." The whole evidence seems to result 
in this, that there were three ships^but whether 
at Russell's or Griffin's wharf, or one or more 
at each, is not certain. The number of chests I 



destroyed was, according to the newspapers of 
the time, 342. There was a body meeting on 
this i6th of December, 1773. This matter of 
the tea was the occasion of the meeting. The 
meeting began at Faneuil Hall, but that place 
not being large enough it was adjourned to the 
Old South, and even that place could not con- 
tain all who came. Jonathan Wdliams was 
moderator. Among the spectators was John 
Rowe, who lived in Pond street where Mr. Pres- 
cctt now lives ; among other things, he said, — 
" Who knows how tea will mingle with salt 
water " — and this suggestion was received with 
great applause. Governor Hutchinson was at 
this time at the house on Milton hill where 
Barney Smith, esqr. lives. A committee was 
sent from the meeting, to request him to order 
the ships to depart. — While they were gone, 
speeches were made, for the purpose of keep- 
ing the people together. The committee re- 
turned about sunset with his answer, that he 
could not interfere. At this moment the Indian 
yell was heard from the street. Mr. Samuel 
Adams cried out that it was a trick of their 
enemies to disturb their meeting, and requested 
the people to keep their places — but the people 
rushed out, and accompanied the Indians to 
the ships. The number of persons disguised 
as Indians is variously stated — none put it 
lower than 60, none higher than 80. It is said 
by persons who were present, that nothing was 
destroyed but tea — and this was not done with 
noise and tumult, little or nothing being said 
either by the agents or the multitude, — who 
looked on. The impression was that of solemn- 
ity, rather than of riot and confusion. — The de- 
struction was effected by disguised persons, 
and some young men who volunteered ; one of 
the latter collected the tea which fell into the 
shoes of himself and companions, and put it 
into a phial and sealed it up ; which phial is 
now in his possession, — containing the same 
tea. — The contrivers of this measure, and those 
who carried it into effect, will never be known ; 
some few persons have been mentioned as be- 
ing among the disguised ; but there are many 
and obvious reasons why secrecy then, and 
concealment since, were necessary. None of 
those persons who were confidently said to have 
been of the party, (except some who were then 
minors or very young men), have ever admitted 
that they were so. The person who appeared 
to know more than any one, I ever spoke with, 
refused to mention names. Mr. Samuel Adams 
is thought to have been in the counselling of 
this exploit, and many other men who were 
leaders in the political afl'airs of the times ; — 
and the hall council is said to have been in the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



97 



back room of Edes and Gill's printing office, at 
the corner of the alley leading to Battle street 
church from Court street. There are very few 
alive now, who helped to empty the chests of 
tea, and these few will probably be as prudent 
as those who have gone before them. 

Daily Adzi. 



LETTER 

Relating to the Destruction of Tea 
IN Boston Harbor by the " Mohawk 
Indians." 

With regard to the Indians who destroyed 
the three cargoes of tea in the harbor of Bos- 
ton, I have met with a slight notice that con- 
firms the remark of president Adams, that 
" they were no ordinary Mohawks." It is in 
the Historical Sketch of Charlestown, by the 
hon. Joseph Bartlett, M.D., in which he says, 
that E. N. (giving only the initials) a respecta- 
ble inhabitant of that town, had repeatedly in- 
formed him that he was among the Indians 
who destroyed the tea. J. F. 

The " Mohawk Indians." 

Hanover, N. H., June 22, 1819. 

Sir — Seeing a notice or a letter addressed to 
president Adams from you, I take the liberty of 
giving you the information, in part, you wish. 

My father, Anthony Morse, afterwards a 
lieutenant during the revolutionary war, but 
since deceased, and Mr. Joseph Roby, now of 
this town, were the most active in destroying 
the tea in Boston harbor. Mr. Roby thinks 
there is but one or two now surviving besides 
himself. 

I am, sir, yours with esteem, 

Lewis R. M. Morse. 
Mr. H. Niles. 



REVOLUTIONARY RECOLLECTIONS 

Relating to the Destruction of Tea 
IN Boston Harbor. 

From the National Gazette of Sept. 5, 1821. 
I am one of that class of your readers who 
are much pleased with the plan of the reminis- 
cences, and wish it may be promoted, by our 
well-informed aged citizens taking the trouble 
to present to the public such authentic facts 
and information as their memories can furnish. 
It may be the means of preserving some flow- 

7 



ers, and placing them in the chaplet of the his- 
toric muse, which would otherwise fall to the 
ground and perish in oblivion. I offer the 
following. 

Upon reading the Boston reminiscence of the 
tea-ship, the line quoted from the old song 
occasioned the whole of it to rise like an exha- 
lation before me. 

As near beauteous Boston lying. 

On the gently swelling tiood, 
Without jack or pendant flying, 

Three ill-fated tea-ships rode. 

Just as glorious Sol was setting, 

On the wharf, a numerous crew. 
Sons of freedom, fear forgetting, 

Suddenly appear'd in view. 

Ann'd with hammers, axes, chisels, 

Weapons new for warlike deeds, 
Towaids the herbage freighted vessels, 

They approach'd with dreadful speed. 

Hovering o'er their heads, in mid sky. 
Three bright angel forms were seen ; 

That was Hampden, this was Sidney, 
With fair Liberty between. 

■ Soon," they cned, ' your foes you'll banish, 

' Soon your triumph will be won, 
' Scarce shall setting Phcebus vanish, 

' Ere the deathless deed be done.' 

Quick as shot the ships were boarded. 
Hatches burst and chests display'd ; 

Axes, hammers, help atforded," 
What a glorious crash they made ! 

Captains ! once more hoist your streamers, 
Spread your sails and plough the wave ! 

Tell your masters they are dreamers, 
When they thought to cheat the brave. 



EXTRACT FROM THE GOVERNOR'S 
MESSAGE. 

To the Council and House of Repre- 
sentatives, January 26, 1774. 

Gentlemen of the Council, and 

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives. 

The judicial proceedings of the governor and 
council, as the supreme court of Probate, and 
as the court for determining in cases of mar- 
riage and divorce, having been impeded in 
many instances, where the opinion of the gov- 
ernor has been different from that of the ma- 
jority of the councillors present, the governor 
having always considered his consent as neces- 
sary to every judicial act. In the year 1771, I 
stated the arguments, as well against as for the 
claim of the governor; and his majesty having 
been pleased to order the case thus stated, to 



98 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



be laid before the lords of his majesty's most 
honorable privy council, I am now able to in- 
form you, that it has been signified to me, to be 
his majesty's pleasure, that I do acquiesce in 
the determination of the majority of councillors 
present, voting as a court for proving wills and 
administration, and deciding controversies con- 
cerning marriage and divorce, although I should 
differ in opinion from that majority. This 
order more immediately respects the council ; 
nevertheless, the tender regard which his 
majesty has shown for the interest and conve- 
nience of his subjects, in a construction of the 
charter, different from what had been made by 
all his governors, ever since its first publica- 
tion, make it proper for me to communicate the 
order to both houses. 

I am required to signify to you his majesty's 
disapprobation of the appointment of commit- 
tees of correspondence, in various instances, 
which sit and act, during the recess of the 
general court, by prorogation. 

T. Hutchinson. 



EXTRACT FROM THE ANSWER 

Of the House of Representatives to 
THE Governor, February 5, 1774. 

May it please your excellency. 

It affords great satisfaction to this house to 
find, that his majesty has been pleased to put 
an end to an undue claim, heretofore made by 
the governors of this province, grounded upon 
a supposition that the consent of the chair was 
necessary to the validity of the judicial acts of 
the governor and council. Whereby their pro- 
ceedings, when sitting as the supreme court of 
Probate, and as the court for determining in 
cases of marriage and divorce, have been so 
often impeded. The royal order, that the 
governor shall acquiesce in the determination of 
the majority of the council, respects not the 
council only, but the body of the people of this 
province. And his majesty has herein shewed 
his regard to justice, as well as the interest and 
convenience of his subjects, in rescuing a clause 
in the charter from a construction which, in 
the opinion of this house, was repugnant to the 
express meaning and intent of the charter, in- 
consistent with the idea of a court of justice, 
and dangerous to the rights and property of 
the subject. 

Your excellency is pleased to inform the two 
houses, that you are required to signify to 
them his majesty's disapprobation of the ap- 
pointment of committees of correspondence, in 



various instances, which sit and act, during the 
recess of the general court, by prorogation. 
You are not pleased to explain to us the grounds 
and reasons of his majesty's disapprobation ; 
until we shall have such explanation laid be- 
fore us, a full answer to this part of your speech 
will not be expected from us. We cannot, 
however, omit saying, upon this occasion, that 
while the common rights of the American sub- 
jects, continue to be attacked in various in- 
stances, and at times when the several assem- 
blies are not sitting, it is highly necessary that 
they should correspond w-ith each other, in 
order to unite in the most effectual means for 
the obtaining a redress of their grievances. 
And as the sitting of the general assemblies in 
this, and most of the colonies, depends upon 
the pleasure of the governors, who hold them- 
selves under the direction of administration, it 
is to be expected, that the meeting of the assem- 
blies will be so ordered, as that the intention 
proposed by a correspondence between them, 
will be impracticable, but by committees, to sit 
and act in the recess. We would, moreover, 
observe that, as it has been the practice for 
years past for the governor and lieutenant gov- 
ernor of this province, and other officers of the 
crown, at all times, to correspond with minis- 
ters of state, and persons of influence and dis- 
tinction in the nation, in order to concert and 
carry on such measures of the British adminis- 
tration, as have been deemed by the colonists 
to be grievous to them, it cannot be thought 
unreasonable, or improper for the colonists to 
correspond with their agents, as well as with 
each other, to the end, that their grievances 
may be so explained to his majesty, as that, in 
his justice, he may afford them necessary re- 
lief As this province has heretofore felt the 
great misfortune of the displeasure of our 
sovereign, by means of misrepresentations, per- 
mit us further to say, there is room to appre- 
hend that his m.ajesty has, in this instance, 
been misinformed, and that there are good 
grounds to suspect, that those who may have 
misinformed him, have had in meditation fur- 
ther measures destructive to the colonies, which 
they were apprehensive would be defeated by 
means of committees of correspondence sitting 
and acting in the recess of the respective assem- 
blies. 

It must be pleasing to the good people of 
this province, to find that the heavy debt which 
had been incurred by their liberal aids, through 
the course of the late war, for the subduing his 
majesty's inveterate enemies, and extending his 
territory and dominion in America, is so nearly 
discharged. Whenever the house of repre- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



99 



sentatives shall deem it incumbent upon them 
to provide for any future charges, it will be 
done, as it ought, by such ways and means as, 
after due deliberation, to them shall seem meet. 

In the meantime, this house will employ the 
powers with which they are entrusted, in sup- 
porting his majesty's just authority in the pro- 
vince, according to the royal charter, and in 
despatching such public business as now prop- 
erly lies before us. And, while we pursue 
such measures as tend, by God's blessing, to 
the redress of grievances, and to the restora- 
tion and establishment of the public liberty, we 
persuade ourselves, that we shall, at the same 
time, .is far as in us lies, most effectually secure 
the tranquility and good order of the govern- 
ment, and the great end for which it was insti- 
tuted, the safety and welfare of the people. 

[The committee, by whom the foregoing was 
reported, were, the speaker, Mr. S. Adams, Mr. 
Hancock, Col. Warren, Col. Thayer, Col. 
Bowers, and Captain Derby.] 



Dr. Church, Dr. Holtan, Mr. Gerry, Col. Trying, 
Captain Robinson, Major Foster, and Mr. 
Gorham. The day following, the committee 
reported a message to Governor Gage, which 
was accepted, and is as follows :] 



ELECTION OF DELEGATES 

By the General Court of Massachu- 
setts. 

To convene at Philadelphia, Penn., to consid- 
er the critical and alarming condition of the 
country. Jime, 1774. 

[Before the general court of Massachusetts 
separated, in June, 1774, they elected five dele- 
gates, to meet such as should be chosen by the 
other colonies, to convene, at Philadelphia, to 
consider the critical and alarming situation of 
the country. — They met in September, 1774, 
and delegates from all the other provinces, 
(except Georgia, which, however, soon after- 
wards joined the confederacy,) convened there, 
at that period, and formed the first continental 
congress. The following gentlemen were ap- 
pointed delegates : Thomas Gushing, Samuel 
Adams, Robert T. Paine, James Bowdoin, and 
John Adams. And as the general court was 
dissolved, it was also proposed to have a pro- 
vincial congress, or meeting of deputies, from 
every town in this state. Deputies were ac- 
cordingly chosen, and met at Salem, October 
7th, 1774. An adjournment was immediately 
voted, to Concord. John Hancock was chosen 
president, and Benjamin Lincoln, secretary. 
A committee was appointed to consider the 
state of the province, consisting of the follow- 
ing gentlemen, viz. the president, Joseph Haw- 
ley, Dr. Joseph Warren, Samuel Dexter, Col. 
Ward, Col. Warren, Captain Heath, Col. Lee, 



MESSAGE 

From the Provincial Congress, Sitting 
AT Concord, to his Excellency Gov- 
ernor Gage. 

May it please your Excellency, 

The delegates, from the several towns in the 
province of Massachusetts-Bay, convened in 
congress, beg leave to address you. The dis- 
tressed and miserable state of the province, 
occasioned by the intolerable grievances and 
oppressions to which the people are subjected, 
and the danger and destruction to which they 
are exposed, of which your excellency must be 
sensible, and the want of a general assembly, 
have rendered it indispensably necessary to 
collect the wisdom of the province, by their 
delegates, in this congress, to concert some 
adequate remedy for preventing impending 
ruin, and providing for the public safety. 

It was with the utmost concern we see your 
hostile preparations, which have spread such 
alarm through the province and the whole con- 
tinent, as threaten to involve us in all the 
confusion and horrors of civil war: and, while 
we contemplate an event so deeply to be 
regretted by every good man, it must occasion 
the surpri.se and astonishment of all mankind, 
that such measures are pursued, against a peo- 
ple whose love of order, attachment to Britain, 
and loyalty to their prince, have ever been 
truly exemplary. Your excellency must be 
sensible, that the sole end of government is the 
protection and security of the people : when- 
ever, therefore, that power, which was origin- 
ally instituted to effect these important and 
valuable purposes, is employed to harass and 
enslave the people, in this case it becomes a 
curse, rather than a blessing. 

The most painful apprehensions are excited 
in our minds, by the measures now pursuing ; 
the rigorous execution of the (Boston) port bill, 
with improved severity, must certainly reduce 
the capital and its numerous dependencies to a 
state of poverty and ruin. The acts for alter- 
ing the charter,* and the administration of 

* In June of this year, an act of parliament was passed, 
revoking that part of the charter, which allowed the 
representatives of the people to elect counsellors ; and 
the king, with the advice of his ministers, was empow- 
ered to appoint them; and, in August, he accordingly 



lOO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



justice in the colony, are manifestly designed 
to abridge this people of their rights, and to 
license murders : and, if carried into execution, 
will reduce them to slavery. The number of 
troops in the capital, increased by daily acces- 
sions drawn from the whole continent, together 
with the formidable and hostile preparations 
which you are now making on Boston Neck, 
in our opinion, greatly endanger the lives, 
liberties, and property, not only of our brethren 
in the town of Boston, but of this province in 
general. Permit us to ask your excellency, 
whether an inattentive and unconcerned ac- 
quiescence to such alarming, such menacing 
measures, would not evidence a state of in- 
sanity ? Or, whether the delaying to take 
every possible precaution for the security of 
this province, would not be the most criminal 
neglect in a people, heretofore rigidly and 
justly tenacious of their constituted rights? 

Penetrated with the most poignant concern, 
and ardently solicitous to preserve union and 
harmony between Great Britain and the colo- 
nies, necessary to the well being of both, we 
entreat your excellency to remove that brand 
of contention, the fortress at the entrance of 
Boston. We are much concerned that you 
should have been induced to construct it, and 
thereby causelessly excite such a spirit of resent- 
ment and indignation, as now generally prevails. 

We assure you, that the good people of this 
colony never have had the least intention to do 
any injury to his majesty's troops ; but on the 
contrary, most earnestly desire, that every 
obstacle to treating them as fellow subjects 
may be immediately removed : but are con- 
strained to tell your excellency, that the minds 
of the people will never be relieved, till those 
hostile works are demolished. And we request 
you, as you regard his majesty's honor and 
interest, the dignity, and happiness of the 
empire, and the peace and welfare of this pro- 
vince, that you immediately desist from the 
fortress, now constructing at the south entrance 
into the town of Boston, and restore the pass 
to its natural state. 



AN HONEST JURY. 

The refusal of certain gentlemen, returned 
to serve as grand jurors for Boston, or Suffolk 
county, in 1774, being frequently alluded to, 
the following, which shews the reasons why 

appointed others, commonly called mandamus counsellors ; 
Deing wholly independent of the people and holding their 
office of the crown, they were liltely to be fit instruments 
of oppression and tyranny. 



they would not be impanelled, becomes highly 
interesting : 

County of Suffolk, BOSTON, Aug. 30, 1774. 

We, who are returned by the several towns 
in this county, to serve as grand jurors at the 
superior court for this present term, being 
actuated by a zealous regard for peace and 
good order, and a sincere desire to promote 
justice, righteousness and good government, 
as being essential to the happiness of the com- 
munity, would now most gladly proceed to the 
discharge of the important duty required in 
that department, could we persuade ourselves 
that, by doing thus, it would add to our own 
reputation, or promote the welfare of our 
country. But when we consider the dangerous 
inroads that have been made upon our civil 
constitution, the violent attempts now making 
to alter and annul the most essential parts of 
our charter, granted by the most solemn faith 
of kings, and repeatedly recognized by British 
kings and parliaments ; while we see the open 
and avowed design of establishing the most 
complete system of despotism in this province, 
and thereby reducing the freeborn inhabi- 
tants thereof to the most abject state of slavery 
and bondage ; we feel ourselves necessarily 
constrained to decline being impanelled, for 
reasons that we are ready to offer to the court, 
if permitted, which are as follows : 

1st. Because Peter Oliver, esq., who sits as 
chief judge of this court, has been charged 
with high crimes and misdemeanors, by the 
late honorable house of representatives, the 
grand inquest of this province ; of which charge 
he has never been legally acquitted, but has 
been declared by that house, unqualified to act 
as judge of this court. 

2d. Because, by a late act of the British par- 
liament, for altering the constitution of this 
province, the continuance of the present judges 
of this court, as well as the appointment of 
others, from the ist of July last, is made to 
depend solely on the king's pleasure, vastly 
different from the tenure of the British judges ; 
and as we apprehend they now hold their 
places, only in consequence of that act, all the 
judicial proceedings of the court will be taken 
as concessions to the validity of the same, to 
which we dare not assent. 

3d. Because three of the judges, being the 
major part of the court, namely, the said 
Peter Oliver, esq. Foster Hutchinson, esq. and 
William Brown, esq. by taking the oath of 
counsellors under authority of the aforemen- 
tioned act, are (as we are informed) sworn to 
carry into execution all the late grievous acts 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



lOI 



of the British parliament, among the last of 
which, is one, made ostensively for the impar- 
tial administration of justice in this province, 
but, as we fear, really for the impunity of such 
persons as shall, under pretext of executing 
those acts, murder any of the inhabitants 
thereof, which acts appear to us to be utterly 
repugnant to every idea of justice and common 
humanity, and are justly complained of, 
throughout America, as highly injurious and 
oppressive to the good people of this province, 
and manifestly destructive of their natural as 
well as constitutional rights. 

4th. Because we believe, in our consciences, 
that our acting in concert with a court so con- 
stituted, and under such circumstances, would 
be so far betraying the just and sacred rights 
of our native land, which were not the gift of 
kings, but were purchased solely with the toil, 
the blood, and treasure, of our worthy and re- 
vered ancestors, and which we look upon our- 
selves under the most sacred obligations to 
maintain, and to transmit the same, whole and 
entire to our posterity. 

Therefore, we, the subscribers, unanimously 
decline serving as grand jurors at this court. 



William Thompson 
Joseph Willet 
Paul Revere 
Robert Williams 
James Ivers 
Joseph Pool 
Lemuel Kollock 
Nicholas Cooke, jr. 
William Bullard 
Moses Richardson 
Abraham Wheeler 



Peter Boyer 
Thomas Crafts, jr. 
Joseph Hall 
Henry Plimpton 
Jonathan Day 
Nathaniel Beecher 
Ebenezer Hancock 
Joseph Jones 
Thomas Pratt 
Abijah Upham 
Samuel Hobart. 



CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN ADAMS. 

Second President of the United States. Let- 
ters written to him by distinguished persons 
in the years 1774, 1775, '^'^'^ '776, together 
•with Letters from him to various persons. 

From John Trumbull, Esq. to John Adams, 
dated Boston, Aug. 10, \TJi,. [Extracts.] 

In the county of Worcester, the people, at 
a general meeting, have resolved that no court 
shall be held there, according to the new regu- 
lation of juries, and that judge Oliver shall not 
take his seat. Upon a report that a regiment 
would be sent to protect the court, they de- 
clared that they were ready to meet it. It is 
to be hoped, however, that no violent measures 



will be taken, till the sense of the whole con- 
tinent is known ; as the people have great 
dependence upon the determinations of con- 
gress, and expect them to chalk out the line 
for their conduct. As to the soldiers here, 
they are no more feared than if they were the 
troops of Lilliput. Indeed, they are much 
more disposed to flight than combat, and have 
more inclination to desert to us than to fight 
us — above two hundred having already left 
them. To put a stop to these frequent deser- 
tions, the officers are obliged to treat them 
with great severity — death or 1000 lashes, is 
the only choice offered to those who are re- 
taken. There is a humorous story told about 
town of one of the deserters, though I cannot 
say it is absolutely to be depended upon as a 
fact : a soldier, whose name is Patrick, deserted 
sometime ago and settled in a country town at 
some distance, and there undertook to instruct 
a company of about fifty men in military exer- 
cises. A sergeant and eight men were sent to 
apprehend deserters, got intelligence of him, and 
agreed with a countryman, for a couple of 
guineas, to conduct them to him. Patrick, it 
seems, was at that time exercising his company ; 
however, being called by the sergeant and his 
men, he immediately came up to them. The 
sergeant demanded what he did there, told him 
he was his prisoner, and ordered him to return 
and join his regiment. Sir, said Patrick, I beg 
your pardon, but I don't think it possible for 
me to obey you at present. The sergeant re- 
peated his orders in a very peremptory style. 
Patrick still assured him of the great improb- 
ability of his being able to comply with the 
command; but told him, as it was not abso- 
lutely certain, he would see what could be done 
about it. You must know, said he, that we 
determine every thing here by a vote — and 
turning to his company, which had by this 
time come up,— gentlemen, says he, if it be 
your mind that I should leave the town and 
return to my regiment, please to manifest it. 
Not a single hand appeared in favor of the 
motion. He then desired that those who were 
contrary-minded should manifest it, which 
passed ncm. con. The sergeant and his men, 
finding themselves in so small a minority, and 
seeing it in vain to oppose the general voice 
of the meeting, were about to return again in 
peace, when one or two of his men were 
desirous to have it put to vote whether they 
should not stay also. Patrick, as moderator, 
immediately put the question, which it was not 
difficult to carry in such an assembly, and the 
sergeant, knowing it vain to resist, returned 
with six men to his regiment. 



I02 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



From J. Palmer, Esq., dated at Boston, Sept. 
14, 1774, to John Adams, Esq., at Phil- 
adelphia. [Extracts.] 

The spirit of liberty is amazingly increased, 
so that there is scarce a tory and hardly a 
neutral to be found in the country. This 
province seems ripe for a more popular govern- 
ment, if not restrained by congress, who will 
doubtless give all the encouragement to all that 
the good of the whole will admit of. Some 
talk of resuming our first charter, others of 
absolute independency. Our eye is to the 
congress — may wisdom direct your every step. 
— You will see that our government has told 
us, that the refusing submission to the late 
acts of parliament is getteral throughout the 
province ; and that he should lay the same 
before his majesty: and since that I have 
received satisfaction that our friends to govern- 
ment are convinced they can't carry these acts 
into effect ; and are willing, if possible, to keep 
matters in a state of suspense until they hear 
from home. At the same time they continue 
to entrench and fortify the neck, professedly, 
and I believe really and only, for self-defence. 



/Vw« Benjamin Kent, Esq., i'(7 John Adams, 
dated Boston, Sept. -iTy, 1774. [Extract.] 

Our enemies, for their own further security, 
as well as to bring the town into the most 
complete dependence on the army and navy, 
spare no labor or pains ; they suffer no owner 
of powder to take a single grain out of the 
town's magazine, and there is none to be 
bought in the town. Two or three days ago, 
after the men of war had spiked up our can- 
non at the battery, they robbed us of six good 
pieces of large cannon, as we were carrying 
them in a gondola through the mill pond to 
Watertown. They take and keep the guns 
and cutlasses out of carts and wagons going 
over the Neck ; and no doubt, if they thought 
they could disarm the town they would do it 
instantly. [He then mentions that their friends 
in Connecticut urged them to act before gen- 
eral Gage should receive the additional regi- 
ments which he expected — but that the people 
of Boston "would not undertake any thing 
material before they heard from the grand 
council of America, which we hope will remain 
forever."] He then expresses a wish that the 
congress would consider their case, and says, 
" we are not suspicious that it can possibly be 
disagreeable to the grand congress that we 
should do everything in our power towards our 
defence ; but to lie still so long as in any mea- 



sure to disable us to secure ourselves by and 
bye, when we can now prevent it, would be 
very unwise, and it may be fatal to the town." 
" It is necessary for us, as far as we can, to 
prepare for the worst that can happen ; that 
we may not be unhappily surprised when the 
worst shall come. Look into Europe and see 
how tyranny flourishes ; and if the tyrants will 
but join their forces, in a little time not one 
free state will be left on the other side of the 
Atlantic — which God forbid ! 

In conclusion he says, " I do most heartily 
hope and desire, the body of representatives of 
all the colonies, may have eternity, for the 
glory of God, and the happiness of the Ameri- 
can world. This is the prayer of the faith of 
your and their most cordial brotherand friend." 



Richard Cranch, Esq., to Mr. Adams, 
dated Boston, Oct. 15, 1774. [Extract.] 

I hear that a letter from one P s, a 

clergyman in Connecticut, has been intercepted, 
and that an attested copy of it is now before 
our congress. The contents of it are very ex- 
traordinary — he informs the person to whom 
it is addressed, that he has received advice 
that several regiments more from England, and 
a number of men of war, are expected, and 
that when they arrive, hanging work -will 
begin, — and that those only will be safe whose 
lintels and door posts shall be sprinkled. Our 
ministers in this province put up their ardent 
petitions in public for the direction and bless- 
ing of heaven on your congress. 



Dr. Samuel Cooper to Mr. Adams, dated 
i6th Oct. 1774. 

Having just been informed that Mr. Tudor 
is going to Philadelphia, I take this oppor- 
tunity to thank you for the obliging favor of 
your letter of 29th September. The struggle, 
as you justly observe, between fleets and 
armies and commercial regulations, must be 
very unequal : We hope, however, the con- 
gress will carry this mode of defence as far as 
it will go, and endeavor to render it as early 
effectual as it can be, since the operation of it 
must necessarily be slow — were we at ease we 
would wait — but being first seized and griped 
by the merciless hand of power, we are " tor- 
tured even to madness," and yet, perhaps, no 
people would give a greater example of patience 
and firmness, could the people be sure of the 
approbation and countenance of the continent; 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



103 



in consolidating themselves in the best man- 
ner they are able, they should have, they say, 
fresh spirits to sustain the conflict. The re- 
port of an uncommon large quantity of British 
goods sent to New York and Philadelphia, 
naturally carries our thoughts to a non-con- 
sumption — Nothing could more thoroughly em- 
barrass these selfish importers, and none ever 
deserved more such a punishment. 

Our provincial congress is assembled ; they 
adjourned from Concord to Cambridge. 
Among them and through the province the 
spirit is ardent. And I think the inhabitants 
of this town are distracted to remain in it with 
such formidable fortifications at its entrance. 
Besides the regiments expected from the south- 
ward and Canada, we have several companies 
from Newfoundland, of which we had no appre- 
hension until they arrived. The tories depend 
that the administration will push their point 
with all the force that they can spare, and this 
I think we ought to e.xpect and take into our 
account. 



Mr. Adams to Mr. Chase. 

Philadelphia, July i, 1776. 

Dear Sir — Your favor by the post this 
morning gave me much pleasure, but the gene- 
rous and unanimous vote of your convention 
gave me much more. It was brought into 
congress this morning, just as we were entering 
on the great debate. — That debate took up 
most of the day, but an idle mispense of time, 
for nothing was said, but what had been re- 
peated and hackneyed, in that room, before, an 
hundred times, for six months past. 

In the committee of the whole, the question 
was carried in the affirmative, and reported to 
the house. — A colony desired it to be post- 
poned until to-morrow, when it will pass by a 
great majority, perhaps with almost unani- 
mity ; yet I cannot promise this, because one 
or two gentlemen may possibly be found, who 
will vote point blank against the known and 
declared sense of their constituents. Maryland, 
however, I have the pleasure to inform you, 
behaved well. — Paca, generously and nobly. 

Alas, Canada ! we have found misfortune 
and disgrace in that quarter — Evacuated at 
last — transports arrived at Sandy-Hook, from 
whence we may expect an attack in a short 
time, upon New- York or New-Jersey — and our 
army is not so strong as we could wish. The 
militia of New-Jersey and New England, not 
so ready as they ought to be. 

The Romans made it a fixed rule never to 
send or receive ambassadors, to treat of peace 



with their enemies, while their affairs were in 
an adverse or disastrous situation. There was 
a generosity and magnanimity in this, be- 
coming freemen. It flowed from that temper 
and those principles which alone can preseri-e 
the freedom of a people. It is a pleasure to 
find our Americans of the same temper. It is 
a good symptom, foreboding a good end. 

If you imagine that I expect this declaration 
will ward off calamities from this countiy, you 
are mistaken. A bloody conflict we are des- 
tined to endure. — This has been my opinion 
from the beginning. You will certainly re- 
member my decided opinion was, at the first 
congress, when we found that we could not 
agree upon an immediate non-exportation, that 
the contest could not be settled without blood- 
shed, and that if hostilities should once com- 
mence, they would terminate in an incurable 
animosity between the two countries. Every 
political event since the 19th of April, 1775, 
has confirmed me in this opinion. 

If you imagine that I flatter myself with 
happiness and halcyon days, after a separation 
from Great Britain, you are mistaken again. 
I don't expect that our new government will 
be so quiet as I could wish, nor that happy 
harmony, confidence, and affection, between 
the colonies, that every good American ought 
to study, labor, and pray for, for a long time. 
But freedom is a counterbalance for poverty, 
discord, and war, and more. It is your hard 
lot and mine to be called into life, at such a 
time ; — yet even these times have their pleasures. 

I am your friend and servant, 

John Adams. 



Mr. Adams to Governor Bullock. 

Philadelphia, July i, 1776. 

Dear Sir — Two days ago I received your 
favor of May ist. — I was greatly disappointed, 
sir, in the information you gave me, that you 
should be prevented from visiting Philadelphia. 
I had flattered myself with hopes of your join- 
ing us soon, and not only affording us the addi- 
tional strength of your abilities and fortitude, 
but enjoying the satisfaction of seeing a temper 
and conduct here, somewhat more agreeable to 
your wishes, than those which prevailed when 
you were here before. But I have since been 
informed, that your countrymen have done 
themselves the justice to place you at the head 
of their affairs, a station in which you may 
perhaps render more essential senice to them, 
and to America, than you could here. 

There seems to have been a great change in 



104 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the sentiments of the colonies since you left us, 
and I hope that a few months will bring us all 
to the same way of thinking. 

This morning is assigned for the greatest 
debate of all — a declaration, that these colonies 
are free and independent states, has been re- 
ported by a committee, appointed some weeks 
ago for that purpose, and this day, or to-mor- 
row, is to determine its fate. — May Heaven 
prosper the new born republic, and make it 
more glorious than any former republics have 
been ! 

The small-pox has ruined the American 
army in Canada, and of consequence the 
American cause. A series of disasters has 
happened there, partly owing I fear to the in- 
decision at Philadelphia, and partly to the 
mistakes or misconduct of our officers in that 
department. But the small-pox, which infected 
every man we sent there, completed our ruin, 
and compelled us to evacuate that important 
province. — We must, however, regain it some 
time or other. 

My countrj-men have been more successful 
at sea, in driving away all the men of war com- 
pletely out of Boston harbor, and in making 
prizes of a great number of transports and 
other vessels. 

We are in daily expectation of an armament 
before New York, where, if it comes, the con- 
flict must be bloody. The object is great 
which we have in view, and we must expect a 
great expense of blood to obtain it. But we 
should always remember, that a free constitu- 
tion of civil government cannot be purchased 
at too dear a rate, as there is nothing, on this 
side the new Jerusalem, of equal importance to 
mankind. 

It is a cruel reflection, that a little more 
wisdom, a little more activity, or a little more 
integrity, would have preser\ed us Canada, 
and enabled us to support this trj-ing conflict, 
at a less expense of men and money. But 
irretrievable miscarriages ought to be lamented 
no further, than to enable and stimulate us to 
do better in future. 

Your colleagues. Hall and Gynn, are here in 
good health and spirits, and as firm as you 
yourself could wish them. Present my compli- 
ments to Mr. Houston. Tell him the colonies 
will have republics for their governments, let 
us lawyers, and your divines, say what we will. 

I have the honor to be, with great esteem 
and respect, sir, your sincere friend and most 
humble servant, 

John Adams. 
Ht's Excellency 

Archibald Bullock, Esq. of Georgia. 



TWO LETTERS FROM PRESIDENT 
ADAMS. 

Written one in the morning, the other in 
the evening, of the ^d of July, 1776, and Cor- 
respondence of Judge Dawes relating thereto. 

FROM A LATE BOSTON PAPER. 

Mr. Editor — Some years ago, having seen 
in your paper a brilliant paragraph from a 
letter of the hon. John Adams to a friend — not, 
however, for the first time, it having appeared 
before on many a fourth of July — I was curious 
to learn from its venerable author who was 
that friend, and also such anecdotes concern- 
ing the subject of the letter, as he might be 
willing to communicate. He gratified my 
curiosity, with his accustomed energy, on a 
transaction in which he had taken so distin- 
guished a part. After the death of Mrs. 
Adams, the accomplished friend to whom 
the letter was addressed, he was pleased to 
send me a copy of it, and of another written 
to her on the same third of July. It is proba- 
ble that, after the loss of such a companion, a 
review of their epistolary correspondence 
brought to his recollection the inquiries I 
had made, and the subsequent conversation, 
though years had elapsed. These letters I 
present to the public, but not without permis- 
sion ; believing that they will be read with 
much interest on the forty-third anniversary 
of the grand event which they announced. 
Thomas Dawes. 

Boston, July 3, 1819. 



John Adams to Judge Dawes. 

The following letter was not intended for 
publication, but we cannot resist a desire we 
feel — for reasons which will be obvious to the 
reader — to record the document in our files ; 
and apologize to our fellow-citizens for the 
liberty we have taken. 

QUINCY, February 16, 1S19. 
Respected and beloved Judge Dawes : 

Inclosed are copies of two letters written 
by me to my wife, one in the morning, the 
other in the evening of the 3d of July, 1776, 
the day after the vote of independence was 
passed in congress. An extract of one of 
them has been published in the newspapers. 
Once on a time, upon my stony field hill, you 
interrogated me concerning that extract, in so 
particular a manner, that I thought you felt a 
tincture of pyrrhonism concerning its authenti- 
city. If you have still any doubts, I will show 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



105 



you the original letters, in my hand writing, 
whenever you will do me the honor of a visit 
to Quincy. In those days, my principal cor- 
respondent was my wife, who was then sur- 
rounded by many of the principal politicians 
of the age, such as general James Warren, of 
Plymouth, and his lady ; Dr. Cotton Tufts, of 
Weymouth ; my brother Richard Cranch, of 
Braintree, and gen. Joseph Palmer, of German- 
town, and many others, who were constantly 
enquiring of her the news from congress. 
Whatever related merely to public affairs, she 
read to them, or suffered them to read. 

I am, sir, with perfect esteem and sincere 
affection, your friend and humble servant, 

John Adams. 

Judge Dawes. 



John Adams to Mrs. Adams. 

Philadelphia, yz^/K 3, [morm'n^] 1776. 

Your favor of June 17, dated at Plymouth, 
was handed me yesterday by the post. I was 
much pleased to find that you had taken a 
journey to Plymouth to see your friends, in the 
long absence of one whom you may wish to 
see. The excursion will be an amusement, 
and will serve your health. How happy would 
it have made me to have taken this journey 
with you ! 

I was informed, a day or two before the 
receipt of your letter, that you were gone to 
Plymouth, by Miss P., who was obliging enough 
to inform me, in your absence, of the particu- 
lars of the expedition to the Lower Harbor, 
against the men of war.— Her narration is 
executed with a precision and perspicuity 
which would have become the pen of an ac- 
complished historian. 

I am very glad you had so good an oppor- 
tunity of seeing one of our little American men 
of war. Many ideas, new to you, must have 
presented themselves in such a scene ; and you 
will in future better understand the relations 
of a sea engagement. 

I rejoice extremely in Dr. Bulfinch's petition 
for leave to open an Hospital. But I hope the 
business will be done upon a larger scale. 1 
hope that one Hospital will be licensed in 
every county, if not in every town. I am 
happy to find you resolved to be with the 
children in the first class. Mr. W. and Mrs. 
Q. are cleverly through innoculation in this 
city. 

I have one favor to ask, and that is, that in 
your future letters you would acknowledge the 
receipt of all those you may receive from me, 



and mention their dates ; by this means I shall 
know if any of mine miscarry. 

The information you give me of our friend's 
refusing his appointment, has given me much 
pain, grief, and anxiety. I believe I shall be 
obliged to follow his example. I have not 
fortune enough to support my family, and, 
what is of more importance, to support the 
dignity of that exalted station.* It is too high 
and lifted up for me, who delight in nothing so 
much as retreat, solitude, silence, and obscu- 
rity. In private life, no one has a right to 
censure me for following my own inclinations 
in retirement, in simplicity and fmgality ; but 
in public life every man has a right to remark 
as he pleases ; at least he thinks so. 

Yesterday the greatest question was decided 
which ever was debated in America ; and a 
greater, perhaps, never was or will be decided 
among men. A resolution was passed, with- 
out one dissenting colony : 

" That these United Colonies are, and of 
right ought to he., free and miiepeiident states ; 
and, as free and independent states, they have, 
and of right ought to have, full power to make 
war, conclude peace, establish commerce, and 
to do all other acts and things which other 
states may rightfully do." 

You wSl see, in a few days, a declaration, 
setting forth the causes which have impelled us 
to this revolution, and the reasons which will 
justify it in the sight of God and man. A plan 
of confederation will betaken up in a few days. 

When I look back to the year 1761, and 
recollect the argument concerning writs of 
assistance, in the superior court, which I have 
hitherto considered as the commencement of 
the controversy between Great Britain and 
America, and run through the whole period 
from that time to this, and recollect the series 
of political events, the chain of causes and effects, 
I am surprised at the suddenness as well as 
greatness of this revolution. 

Britain has been filled with folly, and America 
with wisdom ; at least this is my judgment — 
time must determine. It is the will of Heaven 
that the two countries should be sundered 
forever. It may be the will of Heaven that 
America shall suffer calamities still more wast- 
ing, and distresses still more dreadful. If this 
is to be the case, it will have this good effect 
at least, it will inspire us with many virtues 
which we have not, and correct many errors, 
follies, and vices, which threaten to disturb, 



* Office of chief justice of the superior court of Massa- 
chusetts, to which Mr. Adams had been appointed, but 
which he declined, preferring his seat in the old congress, 
to which he had been re-elected. T. D. 



io6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



dishonor, and destroy us. The furnace of 
affliction produces refinement in states as well 
as individuals. And the new governments we 
are assuming in every part, will require a puri- 
fication from our vices, and an augmentation 
of our virtues, or they will be no blessings. 
The people will have unbounded power ; and 
the people are extremely addicted to corruption 
and venality, as well as the great. I am not 
without apprehensions from this quarter ; but 
I must submit all my hopes and fears to an 
over ruling Providence, in which, unfashion- 
able as it may be, I firmly believe. 

John Adams. 



John Adams to Mrs. Adams. 
Philadelphia, July 3 [imening] 1776. 

Had a declaration of independence been 
made seven months ago, it would have been 
attended with many great and glorious effects. 
We might, before this hour, have formed alli- 
ance with foreign states. We should have 
mastered Quebec, and been in possession of 
Canada. 

You will, perhaps, wonder how such a dec- 
laration would have influenced our affairs in 
Canada ; but, if I could write with freedom, I 
could easily convince you that it would, and 
explain to you the manner how. Many gentle- 
men in high stations, and of great influence, 
have been duped, by the ministerial bubble of 
commissioners, to treat ; and, in real, sincere 
expectation of this event, which they so fondly 
wished, they have been slow and languid in 
promoting measures for the reduction of that 
province. Others there are in the colonies, 
who really wished that our enterprise in Canada 
would be defeated ; that the colonies might be 
brought into danger and distress between two 
fires, and be thus induced to submit. Others 
really wished to defeat the expedition to Canada, 
lest the conquest of it should elevate the minds 
of the people too much to hearken to those 
terms of reconcilation which they believed 
would be offered us. These jarring views, 
wishes, and designs, occasioned an opposi- 
tion to many salutary measures which were 
proposed for the support of that expedition, 
and caused obstructions, embarrassments, and 
studied delays, which have finally lost us the 
province. 

All these causes, however, in conjunction, 
would not have disappointed us, if it had not 
been for a misfortune which could not have 
been foreseen, and perhaps could not have been 
prevented — I mean the prevalence of the small- 
pox among our troops. This fatal pestilence 



completed our destruction. It is a frown ot 
Providence upon us, which we ought to lay to 
heart. 

But, on the other hand, the delay of this 
declaration to this time has many great advan- 
tages attending it. The hopes of reconciliation 
which were fondly entertained by multitudes 
of honest and well meaning, though short- 
sighted and mistaken people, have been gradu- 
ally, and at last totally, extinguished. Time 
has been given for the whole people maturely 
to consider the great question of independence, 
and to ripen their judgment, dissipate their 
fears, and allure their hopes, by discussing it 
in newspapers and pamphlets — by debating 
it in assemblies, conventions, committees of 
safety and inspection — in town and county 
meetings, as well as in private conversations ; 
so that the whole people, in every colony, have 
now adopted it as their own act. This will 
cement the union, and avoid those heats, and 
perhaps convulsions, which might have been 
occasioned by such a declaration six months 
ago. 

But the day is past. The second day of 
July, 1776, will be a memorable epocha in the 
history of America. I am apt to believe that 
it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, 
as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought 
to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance 
by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. 
It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shews, 
games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illu- 
minations, from one end of the continent to 
the other, from this time forward forever. 

You will think me transported with enthu- 
siasm ; but I am not. I am well aware of the 
toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost 
us to maintain this declaration, and support 
and defend these states. Yet, through all the 
gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory ; 
I can see that the end is more than worth all 
the means, and that posterity will triumph, 
although you and I may rue, which I hope we 
shall not. John Adams. 



Several of the volumes of the Weekly Re- 
gister, are enriched by the correspondence of 
Mr. Adams. His letters to the editor, en- 
closing his communications to Mr. Wirt, (the 
elegant author of the " Sketches " of the fa- 
mous Patrick Henry, of Virginia) inserted in 
the 14th vol. page 257, et seq., are highly in- 
teresting. Mr. Wirt has claimed for Mr. Henry 
the declaration '"we fizust fight," which Mr. 
Adams says was derived from a letter which 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



107 



he himself had shewn to Mr. Henry, written 
by Major Hawley, of Northampton, Mass., in 
1774. The following, as connected with this 
subject, cannot fail of exciting the most pleasant 
feelings in those who delight to trace the first 
dawnings of our glorious revolution. 

Editor. 

EXTRACT 

Of a letter from President Adams to 
H. NiLES, QuiNCY, Feb. 5, 1819. 

Dear Sir, — I enclose you the " broken hints 
to be communicated to the committee of con- 
gress for the Massachusetts," by Major Joseph 
Hawley, of Northampton. 

This is the original paper that I read to 
Patrick Henry in the fall of the year 1774, 
which produced his rapturous burst of appro- 
bation, and solemn asseveration " I am of 

THAT MAN'S MIND." 

I pray you to send it back to me. I would 
not exchange this original for the show book 
of Harvard college, and printed it shall be at 
my own expense in a hand-bill." 

Broken Hints to be communicated to the Com- 
mittee of Congress for the Massachusetts. 

" We must fght, if we can't otherwise rid 
ourselves of British taxation, all revenues, and 
the constitution or form of government enacted 
for us by the British parliament. It is evil 
againsl right — utterly intolerable to every man 
who has any idea or feeling of right or liberty. 

It is easy to demonstrate that the regulation 
act will soon annihilate every thing of value 
in the charter, introduce perfect despotism, 
and render the house of representatives a mere 
form and ministerial engine. 

It is now or never, that we must assert our 
liberty. Twenty years will make the number 
of tones on this continent equal to the number 
of whigs. They who shall be born will not 
have any idea of a free government. 

It will necessarily be a question, whether the 
new government of this province shall be suf- 
fered to take place at all, — or whether it shall 
be immediately withstood and resisted ? 

A most important question this — I humbly 
conceive it not best forcibly or wholly to resist 
it, immediately. 

There is not heat enough yet for battle. 
Constant, and a sort of negative resistance of 
government, will increase the heat and blow 
the fire. There is not military skill enough. 
That is improving, and must be encouraged 
and improved, but will daily increase. 

Fight we must finally, unless Britain retreats. 



But it is of infinite consequence that victory 
be the end and issue of hostilities. If we get 
to fighting before necessary dispositions are 
made for it, we shall be conquered, and all will 
be lost forever. 

A certain clear plan, for a constant, adequate 
and lasting supply of arms and militaiy stores, 
must be devised and fully contemplated. This 
is the main thing. This, I think, ought to be 
a capital branch of the business of congress — 
to wit : to devise and settle such a plan ; at 
least, clearly to investigate how such supplies 
can be extensively had in case of need. While 
this is effecting — to wit : while the continent is 
providing themselves with arms and military 
stores, and establishing a method for a sure 
and unfailing and constant supply, I conceive 
we had best to negotiate with Britain. If she 
will cede our rights and restore our liberties 
all is well — every good man will rejoice : if she 
will not agree to relinquish and abolish all 
American revenues, under every pretence and 
name, and all pretensions to order and regulate 
our internal policy and constitution — then, if 
we have got any constant and sufficient supply 
of military stores, it will be time to take our 
arms. I can't quit this head — it ought to be 
immediately and most seriously attended to. 
It can't be any other than madness to com- 
mence hostilities before we have established 
resources on a sure plan for certain and 
effectual military supplies. Men, in that case, 
will not be wanting. 

But what considerate man will ever consent 
to take arms and go to war, where he has no 
reasonable assurance but that all must be 
given over and he fall a prey to the enemy, for 
want of military stores and ammunition, in a 
few weeks ? 

Either an efi"ectual non-consumption agree- 
ment or resistance of the new government will 
bring on hostilities very soon. 

I. As to a non-consumption agreement — it 
appears to me that ought to be taken for cer- 
tain truth, that no plan of importation or con- 
sumption of tea, British goods in general, or 
enumerated articles, which is to rest and depend 
on the virtue of all the individuals, will succeed ; 
but must certainly prove abortive. 

The ministry may justly call such a plan 
futile— futile it will turn out. A plan of that 
sort may safely rest and be founded on the 
virtue of the majority : but then the majority, 
by the plan, must be directed to control the 
minority, which implies force. The plan, there- 
fore, must direct and prescribe how that force 
shall be exercised. 

Those, again, who exercise that force, under 



io8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the direction and by order of the majority, must 
by that majority be defended and indemnified. 

Dispositions must therefore necessarily be 
made to resist or overcome that force which 
will be brought against you — which will directly 
produce war and bloodshed. 

From thence it follows, that any other non- 
consumption or non-importation plan, which is 
not perfectly futile and ridiculous, implies hos- 
tilities and war. 

2. As to the resistance of the new govern- 
ment, that also implies war : for in order to 
resist and prevent the effect of the new govern- 
ment, it is indispensably necessary that the 
charter government, or some other, must be 
maintained — co nstitutionally exercised and 
supported. 

The people will have some government or 
other — they will be drawn in by a seeming 
mild and just administration, which will 
last awhile ; legislation and executive justice 
must go on in some form or other, and we may 
depend on it they will, — therefore the new 
government will take effect until the old 
is restored. 

The old cannot be restored until the council 
take on them the administration, call assem- 
blies, constitute courts, make sheriffs, etc. The 
council will not attempt this without good 
assurance of protection. This protection can't 
be given without hostilities. 

Our salvation depends upon an established 
persevering union of the colonies. 

The tools of administration are using every 
device and effort to destroy that union, and 
will certainly continue so to do — 

Thereupon, all possible devices and endea- 
vors must be used to establish, improve, 
brighten and maintain such union. 

Every grievance of any one colony must be 
held and considered by the whole as a griev- 
ance to the whole, and must operate on the 
whole as a grievance to the whole. This will 
be a difficult matter to effect : but it must 
be done. 

Quere, therefore— whether is it not abso- 
lutely necessary that some plan be settled for 
a continuation of congresses ? — But here we 
must be aware that congresses will soon be 
declared and enacted by parliament to be 
high treason. 

Is the India company to be compensated 
or not ? 

If to be compensated — each colony to pay 
the particular damage she has done, or is an 
average to be made on the continent .' 

The destruction of the tea was not unjust — 
therefore to what good purpose is the tea to be 



paid for, unless we are assured that by so doing, 
our rights will be restored and peace obtained ? 

What future measures is the continent to 
preserve with regard to imported dutied tea, 
whether it comes as East India property or 
otherwise, under the pretence and lie that the 
tea is imported from Holland, and the goods 
imported before a certain given day? Dutied 
tea will be imported and consumed — goods 
continue to be imported — your non-importation 
agreement eluded, rendered contemptible and 
ridiculous — unless all teas used, and all goods, 
are taken into some public custody which 
will be inviolably faithful." 

[The foregoing is a literal copy of the vene- 
rable paper before me, except its frequent 
abbreviations of the and that, with the addition 
only of a few commas, etc. to make it read.] 



ADDRESS OF THE PROVINCIAL CON- 
GRESS 

To THE Inhabitants of the towns 

AND DISTRICTS OF MASSACHUSETTS-BaY, 

December 4, 1774. 

Friends and brethren : 

At a time when the good people of this 
colony were deprived of their laws, and the 
administration of justice ; when the cruel op- 
pressions brought on their capital had stag- 
nated almost all their commerce ; when a 
standing army was illegally posted among us, 
for the express purpose of enforcing submission 
to a system of tyranny ; and when the general 
court was, with the same design, prohibited to 
sit ; we were chosen, and empowered by you, 
to assemble and consult upon measures neces- 
sary for our common safety and defence. 
With much anxiety for the common welfare, 
we have attended this service, and upon the 
coolest deliberation, have adopted the measures 
recommended to you. 

We have still confidence in the wisdom, 
justice, and goodness of our sovereign, as well 
as in the integrity, humanity, and good sense 
of the nation. And, if we had a reasonable 
expectation that the truth of facts would be 
made known in England, we should entertain 
the most pleasing hopes, that the measures 
concerted by the colonies, jointly and severally, 
would procure a full redress of our grievances : 
but we are constrained in justice to you, to our- 
selves, and to posterity, to say, that the inces- 
sant and unrelenting malice of our enemies has 
been so successful, as to fill the court and 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



109 



kingdom of Great Britain with falsehood and 
calumnies concerning us, and excite the most 
bitter and groundless prejudices against us ; 
that the sudden dissolution of parliament, and 
the hasty summons for a new election, gives us 
reason to apprehend that a majority of the 
house of commons will be again elected, under 
the influence of an arbitrar>' ministry ; and that 
the general tenor of our intelligence from Great 
Britain, with the frequent reinforcements of the 
army and navy at Boston, excites the strongest 
jealousy, that the system of colony administra- 
tion, so unfriendly to the protestant religion, 
and destructive of American liberty, is still to 
be pursued, and attempted with force, to be 
carried into execution. 

You are placed, by Providence, in a post of 
honor, because it is a post of danger; and 
while struggling for the noblest objects, the 
liberties of our country, the happiness of pos- 
terity, and rights of human nature, the eyes, 
not only of North America and the whole 
British empire, but of all Europe, are upon 
you. Let us be, therefore, altogether solicitous 
that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecom- 
ing our character, as Americans, as citizens, 
and Christians, be justly chargeable to us. 

Whoever, with a small degree of attention, 
contemplates the commerce between Great 
Britain and America, will be convinced that a 
total stoppage thereof will soon produce, in 
Great Britaiii, such dangerous effects, as can- 
not fail to convince the ministry, the parlia- 
ment, and people, that it is their interest and 
duty to grant us relief Whoever considers the 
number of brave men inhabiting North Ameri- 
ca, well know, that a general attention to mili- 
tary discipline must so establish their rights 
and liberties as, under God, to render it impos- 
sible for an arbitrary minister of Britain to 
destroy them. These are facts, which our 
enemies are apprised of, and if they will not be 
influenced by principles of justice, to alter their 
cruel measures towards America, these ought 
to lead them thereto. They, however, hope to 
effect by stratagem what they may not obtain 
by power, and are using arts, by the assistance 
of base scribblers, who undoubtedly receive 
their bribes, and by many other means, to 
raise doubts and divisions throughout the 
colonies. 

To defeat their wicked designs, we think it 
necessary for each town to be particularly care- 
ful, strictly to execute the plans of the conti- 
nental and provincial congress ; and, while it 
censures its own individuals counteracting those 
plans, that it be not deceived, or diverted from 
its duty, by rumors, should any take place, to 



the prejudice of other communities. Your 
provincial congresses, we have reason to hope, 
will hold up the towns, if any should be so lost, 
as not to act their parts ; and none can doubt, 
that the continental congress will rectify errors, 
should any take place, in any colony, through 
the suhtilty of our enemies. Surely, no argu- 
ments can be necessary to excite you to the 
most strict adherence to the American associa- 
tion, since the minutest deviation in one colony, 
especially in this, will probably be misrepre- 
sented in the others, to discourage their general 
zeal and perseverance, which, however, we 
assure ourselves, cannot be effected. 

While the British ministrj' are suffered, with 
a high hand, to tyrannize over America, no 
part of it, we presume, can be negligent in 
guarding against the ravages threatened by the 
standing army, now in Boston ; these troops 
will, undoubtedly, be employed in attempts to 
defeat the association which our enemies can- 
not but fear will eventually defeat them ; and, 
so sanguinary are those our enemies, as we 
have reason to think, so thirsty for the blood 
of this innocent people, who are only contend- 
ing for their rights, that we should be guilty of 
the most unpardonable neglect, should we not 
apprise you of your danger, which appears to 
us imminently great, and ought attentively to 
be guarded against. The improvement of the 
militia in general, in the military art, has been 
therefore thought necessary, and strongly 
recommended by this congress. We now 
think, that particular care should be taken by 
the towns and districts in this colony, that 
each of the minute men, not already provided 
therewith, should be immediately equipped 
with an effective fire-arm, bayonet, pouch, 
knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and ball, 
and that they be disciplined three times a 
week, and oftener, as opportunity may offer. 

To encourage these, our worthy countrymen, 
to obtain the skill of complete soldiers, we 
recommend it to the towns, and districts, forth- 
with to pay their own minute men a reasonable 
consideration for their services; and, in case 
of a general muster, their further services must 
be recompensed by the province. An atten- 
tion to discipline in the militia, in general, is, 
however, by no means to be neglected- 

With the utmost cheerfulness, we assure you 
of our determination to stand or fall with the 
liberties of America ; and while we humbly im- 
plore the Sovereign Dispcser of all things, to 
whose Divine Providence the rights of his 
creatures cannot be indifferent, to correct the 
errors and alter the measures of an infatuated 
ministry, we cannot doubt of his support, even 



no 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



in the extreme difficulties which we all may 
have to encounter. May all means devised, 
for our safety, by the .general congress of 
America, and assemblies or conventions of the 
colonies, be resolutely executed, and happily 
succeeded ; and may this injured people be 
reinstated in the full exercise of their rights, 
without the evils and devastations of civil war. 



PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF MASSA- 
CHUSETTS, 

Dec. 8, 1774, RECOMMENDING MANUFAC- 
TURES AND HOME INDUSTRY. 

In Provincial Congress, Cambridge, Dec. 
8, 1774. 

As the happiness of particular families arises, 
in a great degree, from their being more or 
less dependent upon others ; and as the less 
occasion they have for any article belonging to 
others, the more independent ; and conse- 
quently the happier they are : So the happi- 
ness of every political body of men upon earth 
is to be estimated, in a great measure, upon 
their greater or less dependence upon any 
other political bodies ; and from hence arises a 
forcible argument, why every state ought to 
regulate their internal policy in such a manner 
as to furnish themselves, within their own 
body, with every necessary article for subsis- 
tence and defence : Otherwise their political 
existence will depend upon others, who may 
take advantage of such weakness and reduce 
them to the lowest state of vassalage and 
slaver}'. For preventing so great an evil, more 
to be dreaded than death itself, it must be the 
wisdom of this colony at all times, more espe- 
cially at this time, when the hand of power is 
lashing us with the scorpions of despotism, to 
encourage agriculture, manufactures and econ- 
omy, so as to render this state as independent 
of every other state as the nature of our coun- 
try will admit. From the consideration there- 
of, and trusting that the virtue of the peo- 
ple of this colony is such, that the following 
resolutions of this congress, which must be 
productive of the greatest good, will by them 
be effectually carried into execution. And it is 
therefore resolved — 

1st. That we do recommend to the people 
the improvement of their breed of sheep, and 
the greatest possible increase of the same ; 
and also the preferable use of our own woolen 
manufactures ; and to the manufacturers, that 
they ask only reasonable prices for their goods ; 



and especially a very careful sorting of the 
wool, so that it may be manufactured to the 
greatest advantage, and as much as may be, 
into the best goods. 

2d. We do also recommend to the people 
the raising of hemp and flax ; and as large 
quantities of flax-seed, more than may be 
wanted for sowing, may be produced, we 
would also further recommend the manufac- 
turing the same into oil. 

3d. We do likewise recommend the making 
of nails ; which we do apprehend must meet 
with the strongest encouragement from the 
public, and be of lasting benefit both to the 
manufacturer and the public. 

4th. The making of steel, and the preferable 
use of the same, we do also recommend to the 
inhabitants of this colony. 

5th. We do in like manner recommend the 
making tin-plates, as an article well worth the 
attention of this people. 

6th. As fire-arms have been manufactured 
in several parts of this colony, we do recom- 
mend the use of such, in preference to any 
imported. And we do recommend the mak- 
ing of gun-locks, and furniture and other locks, 
with other articles in the iron way. 

7th. We do also earnestly recommend the 
making of salt-petre, as an article of vast im- 
portance to be encouraged, as may be directed 
hereafter. 

8th. That gun-powder is also an article of 
such importance, that every marT amongst us 
who loves his country, must wish the establish- 
ment of manufactories for that purpose, 
and, as there are the ruins of several powder 
mills, and sundr)' persons among us who are 
acquainted with that business, we do heartily 
recommend its encouragement, by repairing 
one or more of said mills, or erecting others, 
and renewing said business as soon as possible. 

9th. That as several paper mills are now 
usefully employed, we do likewise recommend 
a preferable use of our own manufactures in 
this way ; and a careful saving and collecting 
rags, etc., and also that the manufacturers 
give a generous price for such rags, etc. 

loth. That it will be the interest, as well as 
the duty of this body, or of such as may suc- 
ceed us, to make such effectual provision for 
the further manufacturing of the several sorts 
of glass, as that the same may be carried on to 
the mutual benefit of the undertaker and the 
public, and firmly established in this colony. 

nth. That whereas buttons of excellent 
qualities and of various sorts are manufactured 
among us, we do earnestly recommend the 
general use of the same ; so that the manufac- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Ill 



tones may be extended to the advantage of the 
people and manufacturers. 

1 2th. That whereas salt is an article of vast 
consumption within this colony, and in its fish- 
eries, we do heartily recommend the making 
the same, in the several ways wherein it is 
made in the several parts of Europe ; espe- 
cially in the method used in that part of France 
where they make bay salts. 

13th. We do likewise recommend an encour- 
agement of horn-smiths in all their various 
branches, as what will be of public utility. 

14th. We do likewise recommend the estab- 
lishment of one or more manufactories for 
making wool comber's combs, as an article 
necessar>' in our woolen manufactures. 

1 5th. We do in like manner heartily recom- 
mend the preferable use of the stocking and 
other hosiery wove among ourselves, so as to 
enlarge the manufactories thereof, in such a 
manner as to encourage the manufacturer and 
serve the country. 

1 6th. As madder is an article of great im- 
portance in the dyer's business, and which may 
be easily raised and cured among ourselves, we 
do therefore earnestly recommend the raising 
and curing the same. 

I7th. In order the more effectually to carry 
these resolutions into effect, we do earnestly 
recommend. That a society or societies be 
established for the purposes of introducing and 
establishing such arts and manufactures as 
may be useful to this people, and are not yet 
introduced, and the more effectually estab- 
hshing such as we have already among us. 

i8th. We do recommend to the inhabitants 
of this province to make use of our manufac- 
tures, and those of our sister colonies, in pref- 
erence to all other manufactures. 

Signed by order of the Provincial Congress, 
John Hancock, President. 

A true extract from the minutes, 

Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary. 



THE PROSCRIBED OF BOSTON, 1774. 

From the Boston Gazette, 1774. 
The following is an authentic copy of a letter 
which was lately thrown into the camp, with 
the following direction : 

" To the Officers and Soldiers of his Majesty's 
Troops in Boston. 

" It being more than probable that the king's 
standard will soon be erected, from rebellion 
breaking out in this province, it is proper that 



you, soldiers ! should be acquainted with the 
authors thereof, and of all the misfortunes 
brought upon the province ; the following is 
a list of them, viz : 



Samuel Adams 
James Bowdoin 
Dr. Thomas Young 
Dr. Benjamin Church 
Capt. John Bradford 
Josiah Quincy 
Maj. Nath'l. Barber 
Wm. MoUineux 



John Hancock 
William Cooper 
Dr. Chauncey 
Dr. Cooper 
Thomas Cushing 
Joseph Greenleaf 
and William Denning, 



" The friends of your king and country and 
of America, hope and expect it from you, 
soldiers, the instant rebellion happens, you 
will put the above persons immediately to the 
sword, destroy their houses, and plunder their 
effects : it is just that they should be the first 
victims to the mischief they have brought upon 
us. [signed] 

A friend to Great Britain and America. 

" P. S. Don't forget those trumpeters of 
sedition, the printers, Edes & Gill, and 
Thomas." 



LETTER 

From a Gentleman of the Province of 
Massachusetts to a Friend in Lon- 
don, January 21, 1775. 

You have, no doubt, long before this time, 
heard the particulars of the general congress, 
and that the court and the country have digested 
their thoughts upon them, if not adopted their 
consequent plans of conduct. God grant that 
the nation and parliament may think favorably 
of them, and grant the prayer of our petition to 
the king. — Britain and America are made to be 
friends ; and it is the most unnatural, detest- 
able quarrel between them that ever happened 
in the world. Britons and Americans may write 
or say what they will, but this quarrel never 
will, and never can be made up, but by restor- 
mg us to the stale we were in, in 1763. It is 
as certain as that London or Boston exist, 
that no other plan or scheme of policy that 
ever can be invented, will keep the two coun- 
tries together, but that which nature dictated, 
and which experience found useful for 150 
years. It is in vain, it is delirium, it is frenzy 
to think of dragooning three millions of Eng- 
lish people out of their liberties, at the distance 
of 3000 miles. It is still more extravagantly 
wild for a nation to think of doing it, when 
itself is sinking down into a bottomless gulf 



112 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of debt, in order to make the conquered lift 
her out of it. 

" The congress have drawn a line by the 
banks of the ocean. They have claimed their 
own exclusive jurisdiction in all interior con- 
cerns, and in all cases of taxation. They have 
left to Great Britain the exclusive sovereignty 
of the ocean, and over their trade. They have 
placed both upon constitutional principles ; and 
if Britons were not content with all we have 
but our liberty, we say as the corporation of 
London said to the king in 1770, ■' We call God 
and men to witness, that as we do not owe our 
liberty to those nice and subtle distinctions 
which pensions and lucrative employments 
have invented, so neither will we be deprived of 
it by them ; but as it was gained by the stem 
virtue of our ancestors, by the virtue of their 
descendants it shall be preser\'ed. 

" The congress consisted of the representa- 
tives of twelve colonies. Three millions of 
free white people were there represented. 
Many of the members were gentlemen of 
ample fortunes and eminent abilities. Neither 
corruption nor intrigue had any share, I be- 
lieve, in their elections to this service, and in 
their proceedings you may see the sense, the 
temper and principles of America, and which 
she will support and defend, even by force of 
arms, if no other means will do. 

" The state of this province is a great curi- 
osity. I wish the pen of some able historian 
may transmit it to posterity. Four hundred 
thousand people are in a state of nature, and 
yet as still and peaceable at present as ever 
they were when government was in full vigor. 
We have neither legislators nor magistrates, 
nor executive officers. We have no officers 
but military ones. Of these, we have a multi- 
tude, chosen by the people, and exercising 
them with more authority and spirit than ever 
any did who had commissions from a governor. 

" The town of Boston is a spectacle worthy 
of the attention of a deity, suffering amazing 
distress, yet determined to endure as much as 
human nature can, rather than betray America 
and posterity. General Gage's army is sickly, 
and extremely addicted to desertion. What 
would they be, if things were brought to ex- 
tremities .' Do you think such an army would 
march through our woods and thickets, and 
country villages, to cut the throats of honest 
people contending for liberty .' 

" The neighboring colonies of New-Hamp- 
shire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, are arm- 
ing and training themselves with great spirit, 
and if they must be driven to the last appeal, 
devoutly praying for the protection of heaven. 



" There is a spirit prevailing here, such as I 
never saw before. I remember the conquest 
of Louisburg in 1745; I remember the spirit 
here when the duke d'Anville's squadron was 
upon this coast, when forty thousand men 
marched down to Boston, and were mustered 
and numbered upon the common, complete in 
arms, from this province only in three weeks ; 
but I remember nothing like what I have seen 
these six months past." 

[Almon's Remembrancer. 



OCCURRENCE AT OLD SOUTH 
CHURCH. 

Boston, March 5, 1775. 

FROM THE BOSTON CENTINEL. 

Mr. Russell. — On reading in your last Wed- 
nesday's Centinel, an extract from Mr. 
Knapp's biography of Warren, it reminded me 
of some circumstances, not mentioned by him, 
which occurred at the " Old South " on the 5th 
of March, 1775, which was the anniversary of 
the massacre of several inhabitants of the 
town of Boston by the British troops, in 1770. 

Mr. Hancock had delivered an oration the 
preceding year on the same occasion, in the 
course of which he had made the following 
obser\'ations : — 

"Standing armies are sometimes (I would 
by no means say generally, much less univer- 
sally) composed of persons who have rendered 
themselves unfit to live in civil society ; who 
have no other motives of conduct than those 
which a desire of the present gratification of 
their passions suggests : who have no property 
in any country ; men who have lost or given 
up their own liberties, and envy those who en- 
joy liberty ; who are equally indifferent to the 
glory of a George or a Louis ; who for the 
addition of one penny a day to their wages, 
would desert from the Christian cross, and 
fight under the crescent of the Turkish sultan. 
From such men as these what has not a state 
to fear.' — With such as these usurping Caesar 
passed the Rubicon ; with such as these he 
humbled mighty Rome, and forced the mis- 
tress of the world to own a master in a traitor. 
These are the men whom sceptered robbers 
now employ to frustrate the designs of God, 
and render vain the bounties which his gra- 
cious hand pours indiscriminately upon his 
creatures. By these the miserable slaves in 
Turkey, Persia, and many other extensive 
countries, are rendered truly wretched, though 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



"3 



the air is salubrious, and their soil luxuriously 
fertile. By these France and Spain, though 
blessed by nature with all that administers to 
the convenience of life, have been reduced to 
that contemptible state in which they now ap- 
pear ; and by these BRITAIN ! ! ! but if 

I was possessed of the gift of prophecy, I dare 
not, except by Divine command, unfold the 
leaves on which the destiny of that once 
powerful kingdom is inscribed." 

At that time there were no British troops in 
Boston ; four regiments, however, shortly after 
arrived, the officers of which expressed the 
most decided detestation of the above inserted 
quotation, and as Mr. Knapp says, " threatened 
vengeance on any orator, who should dare to 
repeat such sentiments." When Warren de- 
livered his Oration the following year, in 
defiance of those threats, the British army had 
been reinforced to nearly ten thousand men, 
and more than an hundred of the officers at- 
tended secretly artned for the purpose of taking 
revenge, on the utterance of any sentiment, 
which should be obnoxious to them. 

The writer of this article was standing in the 
broad aisle, near the upper end, and saw Capt. 
Chapman, of the Royal Welch Fusileers, on 
the lowest step of the pulpit stairs, playing 
■w\\\\ three pistol bullets \n his right hand, and 
occasionally casting looks of contempt on the 
orator, but more particularly on William 
Cooper, esq. the town clerk, who was seated 
near him, directly under the pulpit. Mr. 
Cooper maintained a firm and undaunted 
countenance, and returned his looks with dis- 
dain. I never look back upon that scene with- 
out horror, in the contemplation of the danger 
we were then in of a much inore horrid mas- 
sacre than the one we were then commemora- 
ting. A trifle, lighter than air, would have 
deluged that church, in the minds of both 
parties, it has always been a wonder to me 
that the war did not commence on that day. 

The 47th regiment, (it was supposed by de- 
sign), passed the church at this time, the 
drums beating with redoubled force. This 
regiment was commanded by the infamous 
colonel Kesbit, who, a few days after, caused 
an innocent man to be tarred and feathered, 
and carted through the principal streets in 
open day, and headed the party himself ! ! ! 
followed by some grenadiers and the whole 
band of the regiment, in defiance of that laii' 
■which he was ostensibly sent to protect. 

After the orator had made some remarks on 
the massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, he 
said — 

8 



" And could it have been conceived that we 
again should have seen a British army in our 
land, sent to enforce obedience to acts of par- 
liament destructive of our liberty.? But the 
royal ear, far distant from this western world, 
has been assaulted by the tongue of slander ; 

and VILLAINS, TRAITOROUS alike to KING 
and COUNTRY, have prevailed upon a gracious 
prince to clothe his countenance with wrath, 
and to erect the hostile banner against a peo- 
ple ever affectionate and loyal to him and his 
illustrious predecessors of the house of Han- 
over. Our streets are again filled with armed 
men ; our harbor is crowded with ships of war, 
but these cannot intimidate us ; our liberty 
must be preserved ; it is far dearer than life, 
we hold it even dear as our allegiance : we 
must defend it against the attacks of friends 
as well as enemies : we cannot suffer even 
Britons to ravish it from us." 

While this sentence was repeating. Captain 
Chapman exclaimed — FlE ! FlE ! It was at 
first supposed that FIRE was cried, which oc- 
casioned a momentary disturbance — when 
William Cooper rose from his chair, and with 
a voice truly Stentorian, vociferated that 
" there was no fire, but the fire of envy, burn- 
ing in the hearts of our enemies, which he 
hoped soon to see extinguished," looking with 
indignation on Chapman, Hawkes and other 
officers who were near him. 

I could enlarge on this subject, Mr. Russell, 
but as I have already extended my remarks 
beyond my original intentions, and I fear 
encroached on your patience, 1 will subscribe 
myself. 

An Old Bostonian. 



BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, 
April 19, 1775. 

Billerica, Mass. i6th June, 1819. 

Sir — From having lately seen some notice 
in the papers, of your wish to obtain the 
names of those who destroyed the tea in 
Boston harbor, in December, 1773,* I was led 
to believe that the names of those patriotic 
citizens, who fell in the defence of their just 
privileges, on the nineteenth of April, 1775, 
might be also acceptable and as worthy of 
being perpetuated. As they were the first who 
fell in the revolutionary contest — as they fell 
not in the act of desolating an unoffending 

* See tlie letter of president .\dams to H. Niles, May 10 
\%\q~\Veekly Register, vol. XV, p- 336. 



114 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



country and in multiplying the miseries of their 
fellow men, to gain laurels — but in resisting 
the ravages of an invading enemy, they are 
entitled to grateful recollection, to honorable 
distinction. I have, therefore, enclosed you a 
list of the names of those who were killed on 
that memorable day. It has been principally 
collected from a narrative of the excursion and 
ravages of the king's troops, under the com- 
mand of general Gage on the 19th April, 1775, 
to which I have added a few notes, which are 
derived from other authentic sources. 

With sentiments of respect, your most obe- 
dient servant, JOHN Farmer. 

To H. NiLES. 

A List of the Prmiincials who were killed in 
the Action of the \')th April, 1775, and the 
Towns to which they respectively belonged. 

Acton. — Capt. Isaac Davis, Abner Hosman, 
James Hayward. 

Bedford. — Capt. Jonathan Wilson. 

Beverly. — Mr. Kynnim. 

Brookline. — Isaac Gardner,* esq. 

Cambridge. — William Mercy, Moses Rich- 
ardson, John Hicks, Jason Russell, Jabez Wy- 
man and Jason Winship. 

Charlestown. — James Miller,t Edward Bar- 
ber.t 

Danvers. — Henry Jacobs, Samuel Cook, Eb- 
enezer Goldthwait, George Southwick, Benja- 
min Daland, jun. Jotham Webb, and Perly 
Putnam. 

Dedham. — Elias Haven. 

Le.vington. — Jonas Parker, Robert Monroe, 
Jedidiah Monroe, John Raymond, Samuel Had- 
ley, Jonathan Harrington, jun. Isaac Muzzy, 
Caleb Harrington, Nathaniel Wyman, and 
John Brown. II 

Lynn. — Abednego Ramsdell, Daniel Town- 
sond, William Flynt and Thomas Hadley. 

Medford. — Henry Putnam and William 
Polley. 

Needham. — Lieut. John Bacon, Sergeant 
Elisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Chamber- 
lain, Jonathan Parker. 

Salem. — Benjamin Pierce. 

* He had volunteered his services, and was killed on 
the return of the troops to Boston. He was born at 
Brookline, 9th May, 1736, and graduated at Harvard 
college in 1747. " In his domestic, social, civil and 
religious capacity he was equally beloved and respected. 
The ineiancholy circumstance of his death excited great 
public sensibility as well as private lamentation and 
regret." Rev. Mr. Pierce's Hist. Brookline. 

t James Millei was 66 years of age. 

J Aged 16, son of capt. William Barber of Charlestown. 

\ A monument is erected in Lexington to the memory 
of the eight first, who fell on the morning of the 19th 



Sudbury. Josiah Haynes,* Asahel Reed. 
Wateriown. — Joseph Cooledge. 
VVoburn. — Asa Parker and Daniel Thomp- 
son. 

All who were killed belonged to Massa- 
chusetts. 

The Americans had 49 killed 

34 wounded 
4 missing 

87 Total. 
The British loss in killed, wounded and miss- 
ing was 273. 



REMINISCENCES RELATING TO THE 
BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 

Effect of the news of the Battle of 
Lexington on the Colonists. 

The people of " the good old thirteen states," 
though they had made up their minds to suf- 
fering and endurance, did not enter on the con- 
tests for their rights and liberties in a hasty 
and unadvised manner ; they had counted the 
cost, and, although determined to sacrifice all 
that they held dear, rather than to crouch as 
slaves, yet they shuddered at being forced upon 
that extremity. The intelligence of the battle 
of Lexington, the first blood that was drawn 
in the quarrel, was received with the deepest 
regret ; in Philadelphia the bells were muffled, 
and an expression of horror and gloom covered 
the countenances of all its citizens. 

Offensive Treatment of the Citizens 
OF Boston by the British Authori- 
ties after the Battle of Lexington. 

There are very few of the present generation, 
who have any idea of the humiliation to which 
their ancestors were subjected, while under a 
colonial government, from the contumely and 
insolence of upstart officers, who, in their own 
country, had been as servile as the spaniel, but 
on their arrival here, aped the port and au- 
thority of the lion. Not only humiliations, but 
other severe sufferings and privations were 
endured by them, with patience and fortitude, 
and with a moral rectitude, which would have 
done honor to Greece or Rome, in their most 
virtuous days. 

After the battle of Lexington, the egress of a 
part of the inhabitants of Boston was prohibited 
by a breach of faith on the part of Gen. Gage, 
and those who were permitted to depart, were 

* Mr. Haynes was an officer of the church. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



"S 



obliged to obtain passports, as mentioned in 
my last communication. 

It was not until the fifth of June that my 
father became determined to leave the town. 
On that day he directed me to make out a 
schedule of the family, agreeably to the rules 
instituted by general Gage, and demand a pass 
of major Cain, of the army, who was empow- 
ered to perform that semce. Such was the 
crowd of citizens, eagerly pressing to obtain 
passports, that it was not until several hours 
of exertion that I was enabled to reach the 
door of the major's apartment, and when it 
was opened, I was so forcibly urged on by the 
crowd behind, that, on entering the chamber, 
I lost my balance, which caused me to rush 
violently into the room, and though he must 
have perceived that the act was involuntary, 
yet he had the brutality to exclaim (in broad 
Scotch) " hoot, hoot mon ! are you going to 
murder me .' " I was obliged to bear this in- 
solence in silence, though my countenance 
must have exhibited marks of indignation, and 
I walked to a window which looked into the 
court yard, where my feelings were still more 
excited by a view of my fellow citizens, who, 
with countenances almost bordering on despair, 
were waiting for a favorable moment to obtain 
admission. The first reflection which pre- 
sented itself to my mind was, what must be 
the indignation of our king, if he knew how 
his faithful, loyal, and affectionate subjects, 
were abused, insulted, and driven into acts of 
reluctant resistance. Which brought to my 
recollection a part of Warren's oration, on the 
preceding 5th of March, in which he observes, 
that " The royal ear, far distant from this 
ivestern world, has been assaulted by the tontine 
of slander, and villains, traitorous alike to 
king and country, have prevailed upon a gra- 
cious prince to clothe his countenance with 
wrath." Even then a reconciliation was fondly 
hoped for by many of the most strenuous asser- 
tors of the rights of the colonies, although 
blood had been shed at Lexington ; and even 
after the battle of Bunker's Hill, the congress 
presented an humble petition to the king, and 
an affectionate address to their fellow subjects 
in England, in which, (with much feeling), they 
say, " We have not yet learnt to rejoice at a 
victory obtained over Englishmen," and humbly 
entreated that their grievances might be re- 
dressed. Ardent hopes were entertained that 
these conciliatory and loyal measures, would 
induce the king to change his ministers, and 
take to his councils a Chatham, a Cambden, 
and a Rockingham. Most fortunately, how- 
ever, for the eventual prosperity and happiness 



of America, they pursued their mad schemes 
of burning our towns, hiring the savages of the 
wilderness and foreign mercenaries, to spread 
death and desolation through the land, which 
finally weaned us from our fond attachment to 
an ungrateful and cruel mother, and, on the 
glorious 4th of July, 1776, we passed the Rubi- 
con ! ! — Never ! never ! never ! to return again 
under her subjection, but to establish a govern- 
ment of our own, founded on the principles of 
justice and equal laws, the influence of whose 
example, we hope, will eventually emancipate 
the world from tyranny and despotism. Amer- 
ica ! recollect the awful and solemn responsi- 
bility which reposes on your conduct. 

" Contemplate well ; and if perchance thy home 

" Salute thee with a father's honored name, 

" Go call thy sons — instruct them what a DEBT 

" They owe their ancestors, and make them swear 

" To pay it, by transmitting down intire 

" Those sacred rights, to which themselves were born." 

But to return to the object of my communi- 
cation — after waiting nearly an hour the major 
accosted me with, " Well, young man, what do 
you want ? " I handed him a schedule of my 
father's family, including that of his sister's (the 
widow of a clerg)'man). He examined a small 
book which contained what the tories called 
the " black list," when slowly raising his scowl- 
ing eyes, he said with great asperity, " Your 
father, young man, is a damn'd rebel, and 
cannot be accommodated with a pass." Not at 
all intimidated by his brutality, I asserted with 
much vehemence, that my father was no rebel, 
that he adored the illustrious house of Han- 
over, and had fought for good king George the 
2d, in forty-five. Whether it was, that he himself 
had been a real rebel in Scotland, in 1745, or 
whether my mentioning that number reminded 
him of Wilkes' North Briton No. 45, a paper 
published in London, and peculiarly obnoxious 
to the house of Hanover, was intended as an 
insinuation against his own loyalty, (which it 
really was), — whatever may have been the 
cause of his irritation — the moment I had 
finished speaking he rose from his chair, and 
with a countenance foaming with rage, he 
ordered me out of the room with abusive lan- 
guage. The sentinel at the door had an Eng- 
lish countenance, and, with apparent sympathy, 
very civilly opened it for my departure, which 
I made without turning my back on my 
adversary'. 

On mquiry it was afterwards ascertained, 
that what constituted the crime of my father 
and caused him to be denominated a rebel, was 
his having been a member of the Whig club ! 

The Whig club, in consequence of the per- 



ii6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUl ON. 



turbed state of the times, had not assembled or 
met for more than a year. The gentlemen that 
had composed it, were James Otis, Dr. War- 
ren, Dr. Church, Dr. Young, Richard Derby, 
of Salem, Benjamin Kent, Nathaniel Barber, 
William Mackay, Col. Bigelow, of Worcester, 
and about half a dozen more. Through the in- 
strumentality of my lather, 1 was sometimes 
admitted to hear their deliberations. There 
was always at each meeting, a speech or dis- 
sertation by one of the members, on the princi- 
ples of civil liberty, and the British constitution. 
They professed loyalty to the king, but were in 
violent opposition to the encroachments of the 
parliament, and their discussions tended to a 
consideration of what would be the duty of 
Americans if those encroachments were con- 
tinued. For this purpose they corresponded 
with some society in London, the name of 
which I have forgotten, (probably the Revolu- 
tion society). Among the names of their cor- 
respondents I recollect, Wilkes, Saville, Barre 
and Sawbridge. A few years previous to the 
revolution, they sent the London society two 
green turtle, one of which weighed 45 and the 
other 92 pounds. Those who are acquainted 
with the history of those times, will easily 
understand to what those numbers alluded. 
On their arrival in London, a grand dinner was 
prepared, at which Col. Barre presided, and 
among other distinguished guests I recollect 
hearing the names of earl Temple, lord Camb- 
den, and the lord mayor ; and among the 
toasts," The Whig club of Boston," and " The 
ninety-two patriots of Massachusetts Bay," 
were drank with three times three cheers. 



Female Patriotism. — Battle of Lexing- 
ton. 

The MS. of the following interesting letter 
was politely forwarded to us by a gentleman 
of Baltimore, and was found among some old 
papers of a distinguished lady of Philadelphia. 
— It is a copy of a letter from a lady of Philadel- 
phia to a British officer at Boston, written 
immediately after the battle of Lexington, and 
previous to the declaration of independence. — 
It fully exhibits the feelings of those times. — A 
finer spirit never animated the breasts of the 
Roman matrons, than the following letter 
breathes : 

Sir — We received a letter from you — where- 
in you let Mr. S. know that you had written 
after the battle of Lexington, particularly to me 
— knowing my martial spirit — that I would 
delight to read the exploits of heroes. Surely, 



my friend, you must mean the New England 
heroes, as they alone performed exploits worthy 
fame — while the regulars, vastly superior in 
numbers, were obliged to retreat with a rapidi- 
ty unequalled, except by the French at the 
battle of Minden. Indeed, general Gage gives 
them their due praise in his letter home, where 
he says lord Percy was remarkable for his 
actinty. You will not, I hope, take offence at 
any expression that, in the warmth of my 
heart, should escape me, when I assure you, 
that though we consider you as a public enemy, 
we regard you as a private friend ; and while we 
detest the cause you are fighting for, we wish 
well to your own personal interest and safety. 
Thus far by way of apology. As to the martial 
spirit you suppose me to possess, you are 
greatly mistaken. I tremble at the thoughts 
of war ; but of all wars, a civil one : our all is 
at stake ; and we are called upon by every tie 
that is dear and sacred to exert the spirit that 
Heaven has given us in this righteous struggle 
for liberty. 

I will tell you what I have done. My only 
brother I have sent to the camp with my 
prayers and blessings ; I hope he will not dis- 
grace me ; I am confident he will behave 
with honor, and emulate the great examples 
he has before him ; and had I twenty sons 
and brothers they should go. I have re- 
trenched every superfluous expense in my table 
and family ; tea 1 have not drank since last 
Christmas, nor bought a new cap or gown 
since your defeat at Lexington, and what I 
never did before, have learnt to knit, and am 
now making stockings of American wool for 
my servants, and this way do I throw in my 
mite to the public good. I know this, that as 
free I can die but once, but as a slave I shall 
not be worthy of life. I have the pleasure to 
assure you that these are the sentiments of all 
my sister Americans. They have sacrificed 
both assemblies, parties of pleasure, tea drink- 
ing and finery to that great spirit of patriotism, 
that actuates all ranks and degrees of people 
throughout this e.xtensive continent. If these 
are the sentiments of females, what must glow 
in the breasts of our husbands, brothers and 
sons.' They are as with one heart determined 
to die or be free. It is not a quibble in politics, 
a science which few understand, which we are 
contending for; it is this plain truth, which 
the most ignorant peasant knows, and is clear 
to the weakest capacity, that no man has a 
right to take their money without their consent. 
The supposition is ridiculous and absurd, as 
none but highwaymen and robbers attempt it. 
Can you, my friend, reconcile it with your own 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



"7 



good sense, that a body of men in Great 
Britain, who have little intercourse with Amer- 
ica, and of course linow nothing of us, nor are 
supposed to see or feel the misery they would 
inflict upon us, shall invest themselves with a 
power to command our lives and properties, at 
all times and in all cases whatsoever? You 
say you are no politician. Oh, sir, it requires 
no Machiavelian head to develop this, and to 
discover this tyranny and oppression. It is 
written with a sun beam. Every one will see 
and know it because it will make them feel, 
and we shall be unworthy of the blessings of 
Heaven, if we ever submit to it. 

All ranks of men amongst us are in arms. — 
Nothing is heard now in our streets but the 
trumpet and drum ; and the universal cry is 
"Americans to arms." All your friends are 
officers : there are captain S. D., lieut. B. and 
captain J. S. We have five regiments in the 
city and county of Philadelphia, complete in 
arms and uniform, and very expert at their mili- 
tary manoeuvres. We have companies of light- 
horse, light infantry, grenadiers, riflemen, and 
Indians, several companies of artillery, and 
some excellent brass cannon and field pieces. 
Add to this, that every county in Pennsylvania, 
and the Delaware government, can send two 
thousand men to the field. Heaven seems to 
smile on us, for in the memory of man never 
were known such quantities of flax, and sheep 
without number. — We are making powder fast, 
and do not want for ammunition. In short, 
we want for nothing but ships of war to defend 
us, which we could procure by making alli- 
ances : but such is our attachment to Great 
Britain, that we sincerely wish for reconcilia- 
tion, and cannot bear the thoughts of throwing 
off all dependence on her, which such a step 
would assuredly lead to. The God of mercy 
will, I hope, open the eyes of our king that he 
may see, while in seeking our destruction, he 
will go near to complete his own. It is my 
ardent prayer that the effusion of blood may 
be stopped. We hope yet to see you in this 
city, a friend to the liberties of America, which 
will give infinite satisfaction to. 

Your sincere friend, C. S. 

To Captain S., in Boston. 



Address OF Provincial Congress of Mas- 

SACHUSEITS, 
To the Inhabitants of Great Britain. 

Watertown, April 26th, 1775. 
Friends and Fellow Subjects — Hostilities are 
at length commenced in this colony by the 



troops under the command of General Gage, 
and it being of the greatest importance, that an 
early, true, and authentic account of this inhu- 
man proceeding should be known to you, the 
congress of this colony have transmitted the 
same, and from want of a session of the hon. 
continental congress, think it proper to address 
you on the alarming occasion. 

By the clearest depositions relative to this 
transaction, it will appear that on the night 
preceding the nineteenth of April instant, a 
body of the king's troops, under command of 
colonel Smith, were secretly landed at Cam- 
bridge, with an apparent design to take or 
destroy the military and other stores, provided 
for this colony, and deposited at Concord — that 
some inhabitants of the colony, on the night 
aforesaid, whilst travelling peaceably on the 
road, between Boston and Concord, were seized 
and greatly abused by armed men, who ap- 
peared to be officers of General Gage's army ; 
that the town of Lexington, by these means, 
was alarmed, and a company of the inhabi- 
tants mustered on the occasion — that the reg- 
ular troops on their way to Concord, marched 
into the said town of Lexington, and the said 
company, on their approach, began to disperse 
— that, notwithstanding this, the regulars 
rushed on with great violence and first began 
hostilities, by firing on said Lexington com- 
pany, whereby they killed eight, and wounded 
several others — that the regulars continued 
their fire, until those of said company, who 
were neither killed nor wounded, had made 
their escape — that colonel Smith, with the de- 
tachment then marched to Concord, where a 
number of provincials were again fired on by 
the troops, two of them killed and several 
wounded, before the provincials fired on them, 
and that these hostile measures of the troops, 
produced an engagement that lasted through 
the day, in which many of the provincials and 
more of the regular troops were killed and 
wounded. 

To give a particular account of the ravages 
of the troops, as they retreated from Concord 
to Charlestown, would be very difficult, if not 
impracticable ; let it suffice to say, that a great 
number of the houses on the road were plun- 
dered and rendered unfit for use, several were 
burnt, women in child-bed were driven by the 
soldiery naked into the streets, old men peace- 
ably in their houses were shot dead, and such 
scenes exhibited as would disgrace the annals 
of the most uncivilized nation. 

These, brethren, are marks of ministerial 
vengeance against this colony, for refusing, 
with her sister colonies, a submission to sla- 



ii8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



very ; but they have not yet detached us from 
our royal sovereign. We profess to be his 
loyal and dutiful subjects, and so hardly dealt 
with as we have been, are still ready, with our 
hves and fortunes, to defend his person, family, 
crown and dignity. Nevertheless, to the per- 
secution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we 
will not tamely submit — appealing to Heaven 
for the justice of our cause, we determine to die 
or be free. 

We cannot think that the honor, wisdom 
and valor of Britons will suffer them to be 
longer inactive spectators of measures in which 
they themselves are so deeply interested — 
measures, pursued in opposition to the solemn 
protests of many noble lords, and expressed 
sense of conspicuous commoners, whose knowl- 
edge and virtue have long characterized them 
as some of the greatest men in the nation — 
measures, executed contrary to the interest, 
petitions and resolves of many large, respecta- 
ble and opulent counties, cities and boroughs 
in Great Britain — measures highly incompatible 
with justice, but still pursued with a specious 
pretence of easing the nation of its burthens — 
measures which, if successful, must end in the 
ruin and slaver)- of Britain, as well as the per- 
secuted American colonies. 

We sincerely hope that the Great Sovereign 
of the universe, who hath so often appeared 
for the English nation, will support you in 
every rational and manly exertion with these 
colonies, for saving it from ruin, and that, in a 
constitutional connection with the mother 
country, we shall soon be altogether a free 
and happy people. 

By order, 

Joseph Warren, President P. T. 



Resolutions of the Provincial Con- 
gress OF Massachusetts deposing Gen- 
eral Gage. 

Watertown, May 5, 1775. 

Whereas his excellency, general Gage, since 
his arrival in this colony, hath conducted, as 
an instrument in the hands of an arbitrary 
ministry, to enslave this people ; and a detach- 
ment of the troops under his command, has of 
late been by him ordered to the town of Con- 
cord, to destroy the public stores, deposited in 
that place for the use of that colony : and 
whereas, by this clandestine and perfidious 
measure, a number of respectable inhabitants 
of this colony, without any provocation given 
by them, have been illegally, wantonly, and 
inhumanly slaughtered by his troops : 



Therefore, resolved, that the said general 
Gage hath, by these and many other means, 
utterly disqualified himself to serve to this 
colony as a governor, and in every capacity ; 
and that no obedience ought, in future, to be 
paid by the several towns and districts in this 
colony, to his writs for calling an assembly, or 
to his proclamations, or any other of his acts 
or doings ; but that, on the other hand, he 
ought to be considered and guarded against, as 
an unnatural and inveterate enemy to the 
country. 

Joseph Warren, President P. T. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



Between Gen. Lee, Continental army, and 
Gen. J. BurgOYNE of the British forces, 
Boston, Mass. General Lee to Gen. 
Burgoyne upon his arrival in Boston. 

Philadelphia, June 7, 1775. 

My Dear Sir — We have had twenty different 
accounts of your arrival at Boston, which have 
been regularly contradicted the next morning ; 
but as I now find it certain that you are ar- 
rived, I shall not delay a single instant address- 
ing myself to you. It is a duty I owe to the 
friendship I have long and sincerely professed 
for you ; a friendship to which you have the 
strongest claim from the first moments of our 
acquaintance. There is no man from whom I 
have received so many testimonies of esteem 
and affection : there is no man whose esteem 
and affection could in my opinion, have done 
me greater honor. I entreat and conjure you, 
therefore, my dear sir, to impute these few lines 
not to a petulant itch of scribbling, but to the 
most unfeigned solicitude for the future tran- 
quillity of your mind, and for your reputation, 
I sincerely lament the infatuation of the times, 
when men of such a stamp as Mr. Burgoyne 
and Mr. Howe, can be seduced into so impious 
and nefarious a service by the artifice of a 
wicked and insidious court and cabinet. You, 
sir, must be sensible that these epithets are 
not unjustly severe. You have yourself expe- 
rienced the wickedness and treachery of this 
court and cabinet. You cannot but recollect 
their manoeuvres in your own select committee, 
and the treatment yourself, as president, re- 
ceived from these abandoned men. You can- 
not but recollect the black business of St. 
Vincent's by an opposition to which you 
acquired the highest and most deserved honor. 
I shall not trouble you with my opinion of the 
right of taxing America without her own con- 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



119 



sent, as I am afraid, from what I have seen of 
your speeches, that you have already formed 
your creed on this article ; but I will boldly 
affirm, had this right been established by a 
thousand statutes, had America admitted it 
from time immemorial, it would be the duty of 
every good Englishman, to exert his utmost to 
divest parliament of this right, as it must inevi- 
tably work the subversion of the whole empire. 
The malady under which the state labors is 
indisputably derived from the inadequate repre- 
sentation of the subject, and the vast pecuniary 
influence of the crown. To add to this pecu- 
niary influence and incompetency of represen- 
tation, is to insure and precipitate our destruc- 
tion. To wish any addition, can scarcely enter 
the heart of a citizen, who has the least spark 
of public virtue, and who is at the same time 
capable of seeing consequences the most im- 
mediate. I appeal, sir, to your own conscience, 
to your experience and knowledge of our court 
and parliament, and I request you to lay your 
hand upon your heart, and then answer with 
your usual integrity and frankness, whether, on 
the supposition America should be abject 
enough to submit to the terms imposed, you 
think a single guinea, raised upon her, would 
be applied to the purpose (as it is ostentatiously 
held out to deceive the people at home) of 
easing the mother country .' or whether you 
are not convinced that the whole they could 
extract would be applied solely to heap up still 
further the enormous fund for corruption, 
which the crown already possesses, and of 
which a most diabolical use is made. On these 
principles I say, sir, every good Englishman, 
abstracted of all regard for America, must 
oppose her being taxed by the British parlia- 
ment ; for my own part, I am convinced that 
no argument (not totally abhorrent from the 
spirit of liberty and the British constitution) 
can be produced in support of this right. But 
it will be impertinent to trouble you upon a 
subject which has been so amply, and in my 
opinion, so fully discussed. I find by a speech 
given as yours in the public papers, that it was 
by the king's positive command you embarked 
in this service. I am somewhat pleased that 
it is not an office of your own seeking, though, 
at the same time, I must confess that it is very 
alarming to every virtuous citizen, when he 
sees men of sense and integrity, (because of a 
certain profession) lay it down as a rule im- 
plicitly to obey the mandates of a court, be 
they ever so flagitious. It furnishes, in my 
opinion, the best arguments for the total reduc- 
tion of the army. But I am running into a 
tedious essay, whereas I ought to confine my- 



self to the main design and purpose of this 
letter, which is to guard you and your col- 
leag^jes from those prejudices which the same 
miscreants, who have infatuated general Gage 
and still surround him, will labor to instil into 
you against a brave, loyal and most deserving 
people. The avenues of truth will be shut up 
to you. I assert, sir, that even general Gage 
will deceive you as he has deceived himself ; I 
do not say he will do it designedly. I do not 
think him capable ; but his mind is totally poi- 
soned, and his understanding so totally blinded 
by the society of fools and knaves, that he no 
longer is capable of discerning facts as manifest 
as the noon day sun. I assert, sir, that he is 
ignorant, that he has from the beginning been 
consummately ignorant of the principles, tem- 
per, disposition and force of the colonies. I 
assert, sir, that his letters to the ministry, (at 
least such as the public have seen) are one 
continued tissue of misrepresentation, injustice, 
and tortured inferences from misstated facts. 
I affirm, sir, that he has taken no pains to 
inform himself of the truth ; that he has never 
conversed with a man who has had the cour- 
age or honesty to tell him the truth — I am 
apprehensive that you and your colleagues may 
fall into the same trap, and it is the appre- 
hension that you may be inconsiderately hur- 
ried by the vigor and activity you possess, into 
measures which may be fatal to many innocent 
individuals, may hereafter wound your own 
feelings, and which cannot possibly serve the 
cause of those who sent you, that has pro- 
moted me to address these lines to you. I 
most devoutly wish, that your industry, valor 
and military talents, may be reserv-ed for a 
more honorable and \'irtuous service against 
the natural enemies of your country, (to whom 
our court are so basely complaisant) and not 
be wasted in ineffectual attempts to reduce to 
the wretchedest state of servitude, the most 
meritorious part of your fellow subiects. I 
say, sir, that any attempts to accomplish this 
purpose, must be ineffectual. You cannot pos- 
sibly succeed. No man is better acquainted with 
the state of this continent than myself I have 
run through almost the whole colonies, from 
the North to the South, and from the South 
to the North. I have conversed with all orders 
of men. from the first estated gentlemen, to 
the lowest planters and farmers, and can assure 
you, that the same spirit animates the whole. 

Not less than an hundred and fifty thousand 
gentlemen, yeomen and farmers, are now in 
arms, determined to presene their liberties or 
perish. — As to the idea that the Americans 
are deficient in courage, it is too ridiculous and 



I20 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



glaringly false to deserve a serious refutation. 

1 never could conceive upon what this 

notion was founded. 1 served several cam- 
paigns in America the last war, and cannot 
recollect a single instance of ill behavior in the 
provincials, where the regulars acquitted them- 
selves well. Indeed we well remember some 
instances of the reverse, particulariy where the 
late colonel Grant, (he who lately pledged 
himself for the general cowardice of America) 
ran away with a large body of his own regi- 
ment, and was saved from destruction by the 
yalor of a few Virginians. Such preposterous 
arguments are only proper for the Rgibys and 
Sandwichs, from whose mouths never issued, 
and to whose breasts, truth and decency are 
utter strangers. You will much oblige me in 
communicating this letter to general Howe, to 
whom I could wish it should be considered in 
some measure addressed, as well as to your- 
self. Mr. Howe is a man for whom I have 
ever had the highest love and reverence. I 
have honored him for his own connections, but 
above all for his admirable talents and good 
qualities. I have courted his acquaintance and 
friendship, not only as a pleasure, but as an 
ornament ; I flattered myself that I had ob- 
tained it. — Gracious God ! is it possible that 
Mr. Howe should be prevailed upon to accept 
of such an office ? That the brother of him, to 
whose memory the much injured people of 
Boston erected a monument, should be em- 
ployed as one of the instruments of their 
destruction ! — But the fashion of the times it 
seems is such, as renders it impossible that he 
should avoid it. The commands of our most 
gracious sovereign, are to cancel all moral 
obligations, to sanctify every action, even those 
that the satrap of an eastern despot would 
start at. — I shall now beg leave to say a few 
words with respect to myself and the part 1 
act. — I was bred up from my infancy in the 
highest veneration for the liberties of mankind 
in general. What I have seen of courts and 
princes convince me, that power cannot be 
lodged in worse hands than in theirs ; and of 
all courts I am persuaded that ours is the most 
corrupt and hostile to the rights of humanity. I 
am convinced that a regular plan has been laid 
(indeed every act, since the present accession, 
evinces it) to abolish even the shadow of liberty 
from amongst us. It was not the demolition 
of the tea, it was not any other particular act 
of the Bostonians, or of the other provinces 
which constituted their crimes. But it is the 
noble spirit of liberty manifestly perv-ading the 
whole continent, which has rendered them the 
objects of ministerial and royal vengeance. — 



Had they been notoriously of another disposi- 
tion, had they been ho7nines ad servitudinen, 
paratos, they might have made as free with the 
property of the East-India company as the 
felonious North himself with impunity. But 
the lords of St. James', and their mercenaries 
of St. Stephen's, will know that, as long as the 
free spirit of this great continent remains un- 
subdued, the progress they can make in their 
scheme of universal despotism, will be but 
trifling. Hence it is, that they wage inexpia- 
ble war against America. In short, this is the 
last asylum of persecuted liberty. — Here, should 
the machinations and fury of her enemies 
prevail, that bright goddess must fly off from 
the face of the earth, and leave not a trace 
behind. These, sir, are my principles ; this is 
my persuasion, and consequentially I am deter- 
mined to act. I have now, sir, only to entreat 
that whatever measures you pursue, whether 
those which your real friends (myself amongst 
them) would wish, or unfortunately those 
which our accursed niisrulers shall dictate, 
you will still believe me to be, personally, with 
the greatest sincerity and affection. 

Yours, &c. C. Lee. 



General Burgoyne, in answer to Gene- 
ral Lee. Boston, Jufy 9, 1775. 

Dear Sir — When we were last together in 
service, I should not have thought it within the 
vicissitude of human affairs that we should 
meet at any time, or in any sense as foes ; the 
letter you have honored me with, and my own 
feelings combine to prove we are still far from 
being personally such. 

I claim no merit from the attentions you so 
kindly remember, but as they manifest how 
much it was my pride to be known for your 
friend. Nor have I departed from the duties 
of that character, when I will not scruple to 
say, it has been almost general offence to 
maintain it : I mean since the violent part you 
have taken in the commotions of the colonies. 
It would exceed the limits and propriety of our 
present correspondence to argue at full, the 
great cause in which we are engaged. But 
anxious to preserve a consistent and ingenuous 
character, and jealous, I confess, of having the 
part I sustain imputed to such motives as you 
intimate, I will state to you as concisely as I 
can, the principles upon which, not voluntarily, 
but most conscientiously, I undertook it. 

1 have, like you, entertained from my infancy 
a veneration for public liberty. I have like- 
wise regarded the British constitution as the 
best safeguard of that blessing, to be found ir 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



121 



the history of mankind. The vital principle of 
the constitution, in which it moves and has its 
being, is the supremacy of the king in parlia- 
ment; a compound, indefinite, indefeasible 
power, coeval with the origin of the empire, 
and coextensive over all its parts — I am no 
stranger to the doctrines of Mr. Locke and 
other of the best advocates for the rights of 
mankind, upon the compact always implied 
between the governing and governed, and the 
right of resistance in the latter, when the com- 
pact shall be so violated as to leave no other 
means of redress. I look with reverence, 
almost amounting to idolatry-, upon those im- 
mortal whigs who adopted and applied such 
doctrine during part of the reign of Charles the 
1st, and in that of James the lid. — Should cor- 
ruption pervade the three estates of the realm, 
so as to pervert the great ends of their institu- 
tion, and make the power, vested in them for 
the good of the whole people, operate like an 
abuse of the prerogative of the crown, to 
general oppression, I am ready to acknowledge, 
that the same doctrine of resistance applies as 
forcibly against the abuses of the collective 
body of power, as against those of the crown, 
or either of the component branches sepa- 
rately : still always understood that no other 
means of redress can be obtained. — A case, I 
contend, much more difficult to suppose when 
it relates to the whole than when it relates to 
parts. But in all cases that have existed, or 
can be conceived, I hold that resistance, to 
be justifiable, must be directed against the 
usurpation or undue e-xercise of power, and 
that it is most criminal when directed against 
any power itself inherent in the constitution. 

And here you will discern immediately why 
I drew a line in the allusion I made above to 
the reign of Charles the first. Towards the 
close of it the true principle of resistance was 
changed, and a new system of government 
projected accordingly. The patriots, previous 
to the long parliament and during great part 
of it, as well as the glorious revolutionists of 
1688, resisted to vindicate and restore the con- 
stitution ; the republicans resisted to subvert it. 
Now, sir, lay your hand upon your heart, as 
you have enjoined me to do on mine, and tell 
me, to which of these purposes do the proceed- 
ings of America tend ? Is it the weight of taxes 
imposed, and the impossibility of relief, after 
due representation of her burthens, that has 
induced her to take arms ? Or is it a denial 
of the legislative right of Great Britain to 
impose them, and consequently a struggle for 
total independency ? — For the idea of a power 
that can tax externally and not internally, and 



all the sophistry that attends it, though it may 
catch the weakness and prejudices of the 
multitude, in a speech or a pamphlet, is too 
preposterous to weigh seriously with a man of 
your understanding, and I am persuaded you 
will admit the question fairly put. 

It is then for a relief from taxes — or from the 
control of parliament, " in all cases whatso- 
ever," that we are in war ? If for the former 
the quarrel is at an end — There is not a man 
of sense and information in America, who does 
not see it is in the power of the colonies to 
obtain a relinquishment of the exercise of taxa- 
tion immediately and forever. — I boldly assert 
it, because sense and information must also 
suggest to every man, that it can never be the 
interest of Britain to make a second trial. 

But if the other ground is taken, and it is in- 
tended to wrest from Great Britain, a link of 
that substantial, and I hope perpetual chain, by 
which the empire holds — think it not a minis- 
terial mandate ; think it not mere professional 
ardor ; think it not prejudice against any part 
of our fellow subjects, that induces men of 
integrity, and among such you have done me 
the honor to class me, to act with vigor : — But 
be assured it is conviction that the whole of our 
political system depends upon preser\ing entire 
its great and essential parts, and none is so 
great and essential as the supremacy of legisla- 
tion — It is conviction that as a king of Eng- 
land never appears in so glorious a capacity as 
when he employs the executive power of the 
state to maintain the laws, so in the present 
exertions of that power, his majesty is partic- 
ularly entitled to our zeal and grateful obedi- 
ence, not only as a soldiers but as citizens. 

These principles, depend upon it, actuate the 
army and fleet throughout. And let me, at 
the same time add, there are few, if any, 
gentlemen among us who would have drawn 
his sword in the cause of slaver)'. But, why 
do I confine myself to the fleet and army : I 
affirm the sentiments I here touched, to be 
those of the great bulk of the nation. I appeal 
even to those trading towns which are suffer- 
ers by the dispute, and the city of London at 
the head of them, notwithstanding the peti- 
tions and remonstrances that the arts of parties 
and factions have extorted from some indi- 
viduals ; and last, because least in your favor, 
I appeal to the majorities of the last year upon 
American questions in parliament. The most 
licentious news writer wants assurance to call 
these majorities ministerial; much less will you, 
when you impartially examine the characters 
of which they were in a great degree composed 
— men of the most independent principles and 



122 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



fortunes, and many of them professedly in op- 
position in their general line of conduct. 

Among other supporters of British rights 
against American claims, I will not speak 
positively, but I firmly believe, I may name the 
men of whose integrity and judgment you 
have the highest opinion, and whose friendship 
is nearest your heart : I mean lord Thanet, 
from whom my aid de camp has a letter for 
you, with another from Sir C. Davers. I do 
not enclose them, because the writers, little 
imagining how difficult your conduct would 
render our intercourse, desired they might be 
delivered into your own hands. 

For this purpose, as well as to renew " the 
rights of our fellowship," I wish to see you ; 
and above all I should think an interview 
happy if it induced such explanations as might 
tend in their consequences to peace. I feel, in 
common with all around me, for the unhappy 
deluded bulk of this country — they foresee not 
the distress that is impending. I know Great 
Britain is ready to open her arms upon the 
first reasonable overtures of accommodation ; 
I know she is equally resolute to maintain her 
original rights : and I also know, that if the 
war proceeds, your hundred and fifty thousand 
men will be no match for her power. I put 
my honor to these assertions, as you have done 
to others, and I claim the credit I am willing 
to give. 

The place I would propose for our meeting 
is the house on Boston Neck, just within our 
advanced sentries, called Brown's house. I 
will obtain authority to give you my parole of 
honor for your secure return : I shall expect 
the same on your part, that no insult be offered 
to me. If the proposal is agreeable to you, 
name your day and hour — And, at all events, 
accept a sincere return of the assurances you 
honor me with, and believe me affectionately 
yours, J. BURGOYNE. 

P. S. I have been prevented by business 
answering your letter sooner. — I obeyed your 
commands in regard to general Howe and 
Clinton ; and I likewise communicated to lord 
Percy the contents of your letter and my an- 
swer. — They all join with me in compliments, 
and authorize me to assure you they do the 
same in principles. 



General Lee's answer to General Bur- 
goyne's Letter. Cambridge, Head- 
Quarters, Jiilyw, 1775. 

General Lee's compliments to General BuR- 
GOYNE. — Would be extremely happy in the in- 



terview he so kindly proposed. But as he 
perceives that General Burgoyne has already 
made up his mind on this great subject ; and 
that it is impossible that he [Gen. Lee] should 
ever alter his opinion, he is apprehensive that 
the interview might create those jealousies and 
suspicions, so natural to a people struggling in 
the dearest of all causes, that of their liberty, 
property, wives, children and their future 
generations. He must, therefore, defer the 
happiness of embracing a man whom he most 
sincerely loves until the subversions of the 
present tyrannical ministry and system, which 
he is persuaded must be in a few months, as 
he knows Great Britain cannot stand the con- 
test. — He begs General Burgoyne will send 
the letters which his aid de camp has for him. 
If Gardiner is his aid de camp, he desires his 
love to him. 



PROCLAMATION OF GOV. THOMAS 
GAGE, OF Mass. June 12, 1775. 

REVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENT. 

We have recently procured a copy of the 
instrument by which GAGE, in 1775, proclaimed 
a pardon to all Americans who should "lay 
down their arms and retnrn to their duty," 
with the exception of SAMUEL ADAMS and 
JOHN HANCOCK. We find by the introduc- 
tion, that it was published by the Whigs, from 
the British original. It is in the hand-bill form, 
and we believe it has never before appeared in 
a newspaper. — Ed. Boston Patriot. 

Cambridge, June 14, 1775. 
The following is a copy of an infamous thing 
handed about here yesterday, and now re- 
printed to satisfy the curiosity of the public. 
As it is replete with consummate impudence, 
the most abominable lies, and stuffed with 
daring expressions of tyranny, as well as re- 
bellion against the established constitution! 
authority of the AMERICAN STATES, no 
one will hesitate in pronouncing it to be the 
genuine production of that perfidious, petty 
tyrant, Thomas Gage. 



BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE HON. THOMAS GAGE, ESQ 

Governor and commander in chief in and 
over his majesty's Province of Massachusetts- 
Bay, and vice-admiral of the same. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

■Whereas the infatuated multitudes, who 
have long suffered themselves to be conducted 
by certain well-known incendiaries and traitors, 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



123 



in a fatal progression of crimes, against the 
constitutional authority of the state, have at 
length proceeded to avowed rebellion ; and the 
good effects which were expected to arise from 
the patience and lenity of the king's govern- 
ment, have been often frustrated, and are now 
rendered hopeless, by the influence of the same 
evil counsels ; it only remains for those who 
are entrusted with supreme rule, as well for 
the punishment of the guilty, as the protection 
of the well affected, to prove they do not bear 
the sword in vain. 

The infringements which have been com- 
mitted upon the most sacred rights of the crown 
and people of Great Britain, are too many to 
enumerate on one side, and are too atrocious 
to be palliated on the other. All unprejudiced 
people who have been witnesses of the late 
transactions, in this and neighboring provinces, 
will find, upon a transient review, marks of 
premeditation and conspiracy that would jus- 
tify the fullness of chastisement : And even 
those who are least acquainted with facts, can- 
not fail to receive a just impression of their 
enormity, in proportion as they discover the 
arts and assiduity by which they have been 
falsified or concealed. The authors of the 
present unnatural revolt, never daring to trust 
their cause or their actions to the judgment of 
an impartial public, or even to the dispassionate 
reflection of their followers, have uniformly 
placed their chief confidence in the suppression 
of truth : And while indefatigable and shame- 
less pains have been taken to obstruct every 
appeal to the real interest of the people of 
America, the grossest forgeries, calumnies and 
absurdities that ever insulted human under- 
standing, have been imposed upon their credu- 
lity. The press, that distinguished appendage 
of public liberty, and when fairly and impar- 
tiafly employed, its best support, has been 
invariably prostituted to the most contrary' 
purposes : the animated language of ancient 
and virtuous times, calculated to vindicate and 
promote the just rights and interests of man- 
kind, have been applied to countenance the 
most abandoned violation of those sacred bles- 
sings ; and not only from the flagitious prints, 
but from the popular harangues of the times, 
men have been taught to depend upon activity 
in treason for the security of their persons and 
properties ; till, to complete the horrible profa- 
nation of terms and of ideas, the name of GoD 
has been introduced in the pulpits to excite 
and justify devastation and massacre. 

The minds of men having been thus gradu- 
ally prepared for the worst extremities, a num- 
ber of armed persons, to the amount of many 



thousands, assembled on the 19th of April last, 
and from behind walls and lurking holes, at- 
tacked a detachment of the king's troops who, 
not expecting so consummate an act of frenzy, 
unprepared for vengeance and willing to decline 
it, made use of their arms only in their own 
defence. Since that period the rebels, deriving 
confidence from impunity, have added insult to 
outrage ; have repeatedly fired upon the king's 
ships and subjects, with cannon and small arms ; 
have possessed the roads and other communi- 
cations by which the town of Boston was sup- 
plied with provisions ; and, with a preposterous 
parade of military arrangement, they affect to 
hold the army besieged ; while part of their 
body make daily indiscriminate invasions upon 
private property, and, with a wantonness of 
cruelty ever incident to lawless tumult, carry 
depredation and distress wherever they turn 
their steps. The actions of the 19th of April 
are of such notoriety, as must bafile all at- 
tempts to contradict them, and the flames of 
buildings and other property, from the islands 
and adjacent country, for some weeks past, 
spread a melancholy confirmation of the sub- 
sequent assertions. 

In this exigency of complicated calamities, 
I avail myself of the last effort within the bounds 
of my duty to spare the effusion of blood ; to 
offer, and I do hereby in his majesty's name, 
offer and promise his most gracious pardon, to 
all persons who shall forthwith lay down their 
arms, and return to the duties of peaceable 
subjects, excepting only from the benefit of 
such pardon. SAMUEL ADAMS and JOHN 
HANCOCK, whose offences are of too flagi- 
tious a nature to admit of any other considera- 
tion than that of condign punishment. 

And to the end that no person within the 
limits of this proffered mercy may plead igno- 
rance of the consequences of refusing it, I by 
these presents proclaim, not only the persons 
above-named and excepted, but also all their 
adherents, associates and abettors, meaning 
to comprehend in those terms all and every 
person, and persons of what class, denomina- 
tion or description soever, who have appeared 
in arms against the king's government, and 
shall not lay down the same as afore-men- 
tioned ; and likewise all such as shall so take 
arms after the date hereof, or who shall in any- 
wise protect and conceal such offenders, or 
assist them with money, provision, cattle, arms, 
ammunition, carriages, or any other necessary 
for subsistence or offence ; or shall hold se- 
cret correspondence with them by letter, mes- 
sage, signal, or otherwise, to be rebels and 
traitors, and as such to be treated. 



124 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



And whereas, during the continuance of the 
present unnatural rebellion, justice cannot be 
administered by the common law of the land, 
the course whereof has, for a long time past, 
been violently impeded, and wholly interrupted ; 
from whence results a necessity for using and 
exercising the law martial ; I have therefore 
thought fit, by the authority vested in me, by 
the royal charter to this province, to publish, 
and I do hereby publish, proclaim and order 
the use and exercise of the law martial, within 
and throughout the province, for so long time 
as the present unhappy occasion shall neces- 
sarily require ; whereof all persons are hereby 
required to take notice, and govern themselves, 
as well to maintain order and regularity among 
the peaceable inhabitants of the province, as to 
resist, encounter and subdue the rebels and 
traitors above described by such as shall be 
called upon for those purposes. 

To these inevitable, but I trust salutary mea- 
sures, it is a far more pleasing part of my duty 
to add the assurances of protection and sup- 
port, to all who, in so trying a crisis, shall man- 
ifest their allegiance to the king, and affection 
to the parent state. So that such persons as 
may have been intimidated to quit their habi- 
tations in the course of this alarm, may return 
to their respective callings and professions, and 
stand distinct and separate from the parricides 
of the constitution, till GoD, in his mercy, shall 
restore to his creatures, in this distracted land, 
that system of happiness from which they have 
been seduced, the religion of peace, and liberty 
founded upon law. 

Given at Boston, this twelfth day of June, 
in the fifteenth year of the reign of his 
majesty George the third, by the 
grace of GoD, of Great Britain, France 
and Ireland, KING, defender of the Faith, 
etc. Annoque Domini, 1775. 

Thomas Gage. 
By his excellency's command : 
Tho's Flucker, Secretary. 
God save the king. 



INSTRUCTION OF ADJUTANT GEN- 
ERAL HORATIO GATES 

For recruiting troops, Massachusetts 
Bay, July 10, 1775. 

Instructions for the officers of the several 
regiments of the Massachusetts Bay forces, 
who are immediately to go upon the recruiting 
service. 

You are not to enlist any deserter from the 



ministerial army, nor any stroller, negro, or 
vagabond, or person suspected of being an 
enemy to the liberty of America, nor any under 
eighteen years of age. 

As the cause is the best that can engage 
men of courage and principle to take up arms, 
so it is expected that none but such will be ac- 
cepted by the recruiting officer ; the pay, pro- 
vision, etc., being so ample, it is not doubted 
but the officers set upon this service, will with- 
out delay, complete their respective corps, and 
march the men forthwith to the camp. 

You are not to enlist any person who is not 
an American born, unless such person has a 
wife and family, and is a settled resident in 
this country. 

The person you enlist, must be provided 
with good and complete arms. 

Given at the head-quarters at Cambridge, 
this loth day of July, 1775. 

Horatio Gates, Adj. Gen. 



PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING 

By the Council of Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, Nov. 4, 1775. 

Although, in consequence of the unnatural, 
cruel, and barbarous measures, adopted and 
pursued by the British administration, great and 
distressing calamities are brought upon our dis- 
tressed country, and in this colony in particular, 
we feel the dreadful effects of a civil war, by 
which America is stained by the blood of her 
valiant sons, who have bravely fallen in the 
laudable defence of our rights and privileges ; 
our capital, once the seat of justice, opulence 
and virtue, is unjustly wrested from its proper 
owners, who are obliged to flee from the iron 
hand of tyranny, or held in the unrelenting arms 
of oppression ; our seaports greatly distressed, 
and towns burnt by the foes who have acted 
the part of barbarous incendiaries. And, 
although the wise and Holy Governor of the 
world has, in his righteous Providence, sent 
droughts into this colony, and wasting sickness 
into many of our towns, yet we have the 
greatest reason to adore and praise the Su- 
preme Disposer of events, who deals infinitely 
better with us than we deserve ; and amidst 
all his judgments hath remembered mercy, by 
causing the voice of health again to be heard 
amongst us ; instead of famine, affording to an 
ungrateful people a competency of the neces- 
saries and comforts of life ; in remarkably pre- 
ser\'ing and protecting our troops, when in ap- 
parent danger, while our enemies, with all their 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



125 



boasted skill and strength, have met with loss, 
dzsappoin/men/, and defeat ; and, in the course 
of his good Providence, the Father of all Mer- 
cies, hath bestowed upon us many other favors, 
which call for our grateful acknowledgments : 

There/ore — We have thought fit, with the 
advice of the council and house of representa- 
tives, to appoint Thursday, the 23d of Novem- 
ber, instant, to be observed as a day of public 
Ihanksgiving, throughout this colony ; hereby 
calling upon ministers and people, to meet for 
religious worship on the said day, and dei'outfy 
to offer up their unfeigned praises to Almighty 
God, the source and benevolent bestower of all 
good, for his affording the necessary means of 
subsistence, though our commerce has been pre- 
vented, and the supplies from the fishery denied 
us ; — that such a measure of health is enjoyed 
among us; that the lives of our officers and sol- 
diers have been so remarkably preserved, while 
our enemies have fallen before them ; that the 
vigorous efforts, which have been used to 
excite the savage vengeance of the wilderness, 
and rouse the Indians to arms, that an unavoid- 
able destruction might come upon our frontiers, 
have been almost miraculously defeated ; that 
our unnatural enemies, instead of ravaging the 
country with uncontroled sway, are confined 
within such narrow limits, to their own mortifi- 
cation and distress, environed by an American 
army, brave and determined ; — that such a 
band of union, founded upon the best princi- 
ples, unites the American colonies, — that our 
rights and privileges, both civil and religious, 
are so far preserved to us, notwithstanding all 
the attempts of our barbarous enemies to 
deprive us of them. 

And to offer up humble and fen'ent prayers 
to Almighty God, for the whole British empire ; 
especially for the ttniied American colonies : — 
That He would bless our civil rulers, and lead 
them into wise and prudent measures, at this 
dark and difficult day; that He would endow 
our general court with all that wisdom which 
is profitable to direct ; that He would gracious- 
ly smile upon our endeavors to restore peace. 
preser\-e our rights and privileges, and hand 
them down to posterity ; that He would give 
wisdom to the American Congress, equal to 
their important station ; that He would direct 
the generals, and the American armies, wher- 
ever employed, and give them success and 
victory ; that He would preserv'e and strengthen 
the harmony of the united colonies ; that He 
would pour out his spirit upon all orders of 
men, through the land, bring us to a hearty 
repentance and reformation ; purify and sanctify 
all His churches ; that He would make ours. 



Emanuel's land ; that He would spread the 
knowledge of the Redeemer through tht* whole 
earth, and fill the world with his glory. 

And all servile labor is forbidden on said day. 
Given under our hands, at the council chamber, 

in Watertown, the fourth day of November, 

in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven 

hundred and seventy-five. 

By their honors' command, 

Perez Morton, Dep. Sec. 

James Otis, Benjamin Lincoln, 

Walter Spooner, Michael Farley, 

Caleb Gushing, Joseph Palmer, 

Joseph Whitcomb, Samuel Holten, 

Jedidiah Foster, Jabez Fisher, 

James Prescott, Moses Gill, 

Eldad Taylor, Benjamin White. 

GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE. 



PROCLAMATION 

By the Great and General Court of 
THE Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
January 23, 1776. 

The frailty of human nature, the wants of 
individuals, and the numerous dangers which 
surround them, through the course of life, have, 
in all ages, and in every country, impelled them 
to form societies and establish governments. 

As the happiness of the people is the sole 
end of government, so the consent of the peo- 
ple is the only foundation of it, in reason, 
morality, and the natural fitness of things. 
And therefore every act of government, every 
exercise of sovereignty, against, or without, the 
consent of the people, is injustice, usurpation, 
and tyranny. 

It is a maxim that in every government, 
there must exist, somewhere, a supreme, 
sovereign, absolute, and uncontrolable power ; 
but this power resides always in the body of 
the people ; and it never was, or can be dele- 
gated to one man, or a few ; the great Creator 
has never given to men a right to vest others 
with authority over them, unlimited either in 
duration or degree. 

When kings, ministers, governors, or legis- 
lators, therefore, instead of exercising the 
powers entrusted with them, according to the 
principles, forms and proportions stated by the 
constitution, and established by the original 
compact, prostitute those powers to the pur- 
poses of oppression — to subvert, instead of 
supporting a free constitution ; — to destroy, 
instead of preserving the lives, liberties and 
properties of the people ; — they are no longer 



126 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



to be deemed magistrates vested with a sacred 
character, but become public enemies, and 
ought to be resisted. 

The administration of Great Britain, despis- 
ing equally the justice, humanity and magnan- 
imity of their ancestors ; and the rights, liber- 
ties and courage of Americans, have, for a 
course of years, labored to establish a sover- 
eignty in America, not founded in the consent 
of the people, but in the mere will of persons, 
a thousand leagues from us, whom we know 
not, and have endeavored to establish this 
sovereignty over us, against our consent, in all 
cases whatsoever. 

The colonies, during this period, have recurred 
to every peaceable resource in a free constitu- 
tion, by petitions and remonstrances, to obtain 
justice; which has been not only denied to 
them, but they have been treated with unex- 
ampled indignity and contempt ; and at length, 
open war of the most atrocious, cruel and san- 
guinary' kind, has been commenced against 
them. To this an open, manly and successful 
resistance has hitherto been made ; thirteen 
colonies are now firmly united in the conduct 
of this most just and necessary war, under the 
wise councils of their congress. 

It is the will of Providence for wise, right- 
eous, and gracious ends, that this colony 
should have been singled out, by the enemies 
of America, as the first object, both of their 
en\'y and their revenge ; and after having been 
made the subject of several merciless and vin- 
dictive statutes, one of which was intended to 
subvert our constitution by charter, is made the 
seat of war : 

No effectual resistance to the system of 
tyranny prepared for us, could be made with- 
out either instant recourse to arms, or a tem- 
porary' suspension of the ordinary powers of 
government, and tribunals of justice. To the 
last of which evils, in hope of a speedy recon- 
ciliation with Great Britain, upon equitable 
terms, the congress advised us to submit : — 
And mankind has seen a phenomenon, \vithout 
example in the political world, a large and 
populous colony, subsisting in great decency 
and order, for more than a year, under such a 
suspension of government. 

But as our enemies have proceeded to such 
barbarous extremities, commencing hostilities 
upon the good people of this colony, and with 
unprecedented malice exerting their power to 
spread the calamities of fire, sword and famine 
through the land, and no reasonable prospect 
remains of a speedy reconciliation with Great 
Britain, the congress have resolved: 

" That no obedience being due to the act of 



parliament for altering the charter of the 
colony of Massachusetts-Bay, nor to a gover- 
nor or lieutenant-governor, who will not ob- 
serve the directions of, but endeavor to sub- 
vert that charter, the governor and lieutenant- 
governor of that colony are to be considered as 
absent, and their offices vacant. And as there 
is no council there, and inconveniencies arising 
from the suspension of the powers of govern- 
ment are intolerable, especially at a time when 
general Gage hath actually levied war, and is 
carrying on hostilities against his majesty's 
peaceable and loyal subjects of that colony: 
that, in order to conlorm as near as may be to 
the spirit and substance of the charter, it be 
recommended to the provincial convention to 
write letters to the inhabitants of the several 
places which are entitled to representation in 
assembly, requesting them to choose such 
representatives ; and that the assembly, when 
chosen, do elect counsellors ; and that such 
assembly and council exercise the powers of 
government, until a governor of his majesty's 
appointment will consent to govern the colony 
according to its charter." 

In pursuance of which advice, the good peo- 
ple of this colony have chosen a full and free 
representation of themselves, who, being con- 
vened in assembly, have elected a council ; 
who, as the executive branch of government, 
have constituted necessary officers through the 
colony. The present generation, therefore, 
may be congratulated on the acquisition of a 
form of government more immediately, in all its 
branches, under the influence and control of 
the people ; and therefore more free and happy 
than was enjoyed by their ancestors. But as 
a government so popular can be supported only 
by universal knowledge and virtue in the body 
of the people, it is the duty of all ranks to pro- 
mote the means of education, for the rising 
generation, as well as true religion, purity of 
manners, and integrity of life, among all orders 
and degrees. 

As an army- has become necessary for our 
defence, and in all free states the civil must 
provide for and control the military power, the 
major part of the council have appointed ma- 
gistrates and courts of justice in every county 
whose happiness is so connected with that of 
the people, that it is difficult to suppose they 
can abuse their trust. The business of it is to 
see those laws enforced which are necessary 
for the preser\'ation of peace, virtue and good 
order. And the great and general court 
expects and requires that all necessary support 
and assistance be given, and all proper obedi- 
ence yielded to them ; and will deem every 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



127 



person, who shall fail of his duty in this respect 
towards them, a disturber of the peace of this 
colony, and desen-ing of exemplary punish- 
ment. 

That piety and virtue, which alone can secure 
the freedom of any people, may be encouraged, 
and vice and immorality suppressed, the great 
and general court have thought fit to issue this 
proclamation, commanding and enjoining it 
upon the good people of this colony, that they 
lead sober, religious and peaceable lives, avoid- 
ing all blasphemies, contempt of the holy 
scriptures, and of the lord's day, and all other 
crimes and misdemeanors, all debauchery, pro- 
faneness, corruption, venality, all riotous and 
tumultuous proceedings, and all immoralities 
whatsoever ; and that they decently and rever- 
ently attend the public worship of God, at all 
times acknowledging with gratitude his merciful 
interposition in their behalf, devoutly confiding 
in him, as the God of armies, by whose favor 
and protection alone they may hope for success, 
in their present conflict. 

And all judges, justices, sheriffs, grand 
jurors, tything-men, and all other civil officers 
within this colony, are hereby strictly enjoined 
and commanded that they contribute all in 
their power, by their advice, exertions and 
examples, towards a general reformation of 
manners, and that they bring to condign pun- 
ishment every person who shall commit any of 
the crimes or misdemeanors aforesaid, or that 
shall be guilty of any immoralities whatsoever ; 
and that they use the utmost endeavors to have 
the resolves of the congress, and the good and 
wholesome laws of this colony, duly carried 
into execution. 

And as the ministers of the gospel, within 
this colony, have, during the late relaxation of 
the powers of civil government, exerted them- 
selves for our safety, it is hereby recommended 
to them, still to continue their virtuous labors 
for the good of the people, inculcating by their 
public ministry, and private example, the 
necessity of religion, morality, and good order. 



In council, January 19, 1776. 
Ordered, That the foregoing proclamation 
be read at the opening of every superior court 
of judicature, &c. and inferior court of common 
pleas, and court of general sessions for the 
peace within this colony, by their respective 
clerk; and at the annual town meetings in 
March, in each town. — And it is hereby recom- 
mended to the several ministers of the gospel, 
throughout this colony, to read the same in 
their respective assemblies on the lord's day 



next after their receiving it, immediately after 
divine semce. 

Sent down for concurrence. 

Perez Morton, Dep. Sec. 

In the house of representatives, January 23, 
1776. — Read and concurred. 

William Cooper, speaker pro tem. consented 
to. William Sever, Walter Spooner, 
Caleb Gushing, John Winthrop, Thomas 
Gushing, Moses Gill, Michael Farley, 
Samuel Holten, Charles Chauncy, Joseph 
Palmer, John Whetcomb, Jedediah Fos- 
ter. Eldad Taylor, John Taylor, Ben- 
jamin White, James Prescot. 

By order of the General Court, 
Perez Morton, Dep. Sec. 

god save the people. 



DECLARATION OF RESISTANCE 

To the authority of Great Britain, 
passed by the assembly of massa- 
chusetts in 1776. 

"We the subscribers do each of us severally 
for ourselves profess, testify and declare, be- 
fore God and the world, that we verily believe 
that the war, resistance and opposition in 
which the United American Colonies are now 
engaged against the fleets and armies of Great 
Britain, is on the part of the said colonies, just 
and necessary ; and we do hereby severally 
promise, covenant and engage to and with 
every person of this colony, who has or shall 
subscribe this declaration, or another of the 
same tenor and words, that we will not, during 
the said war, directly or indirectly, in any ways 
aid, abet, or assist any of the naval or land 
forces of the king of Great Britain, or any 
employed by him, or supply them with any 
kind of provisions, militai-y or naval stores, or 
hold any correspondence with, or communicate 
any intelligence to any of the officers, soldiers 
or mariners belonging to the said army or 
na\'y, or enlist or procure any others to enlist 
into the land or sea service of Great Britain, or 
take up or bear arms against this or either of 
the United Colonies, or undertaking to pilot 
any of the vessels belonging to the said navy, 
or any other way aid or assist them : but on 
the contrary, according to our best power and 
abilities, will defend by arms the United 
American Colonies, and every part thereof, 
against everj' hostile attempt of the fleets and 
armies in the service of Great Britain, or any 



128 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of them, according to the requirements and 
directions of the laws of this colony, that now 
or may hereafter be provided for the regulation 
of the militia thereof" 



STATEMENT 



Relative to the Evacuation of Boston, 
March 17, 1776. 

RECOLLECTIONS OF A BOSTONIAN. 

In the latter end of the year 1821 and early in 
1822, a series of papers were published in 
the •' Boston Centinel," under the head of 
"Recollections of a Bostonian " — in which the 
public were presented with many curious 
facts in relation to the condition of, and pro- 
ceedings in, that town many years ago, from 
which we select the following as suited to 
the design of this work : 

The British army evacuated Boston on the 
forenoon of Sunday, the 17th March, 1776. 
On the afternoon of that day I landed (in com- 
pany with a surgeon who was ordered in by 
general Washington) at the bottom of the 
common, near the high bluff, which was talcen 
away a few years ago to make Charles-street. 
The first object that I observed on landing was 
a thirteen-inch iron mortar on the beach of 
extraordinary dimensions and weight, which the 
British had thrown down from a battery they 
had erected on the height above. I was told 
that another of the same size was sunk at the 
long-wharf, which was after^vards raised. One 
of them is now at the navy-yard in Charleston, 
and the other was a few years since on the 
grand battery at New- York, where it was car- 
ried in the same year. 

On crossing the common we found it very 
much disfigured with ditches and cellars, which 
had been dug by the British troops for their 
accommodation when in camp. To our great 
regret, we saw several large trees lying in the 
mall, which had been cut down that morning. 
We were informed that the tories were so ex- 
asperated at being obliged to leave the town, 
that they were determined to do all the mis- 
chief possible, and had commenced destroying 
that beautiful promenade ; but it being told to 
some of the selectmen, they went in haste to 
general Howe and represented the circum- 
stance, who kindly sent one of his aids to for- 
bid the further destruction of the trees, and to 
reprimand the tories for their conduct. Gen- 
eral Howe could not but feel some degree of 
grateful regard and sympathy for the people 
of Massachusetts, as they had erected a mon- 



ument in Westminster Abbey to the memory 
of his brother, whose urbane and gentlemanly 
deportment had gained the esteem and respect 
of the Massachusetts forces, and who was killed 
m abattle with the French and Indians in 1758. 

The mall was originally laid out with only 
two rows of trees, a third was added a few 
years before the war, which we found were all 
cut down for fuel, together with the entire fence 
which surrounded the common, as was also a 
large magnificent tree which stood on the 
town's land, near the school house, in West- 
street, of equal size with that which now stands 
in, the middle of the common, both of which I 
suppose to be aboriginal. 

On passing into the town, it presented an 
indescribable scene of desolation and gloom- 
iness, for notwithstanding the joyous occasion 
of having driven our enemies from our land, 
our minds were impressed with an awful sad- 
ness at the sight of the ruins of many houses 
which had been taken down for fuel — the dirti- 
ness of the streets — the wretched appearance 
of the very few inhabitants who remained du- 
ring the siege — the contrast between the Sun- 
day we then beheld, compared with those we 
formerly witnessed, when well dressed people, 
with cheerful countenances, were going to, and 
returning from church, on which occasion, 
Boston exhibits so beautiful a scene — but more 
especially when we entered the Old South 
church, and had ocular demonstration that it 
had been turned into a RIDING SCHOOL, for 
the use of general Burgoyne's regiment of 
cavalry, which formed a part of the garrison, 
but which had never ventured to pass the bar- 
riers of the town. The pulpit and all the pews 
were taken away and burnt for fuel, and many 
hundred loads of dirt and gravel were carted 
in, and spread upon the floor. The south door 
was closed, and a bar was fi.xed, over which 
the cavalry, were taught to leap their horses at 
full speed. A grog shop was erected in the 
gallery, where liquor was sold to the soldiery, 
and consequently produced scenes of riot and 
debauchery in that holy temple. All these 
circumstances conspired to fill the mind with 
sombre reflections. But amidst the sadness of 
the scene, there was a pleasing satisfaction in 
the hope that men capable of such atrocities, 
could not have the blessing of Heaven in their 
nefarious plan of subjugating our beloved 
country. The English soldiers were generally 
Episcopalians, and viewed this act with indif- 
ference, but the Scotch, who were mostly dis- 
senters, and much more moral and pious, looked 
upon it with horror, and not without some feel- 
ings of superstition. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



129 



I was told that a ludicrous scene took place 
in the course of the preceding winter. A good 
old woman that frequently passed the church, 
was in the habit of stopping at the door, and 
with loud lamentations, (amidst the hootings of 
the soldiery), bewailed the desolation of the 
house of prayer. She denounced on them the 
vengeance of Heaven, and assured them that 
good old Dr. Sewall, the former parson of the 
church, would rise from his grave, and carry 
them off. — A Scotch sentinel was one night 
alarmed by an appearance of what he thought 
was an apparition of the doctor. He screamed 
violently, and alarmed the guard of grenadiers, 
who were always stationed at the Province- 
house, then occupied by general Howe. There 
was no pacifying him until some one asked 
how the doctor was dressed and he answered 
with a large wig and gown. One of the inhabi- 
tants who had been drawn there from curiosity 
assured him it could not have been doctor 
Sewall, because he never wore a wig, which 
restored the poor fellow to his senses. It was 
generally supposed to be a trick of one of the 
English soldiers, who wished to frighten a super- 
stitious Scotchman ; and for that purpose had 
dressed himself in the clerical habit of the Rev. 
Mr. Cooke, of the Menotomy, which he had plun- 
dered, on his retreat at the battle of Lexington. 



PROCLAMATION 

Of General Washington on taking pos- 
session OF THE town of BOSTON, MARCH 
21, 1776. 

By his excellency, George Washington, Esq., 
general and commander in chief of the thir- 
teen united colonies. 

" Whereas the ministerial army has aban- 
doned the town of Boston, and the forces of 
the united colonies, under my command, are 
in possession of the same : I have therefore 
thought it necessary for the preservation of 
peace, good order and discipline, to publish 
the following orders, that no persons offending 
therein, may plead ignorance as an excuse for 
their misconduct. 

" All officers and soldiers are hereby ordered 
to live in the strictest amity with the inhabi- 
tants ; and no inhabitant, or other person, 
employed in his lawful business in the town, is 
to be molested in his person or property, on 
any pretence whatever. 

" If any officer or soldier shall presume to 
strike, imprison, or otherwise ill-treat any of 
the inhabitants, they may depend on being 
punished with the utmost severity ; and if any 



officer or soldier shall receive any insult from 
any of the inhabitants, he is to seek redress in 
a legal way, and no other. 

"Any non-commissioned officer or soldier or 
others under my command, who shall be guilty 
of robbing or plundering in the town, are to be 
immediately confined, and will be most rigidly 
punished. All officers are therefore ordered to 
be very vigilant in the discovery of such offen- 
ders, and report their names and crime to the 
commanding officer in the town as soon as 
may be. 

" The inhabitants and others, are called upon 
to make known to the quarter-master-general, 
or any of his deputies, all stores belonging to 
the ministerial army, that may be remaining or 
secreted in the town : any person or persons 
whatever, that shall be known to have concealed 
any of the said stores, or to appropriate them 
to his or their own use, will be considered as 
an enemy to America, and treated accordingly. 

" The select men and other magistrates of the 
town, are desired to return to the commander- 
in-chief, the names of all or any person or 
persons, they may suspect of being employed 
as spies upon the continental army, that they 
may be dealt with accordingly. 

" All officers of the continental army, are 
enjoined to assist the civil magistrates in the 
execution of their duty, and to promote peace 
and good order. They are to prevent, as much 
as possible, the soldiers from frequenting 
tippling-houses, and strolling from their posts. 
Particular notice will be taken of such officers 
as are inattentive and remiss in their duty ; 
and on the contrar)', such only as are active 
and vigilant will be entitled to future favor 
and promotion. 

Given under my hand, at head-quarters, in 
Cambridge, the 21st day of March, one 
thousand seven hundred and seventy-six. 
George Washington." 

Boston, March 29. 



ADDRESS 

0/ the Hen. Council and House of Representa- 
tives of Mass. to his Excellency George 
Washington, Esq.. General, and Com- 
mander-in-chief of the Forces of the United 
Colonies, March 29. 1776. 

May it please your Excellency — 

" When the liberties of America were 
attacked by the violent hand of oppression — 
when troops, hostile to the rights of humanity, 
invaded this colony, seized our capital, and 



13° 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



spread havoc and destruction around it ; when 
our virtuous sons were murdered, and our 
houses destroyed by the troops of Britain, the 
inhabitants of this and the other American 
colonies, impelled by self-preservation and the 
love of freedom, forgetting their domestic con- 
cerns, determined resolutely and unitedly to 
oppose the sons of tyranny. 

Convinced of the vast importance of having 
a gentleman of great military accomplishments 
to discipline, lead, and conduct the forces of 
the colonies, it gave us the greatest satisfaction 
to hear that the honorable congress of the 
united colonies had made choice of a gentle- 
man thus qualified ; who, leaving the pleasure 
of domestic and rural life was ready to under- 
take the arduous task. And your nobly de- 
clining to accept the pecuniary emoluments an- 
nexed to this high office, fully evidenced to us 
that a warm regard to the sacred rights of 
humanity, and sincere love to your countr)-, 
solely influenced you in the acceptance of this 
important trust. 

From your acknowledged abilities as a 
soldier, and your virtues in public and private 
life, we had the most pleasing hopes ; but the 
fortitude and equanimity so conspicuous in 
your conduct ; the wisdom of your counsels ; 
the mild, yet strict government of the army ; 
your attention to the civil constitution of this 
colony ; the regard you have at all times shewn 
for the lives and health of those under your 
command ; the fatigues you have with cheer- 
fulness endured ; the regard you have shewn 
for the preservation of our metropolis, and 
the great address with which our military 
operations have been conducted, have exxeeded 
our most sanguine expectations, and demand 
the warmest returns of gratitude. 

The Supreme Ruler of the universe having 
smiled on our arms, and crowned your labors 
with remarkable success, we are now, without 
that effusion of blood we so much wished to 
avoid, again in the quiet possession of our 
capital ; the wisdom and prudence of those 
movements, which have obliged the enemy to 
abandon our metropolis, will ever be remem- 
bered by the inhabitants of this colony. 

May you still go on approved by Heaven, 
revered by all good men, and dreaded by those 
tyrants who claim their fellow men as their 
property. May the united colonies be defended 
from slavery by your victorious arms. May 
they still see their enemies flying before you : 
and (the deliverance of your country being 
effected) may you, in retirement, enjoy that 
peace and satisfaction of mind, which always 
attends the good and great : and may future 



generations in the peaceful enjoyment of that 
freedom, the exercise of which your sword 
shall establish, raise the richest and most 
lasting monuments to the name of a Wasking- 
toti." 



Gen'l Washington's Reply thereto. 

" Gentlemen — I return you my most sincere 
and hearty thanks for your polite address ; and 
feel myself called upon, by every principle of 
gratitude, to acknowledge the honor you have 
done me in this testimonial of your approbation 
of my appointment to the exalted station I 
now fill ; and what is more pleasing, of my 
conduct in discharging its important duties. 

When the councils of the British nation had 
formed a plan for enslaving America, and 
depriving her sons of their most sacred and 
invaluable privileges, against the clearest re- 
monstrances of the constitution, of justice and 
truth ; and to execute their schemes, had 
appealed to the sword, I esteemed it my duty 
to take a part in the contest, and more espe- 
cially, on account of my being called thereto 
by the unsolicited suffrages of the representa- 
tives of a free people ; wishing for no other 
reward than that arising from a conscientious 
discharge of the important trust, and that my 
services might contribute to the establishment 
of freedom and peace, upon a permanent foun- 
dation, and merit the applause of my country- 
men, and every virtuous citizen. 

Your professions of my attention to the civil 
constitution of this colony, whilst acting in the 
line of my department, also demands my grate- 
ful thanks. A regard to every provincial insti- 
tution, where not incompatible with the com- 
mon interest, I hold a principle of duty, and 
of policy, and shall ever form a part of my con- 
duct. Had I not learnt this before, the happy 
experience of the advantages resulting from a 
friendly intercourse with your honorable body, 
their ready and willing concurrence to aid and 
to counsel, whenever called upon in cases of 
difficulty and emergency, would have taught 
me the useful lesson. 

That the metropolis of your colony is now 
relieved from the cruel and oppressive invasions 
of those who were sent to erect the standard 
of lawless domination, and to trample on the 
rights of humanity, and is again open and free 
for its rightful possessors, must give pleasure 
to ever)' virtuous and sympathetic heart, and 
being effected without the blood of our soldiers 
and fellow-citizens, must be ascribed to the 
interposition of that Providence, which has 
manifestly appeared in our behalf through the 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



131 



whole of this important struggle, as well as 
to the measures pursued for bringing about 
the happy event. 

May that Being who is powerful to save, and 
in whose hands is the fate of nations, look 
down with an eye of tender pity and compas- 
sion upon the whole of the united colonies ; 
may he continue to smile upon their counsels 
and arms, and crown them with success, whilst 
employed in the cause of virtue and mankind. 
—May this distressed colony and its capital, 
and every part of this wide extending continent, 
through his divine favor, be restored to more 
than their former lustre and once happy state, 
and have peace, liberty, and safety secured 
upon a solid, permanent, and lasting founda- 
tion." George Washington. 



DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LAWS 
Conferred by Harvard College on 
George Washington. 

In Cambridge, in New England, to all faith- 
ful in Christ, to whom these presents shall 
come. Greeting. Boston, April 3, 1776. 

Whereas academical degrees were originally 
instituted for this purpose, that men, eminent 
for knowledge, wisdom and virtue, who have 
highly merited of the republic of letters, should 
be rewarded with the honor of these laurels, 
there is the greatest propriety in conferring 
such honor on that very illustrious gentleman, 
George Washington, esq., the accomplished 
general of the confederated colonies in 
America ; whose knowledge and patriotic 
ardor are manifest to all ; who, for his distin- 
guished virtues, both civil and militar>', in the 
first place being elected by the suffrages of the 
Virginians one of their delegates, exerted him- 
self with fidelity and singular wisdom in the 
celebrated congress in America, for the de- 
fence of liberty, when in the utmost danger of 
being forever lost, and for the salvation of his 
country, and then at the earnest request of 
that grand council of patriots, without hesita- 
tion, left all the pleasures of his delightful seat 
in Virginia, and the affairs of his own estate, 
that, through all the fatigues and dangers of 
camp, without accepting any reward, he might 
deliver New England from the unjust and 
cruel arms of Great Britain, and defend the 
other colonies ; and who, by the most signal 
smiles of Divine Providence on his military 
operations, drozv the fleet and troops of the 
enemy with disgraceful precipitation from the 
town of Boston, which for eleven months had 
been shut, fortified and defended by a garrison 



of above 7,000 regulars ; so that the inhabi- 
tants, who suffered a great variety of hardships 
and cruelties while under the power of their 
oppressors, now rejoice in their deliverance ; 
the neighboring towns are also freed from the 
tumults of arms, and our university has the 
agreeable prospect of being restored to its 
ancient seat. 

Know ye, therefore, that we, the president 
and fellows of Harvard College in Cambridge, 
(with the consent of the honored and reverend 
overseers of our academy) have constituted 
and created the aforesaid gentleman, George 
Washington, who merits the highest honor, 
doctor of laws, the law of nature and nations, 
and the civil law ; and have given and granted 
him at the same time all rights, privileges and 
honors to the said degree pertaining. 

In testimony whereof, we have affixed the 
common seal of our university to these letters, 
and subscribed them with our hand-writing, 
this third day of April, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six. 

Samuel Langdon, S. T. D. Preses. 
Nathaniel Appleton, S. T. D. 
Johannes Winthrop, Mat. et. Phi. P. 
Andreas Elliot, S. T. D. (Hoi.) LL. D. 
Samuel Cooper, S. T. D. 
JOHANS Wadsworth, Log. et. Eth. Pre. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



Of the INHABITANTS OF MaLDEN, MASS. 

to THEIR Representative in Congress, 
May 27, 1776. 

Sir — A resolution of the hon. house of rep- 
resentatives, calling upon the several towns in 
this colony to express their minds with respect 
to the important question of American inde- 
pendence, is the occasion of our now instructing 
you. The time was, sir, when we loved the 
king and the people of Great Britain with an 
affection truly filial ; we felt ourselves interested 
in their glory ; we shared their joys and sor- 
rows : we cheerfully poured the fruit of all our 
labors into the lap of our mother-country, and 
without reluctance expended our blood and our 
treasure in their cause. 

These were our sentiments towards Great 
Britain while she continued to act the part of a 
parent state ; we felt ourselves happy in our 
connection with her, nor wished it to be dis- 
solved ; but our sentiments are altered, it is now 
the ardent wish of our souls that America may 
become a free and independent state. 

A sense of unprovoked injuries will arouse 



132 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the resentment of the most peaceful. Such 
injuries these colonies have received from Bri- 
tain. Unjustifiable claims have been made by 
the king and his minions to tax us without our 
consent ; these claims have been prosecuted in 
a manner cruel and unjust to the highest de- 
gree. The frantic policy of administration 
hath induced them to send Heets and armies to 
America; that, by depriving us of our trade 
and cutting the throats of our brethren, they 
might awe us into submission, and erect a sys- 
tem of despotism in America, which should so 
far enlarge the influence of the crown as to 
enable it to rivet their shackles upon the people 
of Great Britain. 

This plan was brought to a crisis upon the 
ever memorable nineteenth of April. We re- 
member the fatal day ! the expiring groans of 
our countrymen yet vibrate on our ears ! and 
we now behold the flames of their peaceful 
dwellings ascending to heaven ! we hear their 
blood crying to us from the ground for ven- 
geance ! charging us, as we value the peace of 
their manes, to have no further connection with 

, who can unfeelingly hear of the slaughter 

of , and composedly sleep with their blood 

upon his soul. The manner in which the war 
had been prosecuted hath confirmed us in these 
sentiments : piracy and murder, robbery and 
breach of faith, have been conspicuous in the 
conduct of the king's troops : defenceless towns 
have been attacked and destroyed : the ruins 
of Charlestown, which are daily in our view, 
daily reminds us of this ; the cries of the widow 
and the orphan demand our attention ; they de- 
mand that the hand of pity should wipe the 
tear from their eye, and that the sword of their 
country should avenge their wrongs. We long 
entertained hopes that the spirit of the British 
nation would once more induce them to assert 
their own and our rights, and bring to condign 
punishment the elevated villains who have 
trampled upon the sacred rights of men, and 
aflfronted the majesty of the people. We hoped 
in vain ; they have lost their love to freedom : 
they have lost their spirit of just resentment; 
we therefore renounce with disdain our con- 
nection with a kingdom of slaves ; we bid a 
final adieu to Britain. 

Could an accommodation be now effected, 
we have reason to think that it would be fatal 
to the liberties of America ; we should soon 
catch the cont.igion of venality and dissipation, 
which hath subjected Britons to lawless do- 
mination. Were we placed in the situation we 
were in 1763: were the powers of appointing 
to offices, and commanding the militia, in the 
hands of governors, our arts, trade and manu- 



factures would be cramped ; nay, more than 
this, the life of every man who has been active 
in the cause of his country would be endan- 
gered. 

For these reasons, as well as many others 
which might be produced, we are confirmed in 
the opinion, that the present age will be defi- 
cient in their duty to God, their posterity and 
themselves, if they do not establish an Ameri- 
can republic. This is the only form of govern- 
ment which we wish to see established ; for we 
can never be willingly subject to any other 
King than he who, being possessed of infinite 
wisdom, goodness and rectitude, is alone fit to 
possess unlimited power. 

We have freely spoken our sentiments upon 
this important subject, but we mean not to 
dictate ; we have unbounded confidence in the 
wisdom and uprightness of the continental con- 
gress : with pleasure we recollect that this affair 
is under their direction and we now instruct 
you, sir, to give them the strongest assurance 
that, if they should declare America to be a 
free and independent republic, your constitu- 
ents would support and defend the measure, to 
the last drop of their blood, and the last farthing 
of their treasure. 
Attest. 

Sam. Merrit, town-clerk. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



Of the inhabitants of the town of 
Boston, to their Representatives in 
Congress, 1776. 

Genthineti — Touching the internal police of 
this colony, it is essentially necessary, in order 
to preserve harmony among ourselves, that the 
constituent body be satisfied that they are 
fairly and fully represented. The right to 
legislate is originally due to every member 
of the community ; which right is always exer- 
cised in the infancy of a state, but, when the 
inhabitants are become numerous, it is not only 
inconvenient, but impracticable, for all to meet 
in one assembly ; and hence arose the neces- 
sity and practice of legislating by a few, freely 
chosen by the many. When this choice is 
free, and the representation equal, it is the 
people's fault if they are not happy : we there- 
fore instruct you to devise some means to 
obtain an equal representation of the people 
of this colony in the legislature : — but care 
should be taken that the assembly be not 
unwieldy ; for this would be an approach to 
the evil meant to be cured by representation. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



133 



The largest bodies of men do not always 
despatch business with the greatest expedi- 
tion, nor conduct it in the wisest manner. 

It is essential to liberty, that the legislative, 
judicial, and executive powers of government 
be, as nearly as possible, independent of, and 
separate from each other ; for where they are 
united in the same persons, or number of 
persons, there would be wanting that mutual 
check which is the principal security against 
the making of arbitrary laws, and a wanton 
exercise of power in the execution of them. It 
is also of the highest importance, that every 
person in a judiciary department employ the 
greatest part of his time and attention in the 
duties of his office ; we therefore further in- 
struct you, to procure the enacting such law 
or laws, as shall make it incompatible for the 
same person to hold a seat in the legislative 
and executive departments of government, at 
one and the same time : that shall render the 
judges, in every judicatory through the colony, 
dependent, not on the uncertain tenure of 
caprice or pleasure, but on an unimpeachable 
deportment in the important duties of their 
station, for their continuance in office : and to 
prevent the multiplicity of offices in the same 
person, that such salaries be settled upon them 
as will place them above the necessity of stoop- 
ing to any indirect or collateral means for sub- 
sistence. We wish to avoid a profusion of the 
public moneys on the one hand, and the dan- 
ger of sacrificing our liberties to a spirit of 
parsimony on the other. Not doubting of your 
zeal and abilities in the common cause of our 
country, we leave your discretion to prompt 
such exertions, in promoting any military 
operations, as the exigencies of our public 
affairs may require : and in the same confi- 
dence of your fervor and attachments to the 
public weal, we readily submit all other 
matters of public moment, that may require 
your consideration, to your own wisdom and 
discretion. 



AN ADDRESS 



To THE " Independent Sons in Massa- 
' CHUSETTS State," Boston, Nov. 14, 1776. 

" Our bless'd forefathers," is the grateful sound. 
From age to age, the world will echo round ! 
And every future tongue that speaks your name, 
Will brighten the hours with your growing fame. 

Our losses this year are small, when com- 
pared with the advantages we have gained, and 
it would be extreme folly, even in the weakest 
American, to suppose our cause did not con- 



tinue to rise. — The complete triumph of lib- 
erty undoubtedly draws nearer every hour. 
When we review the state of America, and 
that of our enemy, we behold eminent and 
growing advantages on the part of our coun- 
try. The valor and discipline of our troops 
are constantly improving, as every late action 
with the enemy testifies ; this circumstance, 
considered with that of our superior numbers, 
affords a bright prospect of success. It was 
always supposed, that the enemy would have 
the greatest advantage in the beginning of the 
war, and it must be acknowledged, (with grati- 
tude to Heaven) that they have done much 
less, and our success has been much greater, 
than might have been expected. At this pe- 
riod, we have so many experienced men of 
tried valor, such magazines of warlike stores, 
such a military system formed, such a disci- 
plined militia, (as no other nation can produce), 
and such a union and fervor of spirit in sup- 
port of the righteous cause of our country, as 
must damp the malevolent spirit of our ene- 
mies, and give vigor to every virtuous mind. 
When we survey our naval department, such 
are our preparations, such our amazing progress 
in fitting out armed vessels, and so wonderful 
our success in taking the ships, the persons, 
and the riches of the enemy, that even our 
antagonists are almost ready to exclaim, 
" God is on that side ! " 

Another happy circumstance in our favor, is 
the fruitful season and plentiful harvest with _ 
which Heaven hath blessed our country. In 
truth, so numerous are the favors of Providence, 
and so encouraging our prospect of success, 
that we have much greater cause for thanks- 
giving than for petitioning ; and it is unmanly, 
unchristian, and unworthy of any free mind, to 
discover the least degree of timidity. Our 
difficulties and sufferings, in supporting the 
great cause of liberty, have been little, if com- 
pared with what other nations have suffered 
in defence of their freedom. The Switzers 
fought sixty battles in defending their liberties, 
and finally, drove all the murdering tyrants 
out of their country, set up independent states, 
and have flourished in freedom to this day, in 
spite of all the tyrants in Europe. They are a 
strikingproofof the superior virtue and strength 
of a free people, for their whole country is not 
larger than the Massachusetts state, not half so 
fruitful, nor any ways comparable for happiness 
of situation, and commercial advantages. 
What then may not the United States of Amer- 
ica accomplish ? We may rationally suppose, 
upon a survey of the present state of all 
nations, that these United States will make 



134 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



swifter progress in arts and arms, and in all 
that adorns and dignifies human society, than 
any people or nation ever yet have done. 

The tyrants of Britain, and the abject slaves 
whom they can hire, are all the enemies we 
have to encounter ; the rest of the world will 
be our friends. As we wish to injure no peo- 
ple, other nations will naturally be our friends, 
some from interest, and others, whose interest 
is no ways concerned, from motives of human- 
ity. As America is so very extensive, capable 
of supporting so many millions of inhabitants, 
more than she has at present ; and as the vir- 
tuous part of mankind love freedom, they will 
transplant themselves from the slavish domin- 
ions of Europe, to this land of liberty, whereby 
the industry, the virtue, and the wisdom of the 
world will centre in these free and independent 
states. Such being our field of hope, such our 
prospect of happiness, not only for ourselves, 
but for millions of others, by what name shall 
we call that folly which would abate your ardor, 
and discourage your efforts, to maintain the 
entire independence of America.' 



AN ADDRESS, 



By the State of Massachusetts Bay, 
January 26, 1777. 

In the house of representatives, Jan. 26, 1777. 

Ordered, That the following address be printed, 
and a copy thereof sent to each minister of 
the gospel within this state, to whom it is 
recommended to read the same the next 
Lord's day after he shall receive it, to his 
people, immediately after the religious ex- 
ercises of the day are over. And also that a 
copy thereof be sent to the commanding 
officer of each company of the militia while 
they are under arms, for the purpose of re- 
cruiting the army. 

TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHt'SETTS BAY. 

Friends and countrymen, — When a people, 
within reach of the highest temporal happiness 
human nature is capable of, are in danger of 
having it wrested from them by an enemy 
whose paths are marked with blood, and an 
insupportable load of miser)', which succeeding 
generations must bear through painful centuries 
of time, is offered instead of it, to rouse the 
brave, invite the generous, quicken the slow, 
and awaken all to a sense of their danger, is a 
measure as friendly as it is important. 

The danger of having your towns, your 



families, your fruitful fields, and all the riches 
and blessings derived from the industry and 
wisdom of your venerable ancestors, who may 
justly be ranked among the most virtuous and 
brave men that the world ever produced, rav- 
ished from you, and possessed by a banditti 
whom no laws can control, and whose aim is 
to trample upon all the rights of humanity, 
would be sufficient to give the coward courage, 
and animate to the greatest feats in arms the 
most supine and indolent. — Surely then, while 
America, the asylum of happiness and freedom, 
is infested with a foe, whose sole aim is to rifle 
her sons of every enjoyment that can render 
life desirable, you will be ready in arms to 
defend your country, your liberty, your wives, 
your children and possessions, from rapine, 
abuse and destruction. 

From this grand and noble purpose, so 
worthy of the virtuous and brave, and we 
humbly trust, so pleasing to Almighty God, 
you have had your delegates assembled in 
council for several years past. For this, in 
April, 1775, you arrayed yourselves in arms, 
defeated and put to flight that band of Britons, 
who, uninjured and unoffended, like robbers 
and murderers, dared to assault your peaceful 
mansions ; and for this, we trust, you will be 
at all times ready to spend your blood and 
treasure. 

In addressing you upon the important sub- 
ject of your own defence, should we attempt a 
narration of the causes of your danger ; the 
many petitions you have presented, praying 
but for peace, liberty and safety, and to avoid 
the necessity of shedding the blood of your 
fellow men, and the unexampled indignity and 
contempt with which those petitions were 
treated, it would be undeservedly to impeach 
you of inattention to your own safety. 

Let it suffice then to say, That when every 
other method taken by you was productive of 
nothing but insults ; and that flames in your 
houses, murders on your persons, and rob- 
beries upon your property, were returned in 
answer to your peaceable, humble and dutiful 
petitions : 

When the force of Britain, with that of her 
allies, was collected and drawn into exertion, 
to reduce you from ease and affluence to 
slavery and vassalage, the congress of the 
L'nited States, despairing otherwise to establish 
your safety upon principles which would render 
it durable, made that declaration by which you 
became independent of Great Britain, and in 
which character alone you can be secure and 
happy. 

But as the increasing power and opulence 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



135 



of the United States are now the dread and 
envy of those whose avaricious and ambitious 
minds had laid a plan for the monopoly and 
enjoyment of them, a large army is necessary 
for your defence ; and the congress have there- 
fore determined upon eighty-eight battalions, 
of which fifteen are to be raised by this state. — 
The militia who have been marched to aid the 
army under the conduct of that man whose 
fortitude, virtue and patience, is perhaps with- 
out example (and who hourly, without any 
reward but the approbation of his own mind) 
is risking his all in your cause, will soon be on 
their return ; the enemy, angry at the chastise- 
ment justly given them for their unprovoked 
cruelties to our brethren in the Jerseys, are 
watching an opportunity to return the blow. 

A farther draft from the militia, would so 
much burden the people of this state, that this 
court cannot think of it without pain and 
anxiety. We have therefore, being sensible 
that you need no other stimulus to your duty 
than having the line of it drawn for you, 
directed that a number of men, amounting to 
one seventh part of all the male persons, of 
sixteen and upwards, should be immediately 
engaged in the continental army, upon the 
encouragement given by government — this en- 
couragement we conceive to be greater than 
any ever yet given, even to the greatest mer- 
cenaries — surely then a people called to fight, 
not to support crowns and principalities, but 
for their own freedom and happiness, will 
readily engage. 

That the encouragement given might fully 
answer the designs of government and the 
expectation of the soldiery, this court have 
settled the price of every necessary and con- 
venient article of life produced in this country, 
and also the price of foreign goods in a just 
proportion to their prices in the place from 
which they are imported, considering the risk 
of importation. And nothing is now wanting 
to give value to the soldiers wages, and sta- 
bility to our currency, but the vigorous and 
punctual execution and observance of that 
act, which we hope to see speedily effected 
by the public virtue and zeal of this people in 
the cause of their country. 

But lest some of you should be deceived by 
the misrepresentations of designing men, we 
must remind you that all the pretensions to 
peace and reconciliation, so pompously dealt 
out in the insidious proclamations of the com- 
missioners of the king of Great Britain, amount 
to nothing more than an invitation to give up 
your country, and submit unconditionally to the 
government of the British pariiament. They 



tell you that their king is graciously disposed 
to revise all acts which he shall deem incom- 
patible with your safety. But your good sense 
will lead you to determine, that if he is a prince 
worthy to reign over a free people, and a friend 
to the rights of mankind, he would long ago 
have determined as to the justice of those acts, 
and must have seen them founded on des- 
potism, and replete with slavery ; but they do 
not tell you that their sovereign has the least 
intention to repeal any one of those acts ; 
surely then a revision of them can never 
restore your freedom, or in the least alleviate 
your burdens. 

But those commissioners, although they offer 
themselves as the ambassadors of peace, and 
invite you to what they call the mild and 
gentle government of Britain, mark their foot- 
steps with blood, rapine, and the most unex- 
ampled barbarities, distributing their dreadful 
and savage severity as well to the submissive 
as the obstinate, while neither rank, sex or 
age, exempts any from the effects of their 
brutal passions. 

Should America be overcome by, or submit 
to Britain, the needy and almost perishing 
tenant in Ireland, disarmed and having but little 
property in the production of his toil and labor, 
selling the bread for which his tender infants 
are suffering, to pay the haughty landlord's 
rent or insulting collector's tax, would be but 
a faint resemblance of your calamity. 

Society, where no man is bound by other 
laws than those to which he gives his own 
consent, is the greatest ornament, and tends 
most of all things to the felicity of human 
nature, and is a privilege which can never be 
given up by a people without their being 
exceedingly guilty before Him, who is the 
bestower of every good and perfect gift. 

We therefore, for the sake of that religion, 
for the enjoyment whereof your ancestors fled 
to this country, for the sake of your laws and 
future felicity, entreat and urge you to act 
vigorously and firmly in this critical situation 
of your country. And we doubt not but that 
your noble exertions, under the smiles of 
Heaven, will ensure you that success and 
freedom due to the wise man and the patriot. 

Above all we earnestly e-xhort you to con- 
tribute all within your power to the encourage- 
ment of those virtues, for which the Supreme 
Being has declared that he will bestow his 
blessings upon a nation, and to the discourage- 
ment of those vices for which he overturns 
kingdoms in his wrath ; and that at all proper 
times and seasons you seek to Him, by prayer 
and supphcation, for deliverance from the 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



136 

calamities of war, duly considering that with- 
out his powerful aid, and gracious interposi- 
tion, all your endeavors must prove abortive 
and vain. 

Sent up for concurrence, 

Samuel Freeman, Speaker P. T. 
In council, January 28, 1777 — Read and 
concurred. 

John Avery, D. Sec'ry. 



A DECLARATION 

Addressed in the name of the King of France, 
to all the ancient French in North America, 
by the Count D Estaing, commander of the 
French Squadron at Boston, Mass., October 
28, 1778. 

The undersigned, authorized by his majesty, 
and thence clothed with the noblest of titles, 
with that which effaces all others ; charged, in 
the name of the father of his country, and the 
beneficent protector of his subjects, to offer a 
support to those who were born to enjoy the 
blessings of his government — 

To all his countrymen in North America. 
You were bom French : you never could 
cease to be French. The late war, which was 
not declared but by the captivity of nearly all 
our seamen, and the principal advantages of 
which our common enemies entirely owed to 
the courage, the talents, and the numbers of 
the brave Americans, who are now fighting 
against them, has wrested from you that 
which is most dear to all men, even the name 
of your countrj'. To compel you to bear the 
arms of parricides against it, must be the com- 
pletion of misfortunes : With this you are now 
threatened : A new war may justly make you 
dread being obliged to submit to this most in- 
tolerable law of slavery. It has commenced 
like the last, by depredations upon the most 
valuable part of our trade. Too long already 
have a great number of unfortunate French- 
men been confined in American prisons. You 
hear their groans. The present war was de- 
clared by a message in March last from the 
king of Great Britain to both houses of par- 
liament ; a most authentic act of the British 
sovereignty, announcing to all orders of the 
state, that to trade (with America) though 
without excluding others from the same right, 
was to offend ; that frankly to avow such in- 
tention, was to defy this sovereignty ; that she 
would revenge it, and deferred this only to a 
more advantageous opportunity, when she 
might do it with more appearance of legality 
than in the last war. For she declared that 



she had a right, the will, and the ability to 
revenge ; and accordingly she demanded ot 
parliament the supplies. 

The calamities of war thus proclaimed, have 
been restrained and retarded as much as was 
possible, by a monarch whose pacific and disin- 
terested views now reclaim the marks of your 
former attachment, only for your own hap- 
piness. Constrained to repel force by force, 
and multiplied hostilities by reprisals which he 
has at last authorized, if necessity should carry 
his arms, or those of his allies, into a country 
always dear to him, you have not to fear either 
burnings or devastations. And if gratitude, 
if the view of a flag always revered by those 
who have followed it, should recall to the ban- 
ners of France, or of the United States, the 
Indians who loved us, and have been loaded 
with presents by him, whom they also call their 
Father ; never, no never shall they employ 
against you their too cruel methods of war. 
These they must renounce, or they will cease 
to be our friends. 

It is not by menaces that we shall endeavor 
to avoid combating with our countrymen ; nor 
shall we weaken this declaration by invectives 
against a great and a brave nation, which we 
know how to respect, and hope to vanquish. 

As a French gentleman, I need not mention 
to those among you who were born such as 
well as myself that there is but one augtist 
house in the universe, under which the French 
can be happy, and serve with pleasure ; since 
its head, and those w-ho are most nearly allied 
to him by blood, have been at all times, thro' a 
long line of nionarchs, and are at this day 
more than ever delighted with bearing that 
very title which Henry IV. regarded as the 
first of his own. I shall not excite your regrets 
for those qualifications, those marks of distinc- 
tion, those decorations, which, in our manner 
of thinking, are precious treasures, but from 
which, by our common misfortunes, the Amer- 
ican French, who have known so well how to 
deser\'e them, are now precluded. These, I 
am bold to hope, and to promise, their zeal will 
very soon procure to be diffused among them. 
They will merit them when they are to become 
the friends of our allies. 

I shall not ask the military companions of 
the Marquis of Levi ; those who shared his 
glor)-, who admired his talents and genius for 
war, who loved his cordiality and frankness, 
the principal characteristics of our nobility, 
whether there be other names in other nations 
among which they would be better pleased to 
place their own. 

Can the Canadians, who saw the brave 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



137 



Montcalm fall in their defence, can they be- 
come the enemies of his nephews? Can they 
fight against their former leaders, and arm 
themselves against their kinsmen ? At the 
bare mention of their names, the weapons 
would fall out of their hands. 

I shall not observe to the ministers of the 
altars, that their evangelic efforts will require 
the special protection of Providence, to prevent 
faith being diminished by example, by worldly 
interest, and by sovereigns whom force has 
imposed upon them, and whose political indul- 
gence will be lessened proportionably as those 
sovereigns shall have less to fear. I shall not 
observe, that it is necessary for religion that 
those who preach it should form a body in the 
state ; and that in Canada no other body 
would be more considered, or have more 
power to do good than that of the priests, tak- 
ing a part in the government ; since their re- 
spectable conduct has merited the confidence 
of the people. 

I shall not represent to that people, nor to 
all my countrymen in general, that a vast 
monarchy, having the same religion, the same 
manners, the same language, where they find 
kinsmen, old friends and brethren, must be an 
inexhaustible source of commerce and wealth, 
more easily acquired, and better secured, by 
their union, with powerful neighbors, than 
with strangers of another hemisphere, among 
whom every thing is different, and who, eal- 
ous and despotic sovereigns, would sooner or 
later treat them as a conquered people, and 
doubtless much worse than their late country- 
men, the Americans, who made them victori- 
ous. I shall not urge to a whole people that to 
join with the United States, is to secure their 
own happiness ; since a whole people, when 
they acquire the right of thinking and acting 
for themselves, must know their own interest. 
But 1 will declare, and I now formally declare 
in the name of his majesty, who has authorized 
and commanded me to do it, that all his former 
subjects in North America, who shall no more 
acknowledge the supremacy of Great Britain, 
may depend upon his protection and support. 

Done on board his majesty's ship the Langue- 
doc, in the harbor of Boston, the 28th day 
of October, in the year 1778. 

ESTAING. 

FlOREL DE Grandclos, secretary, appointed 

by the king to the squadron commanded by 

the Count D'Estaing. 
Printed on board the Languedoc, by F. P. 

Demauge, Printer to the king and the 

Squadron. 



LETTER FROM MAJOR JOSEPH HAW- 
LEY, 

Author of the declaration tha five must fight, ' ' 
addressed to the Senate of Massachusetts, 
October 28, 1780. 

The enclosed letter, from the venerable and 
patriotic major Hawley* has never been in 
print. Its publicadon at this time would not 
perhaps be irrelevant, and would certainly 
gratify some of your country friends. It was 
written soon after the adoption of the present 
constitution, and shews his opinion of that 
instrument. It is needless to add, that we 
here think every thing from the pen of that 
great man deserving of record. 

Hampshire. 

To the Hon. the senate of Massachusetts. 

May it please your honors : The intelligence 
given me by the writ of summons, under the 
hand of the president of the council, that I am 
chosen a senator by a majority of the voters of 
the county of Hampshire, affords me a singular 
pleasure, on two accounts : The one is, that an 
election to that high trust, by a majority of the 
unsolicited suffrages of the voters of the county, 
is a genuine proof of the good opinion of the 
people of my dear county ; the other is, the fair 
occasion that it gives me to bear a free and 
public testimony against one part of our glo- 
rious constitution : I style it glorious, although 
I humbly conceive it has several great blem- 
ishes, on account whereof it will, until cor- 
rected, be liable, in my poor opinion, to very 
weighty exception ; but still it remains glorious 
on account of the great quantity of excellent 
matter contained in it. That part of the con- 
stitution this event enables me not impertinently 
to except to, is the condition or term which the 
constitution holds every one to, who has the 
honor to be elected a member of the general 
court of Massachusetts, before he may (as is 
expressed in the constitution) proceed to execute 
the duties of his place. 

Be the person ever so immaculate and exem- 
plary a Christian ; although he has, in the 
proper place, that is, in the Christian church, 
made a most solemn, explicit, and public pro- 
fession of the Christian faith ; though he has 
an hundred times, and continues perhaps every 
month in the year, by participating in the 
church of the body and blood of Christ, practi- 
cally recognized and affirmed the sincerity of 
that profession ; yet, by the constitution, he is 
held, before he may be admitted to execute the 

• The author of the " Broken Hints," page 107. 



138 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



duties ol his office, to make and subscribe a 
profession of the Christian faith, or declaration 
that he is a Christian. Did our father con- 
fessors imagine, that a man who had not so 
much fear of God in his heart as to restrain him 
from acting dishonestly and knavishly in the 
trust of a senator or representative, would hes- 
itate a moment to subscribe that declaration ? 
Ciii bono, then, is the declaration } This extra- 
ordinary, not to say absurd, condition, brings 
fresh to mind a passage in the life of the pious, 
learned, and prudent Mr. John Howe, one of 
the strongest pillars of the dissenting interest 
in the reign of Charles the 2d and James the 2d. 
The history is as follows : 

"That Mr. Howe, waiting upon a certain 
bishop, his lordship presently fell to expostu- 
lating with him about his non-conformity. Mr. 
Howe told him he could not have time, without 
greatly trespassing on his patience, to go 
through the objections he had to make to the 
terms of conformity. The bishop pressed him 
to name any one that he reckoned to be of 
weight. He thereupon instanced the point of 
re-ordination. Why pray sir, said the bishop, 
what hurt is there in being twice ordained .' 
Hurt, my lord, says Mr. Howe to him ; the 
thought is shocking — it hurts my understand- 
ing. It is an absurdity ; for nothing has two 
beginnings. I am sure, said he, I am a min- 
ister of Christ, and I am ready to debate that 
matter with your lordship, if you please : I 
cannot begin again to be a minister." 

Besides, this term of e.xecuting the duties of 
the place is against common right, and as I 
may say, the natural franchise of every member 
of the commonwealth who has not by some 
crime or delictum forfeited his natural rights 
and franchises. It, moreover, reduces the 
ninth article of the declaration of rights to a 
mere futility, and, in such a connection, it would 
be for the reputation of the declaration of 
rights if that same ninth article was wholly ex- 
punged. More than that, the said condition is 
plainly repugnant to the first great article of 
the said declaration : and I am ready to debate 
that matter with any Doctor who assisted in 
framing the constitution, either in convention 
or without doors. The said declaration of faith 
to be subscribed, which constitutes the said 
impolitic and unrighteous condition, will, I 
believe, ever sound in every good ear almost as 
uncouthly as the Sessions Justices' famous 
charge to the standing grand jury. Let us hear 
them successively : 

" I do declare, that I believe the Christian 
religion, and have a firm persuasion of its 
truth ; and that I am seized and possessed in 



my own right of the property required by the 
constitution," &c. 

" Gentlemen of the grand jury : You are 
required by your oath to see to it, that the 
several towns in the county be provided 
according to law, with 

Pounds and School-masters, 
Whipping posts and ministers," 

Each containing an odd jumble of sacred and 
profane ; but, to me, the charge jingles best. 
By the constitution of the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, I am, may it please your honors, 
one of its senators ; and I am strongly dis- 
posed, according to my poor abilities, to 
execute the duties of my office ; but, by the 
unconscionable, not to say dishonorable terms, 
established by the same constitution, I am 
barred from endeavoring to perform these 
duties. I have been a professed Christian 
nearly forty years, and, although I have been 
guilty of many things unworthy of that charac- 
ter, whereof I am ashamed, yet I am not 
conscious that I have been guilty of any thing 
wholly inconsistent with the truth of that 
profession. 

The laws under the first charter required of 
the subjects of that state, in order to their 
enjoying some privileges, that they should be 
members in full communion of some Christian 
church. But, it never was before required, in 
the Massachusetts-Bay, that a subject, in order 
to his enjoying or exercising any franchise or 
office, should make profession of the Christian 
religion before a temporal court. 

May it please your honors : We have all heard 
of a lieutenant governor of the Massachusetts 
Bay, and some of us have known him very 
well, who contended long and earnestly that he 
had a right to a seat in council with a voice. 

I imagine I can maintain a better argument 
than he did, that I have a right to a seat in the 
senate of Massachusetts without a voice ; but, 
at present, I shall not attempt to take it. 

I am, may it please your honors, with the 
greatest respect to the senate, your most 
obedient humble servant, 

Joseph Hawley. 

October 28, 1780. 



REMINISCENCES 

Of the " Olden time" Boston, Mass. 

There is in course of publication, in the Bos- 
ton Gazette, the long-hoarded literary treasures 
of an accurate obsen'er's common-place book, 
giving us an amusing view of the society and 
manners of Boston, rather less than a century 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



139 



ago — differing somewhat, it will be seen, from 
those of the present day. These sketches, one 
of the numbers of which will be found below, 
are appropriately headed. 

Reminiscences. 

Dress, <S^. — Seventy years ago cocked hats, 
wigs, and red cloaks, were the usual dress of 
gentlemen, boots were rarely seen, except 
among military men. Shoe strings were worn 
only by those who could not buy any sort of 
buckles. In winter round coats were used, 
made stiff with buckram ; they came down to 
the knees in front. 

Before the revolution boys wore wigs and 
cocked hats ; and boys of genteel families 
wore cocked hats till within about thirty 
years. 

Ball dress for gentlemen was silk coat, 
and breeches of the same, and embroidered 
waistcoats — sometimes white satin breeches. 
Buckles were fashionable till within 15 or 20 
years, and a man could not have remained in a 
ball room with shoe strings. It was usual for 
the bride, bridegroom and maids, and men at- 
tendmg, to go to church together three suc- 
cessive Sundays after the wedding, with a 
change of dress each day. A gentleman who 
deceased not long since, appeared the first 
Sunday in white broadcloth — the second in 
blue and gold ; the third in peach bloom and 
pearl buttons. It was a custom to hang the 
escutcheon of a deceased head of a family out 
of the window over the front door, from the 
time of his decease until after the funeral. The 
last instance which is remembered of this, was 
in the case of gov. Hancock's uncle, 1764. 
Copies of the escutcheon, painted on black silk, 
were more anciently distributed among the 
pall-bearers — rings afterwards — and, until 
within a few years, gloves. Dr. A. Eliot had 
a mug full of rings which were presented to 
him at funerals. Till within about 20 years 
gentlemen wore powder, and many of them 
sat from thirty to forty minutes under the bar- 
ber's hands, to have their hair craped ; suffering 
no inconsiderable pain most of the time from 
hair-pulling, and sometimes from the hot curl- 
ing tongs. — Crape cushions and hoops were 
indispensable in full dress, till within about 30 
years. Sometimes ladies were dressed the day 
before the party, and slept in easy chairs, to 
keep their hair in fit condition for the following 
night. Most ladies went to parties on foot, if 
they could not get a cast in a friend's carriage 
or chaise. Gentlemen rarely had a chance to 
ride. 

The latest dinner hour was 2 o'clock ; some 



officers of the colonial government dined later 
occasionally. In genteel families ladies went 
to drink tea about 4 o'clock, and rarely staid 
after candle light in summer. It was the 
fashion for ladies to propose to visit — not to be 
sent for. 

The drinking of punch in the forenoon, in 
public houses, was a common practice with the 
most respectable men, till about five and twenty 
years ; and evening clubs were very common. 
The latter, it is said, were very common for- 
merly, as they afforded the means of com- 
munion on the state of the country. Dinner 
parties were very rare. Wine was very little in 
use ; convivial parties drank punch or toddy. 
Half-boots came into fashion about 30 years 
ago. The first pair that appeared in Boston 
were worn by a young gentleman who came 
here from New York, and who was more re- 
markable for his boots than any thing else. 
Within 20 years gentlemen wore scarlet coats 
with black velvet collars, and very costly but- 
tons, of mock pearl, cut steel, or painted glass 
— and neckcloths edged with lace, and laced 
ruffles over the hands. Before the revolution, 
from 5 to 600/. was the utmost of annual ex- 
penditure in those families where carriages and 
correspondent domestics were kept. There 
were only two or three carriages, that is, cha- 
riots or coaches, in 1750. Chaises on four 
wheels, not phaetons, were in use in families of 
distinction. 

The history of the Liberty Tree is said to be 
this : That a certain capt. Mcintosh illumi- 
nated the tree, and hung upon it effigies of 
obnoxious characters, and that these were taken 
down by the liberty boys and burnt ; and the 
tree thus got its name. 

A man used to ride on an ass, with immense 
jack boots, and his face covered with a horrible 
mask, and was called Joyce Jr. His office was 
to assemble men and boys in mob style, and 
ride in the middle of them, and in such com- 
pany to terrify the adherents to royal govern- 
ment, before the revolution. The tumults which 
resuhed in the massacre, 1770, was excited by 
such means. Joyce Junior was said to have 
a particular whistle, which brought his adhe- 
rents, &c., whenever they were wanted. 

About 1730 to 1740, there was no meat 
market ; there were only four shops in which 
fresh meat was sold— one of them was the 
comer of State-street and Comhill, where Mr. 
Hartshorn now keeps.— Gentlemen used to go 
the day before and have their names put down 
for what they wanted. Outside of this shop 
was a large hook, on which carcasses used to 
hang. A little man who was a justice of the 



140 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



peace, came one day for meat ; but came too 
late. He was disappointed, and asked to whom 
such and such pieces were to go? One of 
them was to go to a tradesman— (it was not a 
common thing in those days for tradesmen to 
eat fresh meat)— the justice went out, saying, 
he would send the tradesman a salad for his 



lamb. He sent an overdue and unpaid tax- 
bill. Soon after, the tradesman met the jus- 
tice near this place, and told him he would 
return his kindness ; which he did, by hanging 
the justice up by the waistband of his breeches 
to the butcher's hook, and leaving him to get 
down as he could. 



RHODE ISLAND. 



OATH EXACTED BY GENERAL LEE 

Of the People of Rhode Island, 

Dec, 1775. 

.. I_here in the presence of Almighty God, 
as I hope for ease, honor and comfort in this 
world, and happiness in the world to come, 
most earnestly, devoutly and religiously swear; 
that I will neither directly nor indirectly assist 
the wicked instruments of ministerial tyranny 
and villainy, commonly called the king's troops 
and navy, by furnishing them with provisions 
and refreshments of any kind, unless author- 
ized by the continental congress or legislature 
at present established in this particular colony 
of Rhode Island : I do also swear by the Tre- 
mendous and Almighty God, that I will neither 
directly or indirectly convey any intelligence, 
nor give any advice to the aforesaid enemies 
described ; and that I pledge myself, if I should 
by any accident get knowledge of such trea- 
sons, to inform immediately the committee of 
safety : and as it is justly allowed that when 
the rights and sacred liberties of a nation or 
community are invaded, neutrality is not less 
base and criminal than open and avowed hos- 
tility : I do further swear and pledge myself 
as I hope for eternal salvation, that I will 
whenever called upon by the voice of the con- 
tinental congress, or by that of the legislature 
of this particular colony under their authority, 
to take ar ns and subject myself to military 
discipline in defence of the common rights and 
liberties of America. So help me God." 



COURT MARTIAL 



Held at Providence, Rhode Island, 

July 24, 1778. 

From the Providence {R. I.) Patriot. — A 
friend has handed us the following extract 
from the orderly book of general Sullivan, in 



command here during the revolution, as being 
connected with a case somewhat analogous to 
one which occurred in the Seminole war. We 
have omitted names for obvious reasons. 

" Headquarters, Providence, 

Jufy 24, 1778. 
" The sentence of the court martial whereof 

Colonel E was president, against M. A. 

and D. C. the general totally disapproves, as 
illegal and absurd. The clearest evidence 
having appeared to the court, that the said A. 
was employed by the enemy, repeatedly, to 
come on the main as a spy, and that he enticed 
men to go on to Rhode Island, to enlist in the 
enemy's service, and his confessions from day 
to day being so different as to prove him not 
only a spy, but to be a person in whom the 
least confidence cannot be placed; the court 
having found him guilty of all this, nothing 
could be more absurd than to sentence him to 
be whipped one hundred lashes, and after- 
wards to be taken into a service which he has 
been long endeavoring in the most malicious 
and secret manner to injure ! The man who 
is found guilty of acting as a spy, can have but 
one judgment by all the laws of war, which is 
to suffer death ; and the sentence of a man to 
be whipped when found guilty of this crime, is 
as absurd as for the common law courts to order 
a man to be set in the stocks for wilful murder. 
The same absurdity appearing in the judg- 
ment against D. C. for the same reasons, [the 
general] disapproves them both, dissolves the 
court, and orders another court to sit for the 
trial of those persons, to-morrow morning, at 
9 o'clock. The adjutant general to lodge a 
crime against A. for acting as a spy, and for 
enticing men to enlist into the enemy's service, 
and against C. for acting as a spy." 

At the subsequent court, A. was found guilty 
as before, and sentenced to be hung, which 
sentence the general approved and executed. 



CONNECTICUT. 



141 



WILLIAM ELLERY, 

Rhode Island, one of the signers of 
THE Declaration of Independence, 

Extract of a Letter, dated Neiuport, R. I. 
March 14, 1820. 

" Old Mr. Ellery died like a philosopher. In 
truth, death, in its common form, never came 
near him. His strength wasted gradually for 
the last year, until he had not enough left to 
draw in his breath, and so he ceased to breathe. 
The day on which he died he got up as usual 
and dressed himself, took his old flag-bottomed 
chair, without arms, in which he had sat for 
more than half a century, and was reading 
TuUy's Offices, in the Latin, without glasses, 
though the print was as fine as that of the 
smallest pocket Bible. Dr. W. stopped in on 
his way to the hospital as he usually did ; and 
on perceiving the old gentleman could scarcely 



raise his eyelids to look at him, took his hand, 
and found that his pulse was gone. After 
drinking a little wine and water. Dr. W. told 
him his pulse beat stronger. " O yes, doctor, 
I have a charming pulse. But," he continued, 
" it is idle to talk to me in this way. I am going 
off the stage of life, and it is a great blessing 
that I go free from sickness, pain and sorrow." 
Some time after, his daughter, finding him be- 
come extremely weak, wished him to be put to 
bed, which he at first objected to, saying he felt 
no pain, and there was no occasion for his going 
to bed. Presently after, however, fearing he 
might possibly fall out of his chair, he told 
them they might get him upright in the bed, so 
that he could continue to read. They did so, 
and he continued reading Cicero very quietly 
for some time ; presently they looked at him 
and found him dead, sitting in the same pos- 
ture, with the book under his chin, as a man 
who becomes drowsy and goes to sleep." 



CONNECTICUT. 



DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES 

Recommended by the inhabitants of 
New Haven, February 22, 1768. 

" At a Town Meeting holden in New Haven 
by adjournment, upon the 22dday of Feb. 1768, 

"The committee appointed in consequence 
of a letter from the selectmen of the town of 
Boston to the select men of this town, to con- 
sider of some measures to be agreed upon for 
promoting economy, manufactures, etc. report, 
That it is their opinion, that it is expedient 
for the town to take all prudent and legal 
measures to encourage the produce and manu- 
factures of this colony, and to lessen the use of 
superfluities, and more especially the following 
articles imported from abroad, viz : 

" Carriages of all sorts, house furniture, men's 
and women's hats, men's and women's apparel, 
ready made household furniture, men's and 
women's shoes, sole leather, gold, silver, and 
thread lace, gold and silver buttons, wrought 
plate, diamond, stone, and paste ware, clocks, 
silver-smith's and jeweller's ware, broad cloths 
that cost above ten shillings sterling per yard, 
muffs, furs, and tippets, starch, women's and 
children's toys, silk and cotton velvets, gauze, 
linseed oil, malt liquors, and cheese. 

" And that a subscription be recommended 



to the several inhabitants and house holders of 
the town, whereby they may mutually agree 
and engage, that they will encourage the use 
and consumption of articles manufactured in 
the British American colonies, and more es- 
pecially in this colony, and that they will not, 
after the 31st day of March next, purchase any 
of the above enumerated articles, imported 
from abroad, after the said 31st of March, and 
that they will be careful to promote the saving 
of linen rags, and other materials, proper for 
making paper in this colony. 

" The foregoing report being considered by 
the town, was by a full vote approved of and 
accepted. 

A true copy of record. 
Test, Samuel Bishop, jr. tmvn clerk. 



LETTER 

From Hon. Jonathan Trumbull, Gov. 
OF the Colony of Connecticut, to 
Genr'l Gage. 

Hartford, April i%, 1775. 

Sir — The alarming situation of public affairs 
in this country, and the late unfortunate trans- 
actions in the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
have induced the general assembly of this 



142 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



colony, now sitting in this place, to appoint a 
committee of their body to wait upon your ex- 
cellency, and to desire me, in their name, to 
write to you relative to these very interesting 
matters. 

The inhabitants of this colony are intimately 
connected with the people of your province, 
and esteem themselves bound, by the strongest 
ties of friendship, as well as of common in- 
terest, to regard with attention, whatever con- 
cerns them. You will not, therefore, be sur- 
prised, that your first arrival at Boston, with a 
body of his Majesty's troops, for the declared 
purpose of carrying into execution certain acts 
of parliament, which, in their apprehension, 
were unconstitutional and oppressive, should 
have given the good people of this colony a 
verj' just and general alarm ; your subsequent 
proceedings in fortifying the town of Boston, 
and other military preparations, greatly in- 
creased their apprehensions for the safety of 
their friends and brethren ; they could not be 
unconcerned spectators of their sufferings, in 
that which they esteemed the common cause 
of this countr)' ; but the late hostile and secret 
inroads of some of the troops under your com- 
mand, into the heart of the country, and the vio- 
lences they have committed, have driven them 
almost into a state of desperation. They feel 
now not only for their friends, but for them- 
selves, and their dearest interests and connec- 
tions. We wish not to exaggerate ; we are not 
sure of every part of our information ; but, by 
the best intelligence that we have yet been able 
to obtain, the late transaction was a most un- 
provoked attack upon the lives and property of 
his majesty's subjects ; and it is represented to 
us, that such outrages have been committed, 
as would disgrace even barbarians, and much 
more Britons, so highly famed for humanity, as 
well as bravery. It is feared, therefore, that 
we are devoted to destruction, and that you 
have it in command and intention, to ravage 
and desolate the country. If this is not the 
case, permit us to ask. why have these outrages 
been committed ? Why is the town of Boston 
now shut up ? And to what end are all the 
hostile preparations that are daily making, and 
why do we continually hear of fresh destina- 
tion of troops for this country'.' The people of 
this colony, you may rely upon it, abhor the 
idea of taking arms against the troops of their 
sovereign, and dread nothing so much as the 
horrors of civil war ; but, at the same time, we 
beg leave to assure your excellency, that as 
they apprehend themselves justified by the 
principles of self defence, so they are most 
firmly resolved to defend their rights and privi- 



leges to the last extremity ; nor will they be 
restrained from giving aid to their brethren, if 
any unjustifiable attack is made upon them. 
Be so good, therefore, as to explain yourself 
upon this most important subject, as far as is 
consistent with your duty to our common sov- 
ereign. Is there no way to prevent this un- 
happy dispute from coming to extremities ? Is 
there no alternative but absolute submission, 
or the desolations of war ? By that humanity 
which constitutes so amiable a part of your 
character ; for the honor of our sovereign, and 
by the glory of the British empire, we entreat 
you to prevent it, if it be possible ; surely, it is 
to be hoped that the temperate wisdom of the 
empire might, even yet, find expedients to re- 
store peace, that so all parts of the empire may 
enjoy their particular rights, honors, and im- 
munities : Certainly, this is an event most 
devoutly to be wished for ; and will it not be 
consistent with your duty to suspend the opera- 
tion of war on your part, and enable us on ours, 
to quiet the minds of the people, at least, till 
the result of some further deliberations may be 
known ? The importance of the occasion will, 
we doubt not, sufficiently apologize for the ear- 
nestness with which we address you, and any 
seeming impropriety, which may attend it, as 
well as induce you to give us the most explicit 
and favorable answer in your power. 

I am, with great esteem and respect, in 
behalf of the general assembly, sir, &c. 

(Signed) Jonathan Trumbull. 
His Excellency, Thomas Gage, esq. 



REDUCTION 

In value of staple articles 

New London, (Con.) Aug. 23, 1776. 

By means of the great number of prizes car- 
ried into the different ports of this continent, 
Jamaica rum is sold at 4s. 4d. per gallon, by 
the hogshead ; and sugar at five dollars per 
hundred weight, in Boston. 



LETTER 

From William Tryon to Governor 
Trumbull, of Connecticut. 

New York, April it^ 1778- 

Sir — Having been honored with the king's 
commands, to circulate the enclosures to the 
people at large, I take the liberty to offer them 
to you for your candid consideration, and to 
recommend that, through your means, the 



CONNECTICUT. 



143 



inhabitants within your province may be 
acquainted with the same ; as also the other 
provinces to the eastward. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

W. Tryon, 
Governor Trumbull. 



GOVERNOR TRUMBULL'S REPLY 
THERETO. 

Lebanon, April 23, 1778. 
Sir — Your letter of the 17th inst., from New 
York, is received, with its enclosures, and the 
several similar packets, of various addresses, 
with which it was accompanied. 

Proposals of peace are usually made from 
the supreme authority of one contending power, 
to the similar authority of the other ; and the 
present is the first instance, within my recollec- 
tion, when a vague, half blank, and very in- 
definite draught of a bill, once only read before 
one of the three bodies of the legislature of the 
nation, has ever been addressed to the people 
at large of the opposite power, as an overture 
of reconciliation. 

There was a day, when even this step, from 
our then acknowledged parent state, might 
have been accepted with joy and gratitude, but 
that day, sir, is past irrecoverably. The re- 
peated insolent rejection of our sincere and 
sufficiently humble petitions, the unprovoked 
commencement of hostilities ; the barbarous 
inhumanity which has marked the provocations 
of the war on your part, in its several stages ; 
the insolence which displays itself on every 
petty advantage ; the cruelties which have 
been exercised on those unhappy men whom 
the fortune of war has thrown into your hands 
— all these are insuperable bars to the very 
idea of concluding a peace with Great Britain, 
on any other conditions than the most absolute 
and perfect independence. To the congress 
of the United States of America, therefore, all 
proposals of this kind are to be addressed ; and 
you will give me leave, sir, to say that the 
present mode bears too much the marks of an 
insidious design to disunite the people, and to 
lull us into a state of quietude, and negligence 
of the necessary preparations for the approach- 
ing campaign. If this be the real design, it is 
fruitless. If peace be really the object, let 
your proposals be properly addressed to the 
proper power, and your negotiations be honor- 
ably conducted, we shall then have some pros- 
pect of (what is the most ardent wish of every 
honest American,) a lasting and honorable 
peace. The British nation may then, perhaps, 
find us as affectionate and valuable friends, as 



we now are fatal and determined enemies, and 
will derive from that friendship, more solid and 
real advantage, than the most sanguine can 
e.\pect from conquest. 

I am, sir, your humble sen'ant, 

J. Trumbull. 
William Tryon, Esq. 



MASSACRE OF TROOPS 

At Fort Griswold or Groton, Connec- 
ticut, BY British troops, September 
6, 1781. 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Nt'les. — The following scrap of history 
is recorded on a head stone at the grave of 
Colonel Ledyard, half a mile S. E. of Fort Gris- 
wold, or Groton, Con., as a public monument 
of the character of the cause, the actors and the 
act. Colonel Ledyard was run through ivithhis 
0W71 sivord, by a British captain to whom he 
had surrendered it, and most of the garrison 
were 7nurdcred after they had grounded their 
arms. Those who sur\-ived saved themselves 
by embracing the British soldiers in such a 
manner that they could not bayonet them. 
The wounded were put into a wagon and pre- 
cipitated down the steep hill which elevates 
the fort above the river. 

SACRED TO THE MEMORY 
OF 

WILLIAM LEDYARD, esq. 

" Colonel commandant of the garrisoned 
posts of New London and Groton, who, after 
a gallant defence, was, with a large pari of 
the brave garrison, inhumanly massacred by 
British troops in Fort Griswold, September, 
6th, 1781, jEtat, suae, 43. By a judicious and 
faithful discharge of the various duties of his 
station, he rendered most essential services 
to his country, and stood confessed the un- 
shaken patriot, and intrepid hero. He lived 
the pattern of magnanimity, courtesy and 
humanity. He fell the victim of ungenerous 
rage and cruelty." 

" There is a white stone inscribed — SACRED 
to the memory of captain JNO. WIL- 
LIAMS, who fell gloriously fighting for the 
liberty of his country in fort Griswold, Septem- 
ber 6th, 1781, in the 43d year of his age." 

" On another stone is the inscription — 
SACRED TO the MEMORY of lieut. EBENE- 
ZER AVERY, who fell gloriously fighting in 
the defence of fort Griswold and American 
freedom, September 6th, 1781, in the 42d year 
of his age." 



144 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



BENEDICT ARNOLD'S CONNECTION 

With the massacre at Fort Griswold 
OR Groton, Connecticut. 

" ONE RENAGADO IS WORSE THAN TEN TURKS." 

To complete the history of this horrible trans- 
action, and further to disseminate a know- 
ledge of the infamy of Arnold and give up 
the butchering traitor to the execration of 
posterity — we extract the following account 
of the massacre from Gordon's History, New 
York edit. vol. III. page 249.* 
" The return of Gen. Arnold to New York 
from Virginia, did not fi.x him in a state of 
inactivity. He was sent on an enterprise 
against New London, with a sufficient land and 
marine force. — The embarkation having pas- 
sed over from Long Island shore in the night, 
the troops were landed in two detachments on 
each side of the harbor, at ten o'clock in the 
morning of the 6th of September; that on the 
Groton side being commanded by Lieutenant 
Colonel Eyre, and that on the New London 
side by the general, who met no great trouble. 
Fort Trumbull and the redoubt, which were in- 
tended to cover the harbor and town, not being 
tenable, were evacuated as he approached, and 
the few men in them crossed the river to Fort 
Griswold, on Groton-Hill. Arnold proceeded 
to the town without being otherwise opposed 
than by the scattered fire of small parties that 
had hastily collected. Orders were sent by the 
general to Eyre for attacking Fort Griswold, 
that so the possession of it might prevent the 

♦ In speakino^ of Arnold, it may be useful to observe 
that Washington offered to exchange Andre for him, 
which Sir Henry Clinton declined. Never were the sym- 
pathies of the American people so much misled as in the 
case of the unfortunate Andre. He was engaged in a 
most vile business— the meanest that can be imagined for 
an honorable man, the perfection of an act of corruption 
and treason, and justly merited his fate ; if he had had ten 
thousand lives, they were all justly forfeited by the laws 
oi honor as well as to those of war, and every principle 
of self-preservation. Had he not been put to death, the 
great Washingto.%, himself, would at least have merited 
a dismissal from the command of the revolutionary army. 
But it is well known that the private feelings of the illus- 
trious father of his country were greatly excited in favor 
of that unlucky young man — I say unlucky, because if he 
had succeeded he would have been praised and rewarded 
for his gallantry, dexterity, etc. He failed— and instead 
of being a hero became a culprit, in the estimation of every 
reflecting man. No personal accomplishments or private 
character can palliate a public act of shame — they rather 
aggravate the otfence ; and an agency in an act of vil- 
lainy entitles the agent to the villain's fare. Yet he was 
treated with all possible courtesy and kindness, and had 
all the intercourse with his friends which the nature of 
his condition admitted of. How different the conduct of 
the British to Captain Nathan Hale — an .American, whose 
character, in any and every light, was comparable with 
that of .\ndre. a sketch of whose case may be found in 
the Weekly Register, vol. II. page 129. Editor. 



escape of the American shipping. The militia, 
to the amount of 157, collected for its defence, 
but so hastily as not to be fully furnished with 
fire arms and other weapons. As the assail- 
ants approached, a firing commenced, and the 
flag-staff was soon shot down, from whence 
the neighboring spectators inferred, that the 
place had surrendered, till the continuance of 
the firing convinced them to the contrary. 
The garrison defended themselves with the 
greatest resolution and bravery; Eyre was 
wounded near the works, and Major Mont- 
gomery was killed immediately after, so that 
the command devolved on Major Broomfield. 
The British at one time staggered, but the 
fort being out of repair, could not be main- 
tained by a handful of men against so superior 
a number as that which assaulted it. After an 
action of about 40 minutes, the resolution of 
the royal troops carried the place by the point 
of the bayonet. The Americans had not more 
than half a do::£n killed be/ore the enemy en- 
tered the fort, when a severe execution took 
place, though resistance ceased. The British 
officer enquired, on his entering the fort, who 
commanded .' Colonel Ledyard answered — 
" I did, sir, but you do now ;" and presented 
him his sword. The colonel was immediately 
run through and killed. The slain were 73 ; 
the wounded between 30 and 40, and about 40 
were carried off prisoners. Soon after reduc- 
ing the fort, the soldiers loaded a wagon with 
the wounded, as said, by order of their officers 
and set the wagon off from the top of the hill, 
which is long and very steep ; the wagon went 
a considerable distance with great force, till it 
was suddenly stopt by an apple tree, which 
gave the faint and bleeding men so terrible a 
shock that part of them died instantly. 
About fifteen vessels, with effects of the inhabi- 
tants, retreated up the river, notwithstanding 
the reduction of the fort, and four others 
remained in the harbor unhurt ; a number 
were burnt by the fire's communicating from 
the stores when in flames. Sixty dwelling 
houses and 84 stores were burned, including 
those on both sides of the harbor and in New 
London. The burning of the town was inten- 
tional and not accidental. The loss that the 
Americans sustained in this destruction was 
very great ; for there were large quantities of 
naval stores, of European goods, of East and 
West India commodities, and of provisions 
in the several stores. The British had two 
commissioned officers and 46 privates kill- 
ed ; eight officers (some of whom are since 
dead) with 135 non-commissioned and privates 
wounded." 



CONNECTICUT. 



145 



AN ELECTION SERMON, 

Delivered by President Stiles, before 
THE Connecticut Legislature, May, 
1783- 

" While we render our supreme honors to 
the Most High, the God of armies, let us recol- 
lect, with affectionate honor, the bold and 
brave sons of freedom, who willingly offered 
themselves, and bled in the defence of their 
countrj'. Our fellow citizens, the officers and 
soldiers of the patriot army, who, with the 
Manlys, the Joneses, and other gallant com- 
manders and brave seamen of the American 
na\'y, have heroically fought the war by sea 
and by land, merit, of their once bleeding, but 
now triumphant country, laurels, crowns, 
rewards, and the highest honors. Never was 
the profession of arms used with more glory, 
or in a better cause, since the days of Joshua 
the son of Nun. O Washington ! how do I 
love thy name ! how often have I adored and 
blessed thy God, for creating and forming thee 
the great ornament of human kind. Upheld 
and protected by the omnipotent, by the Lord 
of Hosts, thou hast been sustained and car- 
ried through one of the most arduous and 
important wars in all history. The world and 
posterity will, with admiration, contemplate thy 
deliberate, cool, and stable judgment, thy vir- 
tues, thy valor and heroic achievements, as far 
surpassing those of Cyrus, whom the world 
loved and adored. The sound of thy fame 
shall go out into all the earth, and extend to 
distant ages. Thou hast convinced the world 
of the beauty of virtue — for, in thee this beauty 
shines with distinguished lustre. Those who 
would not recognize any beauty in virtue in the 
world beside, will yet reverence it in thee. 
There is a glor)' in thy disinterested benevo- 
lence, which the greatest characters would 
purchase, if possible, at the expense of worlds, 
and which may excite indeed their emulation, 
but cannot be felt by the venal great — who 
think every thing, even virtue and true glory, 
may be bought and sold, and trace our every 
action to motives terminating in self; 

' Find virtue local, all relation scorn, 
See all in self, and but for sei/W bom.' 

But thou, O Washington, forgottest thyself, 
when thou lovedst thy bleeding countrj'. Not 
all the gold of Ophir, nor a world tilled with 
rubies and diamonds, could affect or purchase 
the sublime and noble feelings of thine heart, 
in that single self-moved act, when thou 
renouncedst the rewards of generalship, and 
heroically tookest upon thyself the dangerous 
lo 



as well as arduous office of generalissimo— and 
this at a solemn moment, when thou didst 
deliberately cast the die, for the dubious, the 
very dubious alternative of a gibbet or a tri- 
umphal arch !— But, beloved, enshielded and 
blessed by the great Melchisedec, the king of 
righteousness as well as peace, thou hast 
triumphed gloriously. Such has been thy 
military wisdom in the struggles of this arduous 
conflict, such the noble rectitude, amiableness 
and mansuetude of thy character: something 
is there so singularly glorious and venerable 
thrown by Heaven about thee, that not only 
does thy country love thee, but our very 
enemies stop the madness of their fire in full 
volley, stop the illiberality of their slander, at 
thy name, as if rebuked from Heaven with a 
' touch not mine anointed, and do my hero no 
harm.' Thy fame is of sweeter perfume than 
Arabian spices in the gardens of Persia. A 
baron de Steuben shall waft its fragrance to the 
monarch of Prussia : a marquis de la Fayette 
shall waft it to a far greater monarch, and 
diffuse thy renown throughout Europe. Listen- 
ing angels shall catch the odor, waft it to 
heaven, and perfume the universe." 



AN ORATION 



Delivered by Mr. Joel Barlow, at 
Hartford, Conn., to the Society of 
the Cincinnati, July \, 1787. 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Society, 
and Fellow-citizens, 

On the anniversary of so great an event as 
the birth of the empire in which we live, none 
will question the propriety of passing a few 
moments in contemplating the various objects 
suggested to the mind by the important occa- 
sion. But, at the present period, while the 
blessings, claimed by the sword of victory, and 
promised in the voice of peace, remain to be 
confirmed by our future exertions — while the 
nourishment, the growth, and even the existence 
of our empire depend upon the united efforts 
of an extensive and divided people — the duties 
of this day ascend from amusement and con- 
gratulation to a serious patriotic employment. 

We are assembled, my friends, not to boast, 
but to realize — not to inflate our national vanity 
by a pompous relation of past achievements in 
the council, or in the field ; but, from a modest 
retrospect of the truly dignified part already 
acted by our countrymen — from an accurate 
view of our present situation — and from aa 



146 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



anticipation of the scenes that remain to be 
unfolded — to discern and familiarize the duties 
that still await us, as citizens, as soldiers, and 
as men. 

Revolutions in other countries have been 
effected by accident. The faculties of human 
reason and the rights of human nature have 
been the sport of chance and the prey of 
ambition. And when indignation has burst the 
bands of slavery, to the destruction of one tyrant, 
it was only to impose the manacles of another. 
This arose from the imperfection of that early 
stage of society, which necessarily occasioned 
the foundation of empires on the eastern conti- 
nent to be laid in ignorance, and which induced 
a total inability of foreseeing the improvements 
of civilization, or of adapting the government 
to a state of social refinement. 

I shall but repeat a common observation, 
when I remark, that on the western continent, 
the scene was entirely different, and a new 
task, totally unknown to the legislators of 
other nations, was imposed upon the fathers of 
the American empire. 

Here was a people thinly scattered over an 
extensive territory, lords of the soil on which 
they trode, commanding a prodigious length 
of coast and an equal breadth of frontier — a 
people habituated to liberty, professing a mild 
and benevolent religion, and highly advanced 
in science and civilization. To conduct such a 
people in a revolution, the address must be 
made to reason, as well as to the passions. 
And to reason, to the clear understanding of 
these variously affected colonies, the solemn 
address was made. 

A people thus enlightened, and capable of 
discerning the connection of causes with their 
remotest effects, waited not the experience of 
oppression in their own persons ; which they 
well knew would render them less able to con- 
duct a regular opposition. But in the moment 
of their greatest prosperity, when every heart 
expanded with the increasing opulence of the 
British American dominions, and every tongue 
united in the praises of the parent state and 
her patriot king, when many circumstances 
concurred, which would have rendered an 
ignorant people secure and inattentive to their 
future interest — at this moment the eyes of the 
American Argus were open to the first and 
most plausible invasion of the colonial rights. 

In vain were we told, and perhaps with the 
greatest truth and sincerity, that the moneys 
levied in America were all to be expended 
within the country, and for our benefit ; equally 
idle was the policy of Great Britain, in com- 
mencing her new system by a small and almost 



imperceptible duty, and that upon very few arti- 
cles. It was not the quantity of the tax, it was 
not the mode of appropriation, but it was the 
right of the demand, which was called in ques- 
tion. Upon this the people deliberated : this they 
discussed in a cool and dispassionate manner : 
and this they opposed, in every shape that an 
artful and systematic ministry could devise, for 
more than ten years, before they assumed the 
sword. 

This single circumstance, aside from the 
magnitude of the object, or the event of the 
contest, will stamp a peculiar glory on the 
American revolution, and mark it as a distin- 
guished era in the history of mankind ; that 
sober reason and reflection have done the work 
of enthusiasm, and performed the miracles of 
Gods. In what other age or nation has a labo- 
rious and agricultural people, at ease upon their 
own farms, secure and distant from the ap- 
proach of fleets and armies, tide-waiters, and 
stamp-masters, reasoned before they had felt, 
and, from the dictates of duty and conscience, 
encountered dangers, distress, and poverty, for 
the sake of securing to posterity a government 
of independence and peace ? The toils of ages 
and the fate of millions were to be sustained 
by a few hands. The voice of unborn nations 
called upon them for safety ; but it was a still 
small voice, the voice of rational reflection. 
Here was no Cromwell to inflame the people 
with bigotr)' and zeal, no Cssar to reward his 
followers with the spoils of vanquished foes, 
and no territory to acquire by conquest. Am- 
bition, superstition, and avarice, those universal 
torches of war, never illumined an American 
field of battle : But the permanent principles 
of sober policy spread through the colonies, 
roused the people to assert their rights, and 
conducted the revolution. 

It would be wandering from the objects 
which ought to occupy our present attention, 
again * to recount the numerous acts of the 
British parliament which composed that system 
of tyranny designed for the subjugation of 
America : neither can we indulge in the detail 
of those memorable events, which marked our 
various stages of resistance, from the glooms 
of unsuccessful supplication, to the splendor of 
victory and acknowledged sovereignty. The 
former were the theme of senatorial eloquence, 
producing miracles of union and exertion in 
every part of the continent, till we find them 
preser%'ed for everlasting remembrance in that 

* This oration was preceded by the lecture of the act of 
independence ; which, by an order of this state society, is 
in future to make part of their public exercises at every 
annual meetlog. 



CONNECTICUT. 



147 



declarator)' act of independence, which gave 
being to an empire, and dignified the day we 
now commemorate ; the latter are fresh in the 
memory of every person of the least informa- 
tion. It would be impertinence, if not a breach 
of delicacy, to attempt a recital of those glorious 
achievements, especially before an audience, 
part of whom have been distinguished actors 
in the scene, others the anxious and applauding 
spectators. To the faithful historian we resign 
the task — the historian, whom it is hoped the 
present age will deem it their duty, as well as 
their interest, to furnish, encourage, and sup- 
port. 

Whatever praise is due for the task already 
performed, it is certain that much remains to 
be done. The revolution is but half completed. 
Independence and government were the two 
objects contended for : and but one is yet ob- 
tained. To the glory of the present age, and 
the admiration of the future, our severance 
from the British empire was conducted upon 
principles as noble, as they were new and un- 
precedented in the history of human actions. 
Could the same generous principles, the same 
wisdom and unanimity be exerted in effecting the 
establishment of a permanent federal system, 
what an additional lustre would it pour upon 
the present age ! a lustre hitherto unequalled ; 
a display of magnanimity for which mankind 
may never behold another opportunity. 

Without an efficient government, our inde- 
pendence will cease to be a blessing. Shall 
that glow of patriotism and unshaken perse- 
verance, which has been so long conspicuous 
in the American character, desert us at our 
utmost need ? Shall we lose sight of our own 
happiness, because it has grown familiar by a 
near approach ? Shall thy labors, O Washing- 
ton, have been bestowed in vain ? Hast thou 
conducted us to independence and peace, 
and shall we not receive the blessings at thy 
hands ? Where are the shades of our fallen 
friends ? and what is their language on this oc- 
casion ? Warren, Montgomery, Mercer, Woos- 
ter, Scammel, and Laurens, all ye hosts of 
departed heroes ! rich is the treasure you have 
lavished in the cause, and prevalent the price 
you have paid for our freedom. Shall the pur- 
chase be neglected ? the fair inheritance lie 
without improvement, exposed to every daring 
invader ? Forbid it, honor ; forbid it, gratitude ; 
and oh, may Heaven avert the impending evil. 
In contemplating the price of our independ- 
ence, it will never be forgotten, that it was not 
entirely the work of our own hands ; nor could 
it probably have been established, in the same 
term of time, by all the blood and treasure that 



America, unassisted, was able to furnish for the 
contest. Much of the merit is due, and our 
warmest acknowledgments shall ever flow to 
that illustrious monarch, the father of nations 
and friend of the distrest — the monarch who, 
by his early assistance, taught us not to 
despair ; and who, when we had given a suffi- 
cient proof of our military virtue and persever- 
ance, joined us in alliance, upon terms of 
equality ; gave us a rank and credit among the 
maritime nations of Europe; and furnished 
fleets and armies, money and military stores, to 
put a splendid period to the important conflict. 
Where shall we find language to express a 
nation's gratitude for such unexampled good- 
ness and magnanimity ? my friends, it is not 
to be done with language. Our sense of obli- 
gation for favors received from Heaven, is best 
expressed by a wise improvement. Does Louis 
ask for more ? and can duty be satisfied with 
less .' Unite in a permanent federal govern- 
ment : put your commerce upon a respectable 
footing; your arts and manufactures, your 
population, your wealth and glory will increase ; 
and when a hundred millions of people are 
comprised within your territory, and made 
happy by your sway, then shall it be known, 
that the hand of that monarch assisted in plant- 
ing the vine, from which so great a harvest is 
produced. His generous heart shall exult in 
the prospect : his royal descendants, fired by 
the great example, shall imitate his virtues : 
and the world shall unite in his praise. 

Here shall that pride of the military charac- 
ter, the gallant FAYETTE, find his compensa- 
tion for a life of disinterested service ; whose 
toils have not ceased with the termination of 
the war ; and whose successful endeavors to 
promote our interest, in commercial and politi- 
cal arrangements, can only be equalled by his 
achievements in the field. How will the pos- 
terity of that nobleman, and that of the other 
brave oflScers of his nation, who have fought by 
your sides, on reviewing the American history, 
rejoice in the fame of their fathers ; nor even 
regret the fate of those who bled in so glorious 
afield! 

Anacknowledgment of the merits of Rocham- 
beau and Chastellux, D'Estaing, De Grasse, De 
Barras, and the other heroes of the French 
army and navy — affection to the memory of our 
brethren and companions who have bled in our 
battles — reverence to the advice of our illus- 
trious commander in chief, and of all those 
sages and patriots who have composed our 
councils, from the time of the first congress to 
the present moment — honor to our worthy 
creditors in purope — a regard to the conduct 



148 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of the imperial sovereigns of Russia and Ger- 
many, who evince to the world that they revere 
the cause of liberty and human happiness, in 
which we drew the sword — a respect to the 
memory of the venerable Frederic of Prussia, 
whose dying hand put the signature to a treaty 
of commerce with the United States, upon the 
most liberal principles that ever originated in a 
diplomatic council — a sacred regard to our- 
selves and to all posterity — and, above all, a 
religious gratitude to our Heavenly Benefactor, 
who hath hitherto smiled upon our endeavors 
— call upon us, in the language of a thousand 
tongues, for firmness, unanimity, and persever- 
ance, in completing the revolution, and estab- 
lishing the empire. 

The present is justly considered an alarming 
crisis : perhaps the most alarming that America 
ever saw. We have contended with the most 
powerful nation, and subdued the bravest and 
best appointed armies : but now we have to 
contend with ourselves, and encounter passions 
and prejudices, more powerful than armies, and 
more dangerous to our peace. It is not for 
glory, it is for existence that we contend. 

Much is expected from the federal conven- 
tion now sitting at Philadelphia : and it is a 
happy circumstance that so general a confi- 
dence from all parts of the country is centred in 
that respectable body. Their former services, 
as individuals, command it, and our situation 
requires it. But although much is expected 
from them, yet more is demanded from our- 
selves. 

The first great object is to convince the 
people of the importance of their present situa- 
tion : for the majority of a great people, on a 
subject which they understand, will never act 
wrong. If ever there was a lime, in any age 
or nation, when the fate of millions depended 
on the voice of one, it is the present period in 
these states. Every free citizen of the Ameri- 
can empire ought now to consider himself as 
the legislator of half mankind. When he views 
the amazing extent of territory, settled and to 
be settled under the operation of his laws — 
when, like a wise politician, he contemplates 
the population of future ages — the changes 
to be wrought by the possible progress of arts, 
in agriculture, commerce, and manufactures — 
ti\e increasing connection and intercourse of 
nations, and the effect of one rational political 
system upon the general happiness of mankind 
— his mind, dilated with the great idea, will 
realize a liberality of feeling which leads to 
a reetitude of conduct. He will see that the 
system to be established by his suffrage, is 
calculated for the great benevolent purposes 



of extending peace, happiness, and progressive 
improvement to a large proportion of his fel- 
low creatures. As there is a probability that 
the system to be proposed by the convention 
may answer this description, there is some 
reason to hope it will be viewed by the people 
with that candor and dispassionate respect 
which is due to the importance of the subject. 
While the anxiety of the feeling heart is 
breathing the perpetual sigh for the attain- 
ment of so great an object, it becomes the 
strongest duty of the social connection, to 
enlighten and harmonize the minds of our 
fellow-citizens, and point them to a knowledge 
of their interests, as an extensive federal peo- 
ple, and fathers of increasing nations. The 
price put into their hands is great, beyond 
all comparison ; and, as they improve it, they 
will entail happiness or misery upon a larger 
proportion of human beings, than could be the 
conduct of all the nations of Europe united. 

Those who are possessed of abilities or infor- 
mation in any degree above the common rank 
of their fellow-citizens, are called upon by 
every principle of humanity, to diffuse a spirit 
of candor and rational inquiry upon these 
important subjects. 

Adams, to his immortal honor and the timely 
assistance of his country, has set the great 
example. His treatise in defence of the consti- 
tutions, though confined to the state republics, 
is calculated to do infinite service, by correcting 
thousands of erroneous sentiments arising 
from our inexperience ; sentiments which, if 
uncorrected in this early stage of our political 
existence, will be the source of calamities with- 
out measure and without end. Should that 
venerable philosopher and statesman be in- 
duced to continue his inquiries, by tracing the 
history of confederacies, and with his usual 
energy and perspicuity, delineate and defend a 
system adapted to the circumstances of the 
United States — I will not say he could deserve 
more from his distrest country, but he would 
crown a life of patriotic labors, and render an 
essential additional service to the world. 

While America enjoys the peculiar felicity of 
seeing those who have conducted her councils 
and her battles, retire, like Cincinnatus, to the 
humble labors of the plow, it must be remem- 
bered that she there expects a continuance of 
their patriotic exertions. The society of the 
Cincinnati, established upon the most benevo- 
lent principles, will never lose sight of their 
duty, in rendering every possible aid, as citi- 
zens, to that community which they have 
defended as soldiers. They will rejoice, that, 
although independence was the result of force. 



CONNECTICUT. 



yet government is the child of reason. As 
they are themselves an example of the noblest 
effort of human nature, the conquest of self, in 
obeying' the voice of their country, and ex- 
changing the habits, the splendor, and impor- 
tance of military life, for domestic labor and 
poverty — they will readily inculcate on others 
the propriety of sacrificing private and territo- 
rial advantages, to the good of the great 
majority, the salvation of the United States. 

Slaves to no party, but servants of the whole, 
they have wielded the sword of every state in 
the union, and bled by the side of her sons. 
Their attachments are as extensive as their 
labors. Friendship and charity, the great 
pillars of their institution, will find their proper 
objects, through the extended territory, and 
seek the happiness of all. 

While we contemplate the endearing objects 
of our association — and indulge in the gloomy 
pleasure of recollecting that variety of suffering 
which prompted the sympathetic soldier to 
institute the memorial of his friendshp — frater- 
nal affection recalls the scene of parting, 
and inquires with solicitude the fate of our 
beloved companions. 

Since the last anniversary, the death of 
general Howe has diminished the number of 
our brethren, and called for the tribute of a 
tear. With some of the foibles, incident to 
human nature, he possessed many valuable 
accomplishments. His moral good under- 
standing he had embellished with considerable 
attention to polite literature. As a soldier, he 
was brave — as an officer, attentive to discipline; 
he commanded with dignity and obeyed with 
alacrity ; and whatever talents he possessed, 
were uniformly and cheerfully devoted to the 
ser\'ice of his country. 

But a few weeks previous to that period, 
the much lamented deaths of Tilghman and 
M'Dougall were successively announced, and 
the tidings received with a peculiar poignancy 
of grief. What citizen of the American empire 
does not join the general voice of gratitude, 
when contemplating the merits of those distin- 
guished officers, and swell the tide of sympa- 
thy, with his bereaved countr)', when deprived 
of their future assistance.' They were orna- 
ments to the states in which they lived, as well 
as to the profession in which they acquired 
their glor)'. 

Amiable and heroic Tilghman ! short was 
the career of thy fame : but much hast thou 
performed for thy country. Of thee shall it 
ever be remembered, that no social virtue was 
a stranger to thy breast, and no military achieve- 
ment too daring for thy sword. While we 



149 

condole with thy afflicted father for the loss of 
so dear a son. permit the tear of friendship to 
flow for its own bereavement : and as oft as 
the anniversary of this day shall assemble the 
companions of thy life, to rejoice in the freedom 
of their country ; they shall mingle a sigh to 
thy lasting memory, and bewail thy untimely 
fate. 

Untimely also was the death of the brave 
and patriotic M'Dougall. Though many yeais 
were worn away in his unremitted labors for 
the public safety — though his early and decided 
exertions against the claims of Great Britain 
had an essential influence in determining the 
conduct of the province in which he resided — 
though he was the nerve of war, the wisdom 
of council and one of our principal supporters 
in the acquest of independence — yet these but 
shew us the necessity of such characters in 
establishing the blessings of the acquisition. 
While it shall require the same wisdom and 
unshaken fortitude, the same patience and per- 
severance, to rear the fabric of our empire, as 
it did to lay the foundation — patriotism and 
valor, in sympathetic affection, will bemoan 
the loss of M'Dougall. 

Happy would it be for America, thrice happy 
for the feelings of sorrowing friendship, could 
the list of our deceased companions be closed 
even with the names of those worthy heroes. 
But Heaven had bestowed too much glory 
upon the life of the favorite Greene, to allow it 
a long duration. 

My affectionate auditory will anticipate more 
than can be uttered, in the melancholy duty 
of contemplating his distinguished excellence. 
To any assembly that could be collected in 
America, vain would be the attempt to illus- 
trate his character, or embellish the scene of 
his exploits. It is a subject to be felt, but not 
to be described. To posterity, indeed, it may 
be told, as an incentive to the most exalted, 
virtue and astonishing enterprise, that the man, 
who carried in his native genius all the resources 
of war, and the balance of every extreme of 
fortune — who knew the advantages to be de- . 
rived from defeat, the vigilance of military ar- 
rangement, the rapidity and happy moment of 
assault, the deliberate activity of battle, and 
the various important uses of victory — that the 
man who possessed every conceivable quality 
of a warrior, was, in his public and private 
character, without a foible or a fault ; that all 
the amiable as well as the heroic virtues were 
assembled in his soul : and that it was the 
love, of a rational and enlightened age, and not 
the stupid stare of barbarity, that expressed 
his praise. 



ISO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



The map of America may designate the vast 
extent of conquered country recovered by his 
sword : the future traveller in the southern 
States, may be pointed, by the peasant, to the 
various regions containing monuments of his 
valor and his skill ; where, amid marches and 
counter-marches, his studied retreats and his 
rapid approaches, every advantage, given to 
the enemy, was resumed with ten-fold utility 
and certain conquest. The historic muse, as a 
legacy to future ages, may transmit with heroic 
dignity the feats of her favorite chief: but who 
shall transmit the feelings of the heart — or 
give the more interesting representation of his 
worth .' the hero will remain ; but the man must 
be lost. 

The grief of his bereaved consort, aggravated 
by the universal testimony of his merit, we 
hope will receive some alleviation from the ar- 
dent sympathy of thousands, whose hearts 
were penetrated with his virtues, and whose 
tears would have flowed upon his hearse. 

But we will not open afresh the wounds 
which we cannot close. The best eulogium of 
the good and great is expressed by an emula- 
tion of their virtues. As those of the illustrious 
Greene were equally useful in every depart- 
ment, in which human society can call a man 
to act, every friend to America must feel the 
want of his assistance, in the duties that re- 
main to be performed. Yet, as these duties are 
of the rational and pacific kind, the perform- 
ance is more attainable, and emulation the 
better encouraged. In military operations, 
none but the soldier can be distinguished, nor 
any but the fortunate are sure of rendering 
service : but here is a theatre of action for every 
citizen of a great country : in which the small- 
est circumstance will have its weight, and on 
which infinite consequences will depend. 

The present is an age of philosophy, and 
America the empire of reason. Here, neither 
the pageantry of courts, nor the glooms of 
superstition, have dazzled or beclouded the 
mind. Our duty calls us to act worthy of the 
age and the country that gave us birth. 
Though inexperience may have betrayed us 
into errors — yet they have not been fatal : and 
our own discernment will point us to their 
proper remedy. 

However defective the present confederated 
system may appear — yet a due consideration 
of the circumstances, under which it was 
framed, will teach us rather to admire its 
wisdom, than to murmur at its faults. The 
same political abilities, which were displayed 
in that institution, united with the experience 
we have had of its operation, will doubtless 



produce a system, which will stand the test of 
ages, in forming a powerful and happy people. 

Elevated with the extensive prospect, we may 
consider present inconveniences as unworthy 
of regret. At the close of the war, an uncom- 
mon plenty of circulating specie, and a universal 
passion for trade, tempted many individuals to 
involve themselves in ruin, and injure the 
credit of their country. But these are evils 
which work their own remedy. The paroxysm 
is already over. Industry is increasing faster 
than ever it declined ; and, with some excep- 
tions, where legislative authority has sanctioned 
fraud, the people are honestly discharging 
their private debts, and increasing the resources 
of their wealth. 

Every possible encouragement for great and 
generous exertions, is now presented before us. 
Under the idea of a permanent and happy gov- 
ernment, every point of view, in which the 
future situation of America can be placed, fills 
the mind with peculiar dignity, and opens an 
unbounded field of thought. The natural 
resources of the country are inconceivably 
various and great. The enterprising genius of 
the people promises a most rapid improvement 
in all the arts that embellish human nature. 
The blessings of a rational government will 
invite emigrations from the rest of the world, 
and fill the empire with the worthiest and 
happiest of mankind ; while the e-xample of 
political wisdom and felicity, here to be dis- 
played, will excite emulation through the 
kingdoms of the earth, and meliorate the condi- 
tion of the human race. 

In the pleasing contemplation of such glori- 
ous events, and comparing the scenes of action 
that adorn the western hemisphere, with what 
has taken place in the east, may we not apply 
to our country the language of the prophet of 
Israel, though spoken on a different occasion — 
•• The glory of this latter house shall be greater 
than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and 
in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord 
of Hosts:" — peace to any disorders that may 
at present subsist among us — peace to the con- 
tending passions of nations — peace to this 
empire, to future ages, and through the 
extended world ! 



GATHERING OF CONNECTICUT PEN- 
SIONERS 

At Hartford, August 7, 1820. 

The following incidents of the actors in the 
revolution, may aptly be placed in this col- 



CONNECTICUT. 



lection for preservation. It is copied from 
the Connecticut Mirror, printed at Hartford, 
on tlie 7th August, 1820. 
On Tuesday last the county court for this 
county commenced a special session, for the 
purpose of hearing the pensioners of the army 
of the revolution make oath to their respective 
estates. The number of applicants amounted 
to about one hundred and fifty, most of them 
indicating, in their appearance, the strongest 
evidence, that necessity alone urged them to 
make claim for that bounty to which they have 
the fullest title. The court, after having pa- 
tiently gone through with the business, declined 
accepting any compensation, and several gen- 
tlemen of the bar, who assisted, followed their 
generous example. On Wednesday, after the 
pensioners had all made oath, it happened 
that among them a drummer and fifer were 
found, who were immediately furnished with 
instruments, at the sound of which the war- 
worn veterans paraded in front of the court 
house. At their head was placed Major Curtis, 
who acted a distinguished part at the batde of 
Monmouth, and by his side marched Captain 
Miller, equally distinguished in leading up the 
" forlorn hope" ^X Stony Point. — Colonel Man- 
ross acted as marshal of the day. — By urgent 
solicitation these gentlemen permitted swords 
to be buckled to their sides. The venerable 
band then, almost without exception leaning 
upon their staves, moved off at the sound of 
the drum. The scene now presented was 
affecting beyond description. To see so many 
of the heroes of the revolution, bending be- 
neath the weight of age, endeavoring to step to 
the sound of music, which, for a moment, 
seemed to strengthen their feeble joints, and 
kindle up in their countenances the remem- 
brance of the deeds of other days, was enough 
to excite in the coldest bosom the strongest 
emotions of admiration and gratitude. The 
scenes of the revolution, associated with this 
feeble remnant of those who bore a part in 
them — crowded upon the mind, at one moment 
elevated with the proudest recollections — then 
saddened by the melancholy reflection that the 
same arm which, comparatively but a few 
years since, was ner\'ed in battle for our de- 
fence, now tremblingly reached to the time- 
worn staff for support. 

Having marched up and down almost the 
whole extent of Main-street, they were led back 
to the north market, where a frugal and substan- 
tial dinner was provided for them by the citi- 
zens. The Rev. Mr. Cushman was invited to 
officiate at the table, and when the old soldiers 
had assembled with cheerful countenances 



around the convivial board, he prefaced a 
most pathetic and impressive prayer with the 
following patriotic observations. 

Venerable Fathers : 

The interesting occasion on which you are 
this day convened, awakens sensations in your 
withering bosoms more ardent, more solemn, 
and more important than the hope of pecuniary 
benefit could possibly inspire. You recollect, 
with a deep interest, the noble achievements 
which have been narrated to us by the fire- 
side : — That period which threatened the citi- 
zens of these states with a fate more cruel than 
death, now rushes upon your remembrance, 
and almost restores that youthful vigor which 
time had gradually stolen away — that period, 
when the welfare of our country, the liberties 
of your persons, the enjoyment of your inalien- 
able rights, and the destiny of your progeny, 
rolled with weight upon your then distressed 
hearts, now arises to heighten the felicity you 
then by your valor procured; — that love of 
liberty which first led our persecuted ancestors 
to prefer a howling wilderness to their native 
soil, and prompted them to resist oppression, 
when they could not escape by flight. They 
knew that the God who had made them, and 
had endowed them with the love of peace, in- 
tended that they should have a place on the 
face of the globe, and when they had peace- 
ably withdrawn to these ends of the earth, they 
planted their standard in this territory, and re- 
solutely called it /heirs, determined, if the gift 
of Providence could not ensure a title against 
the claims of tyranny, to purchase it with their 
blood. In this laudable determination you 
took a part ; in the conflict which ensued, you 
hazarded your lives, and while you stand trem- 
bling over the graves you have purchased in a 
peaceful soil, your children shall venerate your 
grey hairs, and express their gratitude for 
the privileges transmitted from you. May 
that spirit which first inspired your bosoms 
with patriotic valor, descend to your posterity 
through succeeding generations, and perpetu- 
ate the principles and enjoyments of national 
independence. But while we reverence you, 
our fathers, as the benefactors of our country, 
we trace our signal victory to a higher power, 
and recognize in our first triumph, and in every 
subsequent enjoyment, the Almighty arm of 
God.— To him be the praise— to 'him be our 
gratitude directed, and to him let us look 
through a glorious Redeemer for the continu- 
ance of civil and religious liberty. 

One hundred and twelve of these pensioners 
then sat down to the table, together with the 



152 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



judges of the court — Major Curtis presiding. 
After the- cloth was removed, the following 
sentiments were drank, accompanied by cannon 
and the whole scene was closed by the patriotic 
and revolutionary song of ' God save America ' 
in full chorus. 

TOASTS. 

I. The American revolution ; — the Jordan of 
dea/A between the Egypt of oppression and the 
Canaan of liberty. 2 gims. 

II. The departed heroes of the revolution ; 
fallen beneath the harvest sickle— but the sun 
shines not upon a wider field of liberty than 
has sprung from their deeds. 1 guns. 

III. GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON 
— our leader in battle here ; may we all be 

mustered with him in Heaven. \Drank 

standing^ — 2 guns. 

IV. The surviving patriots of the revolution 
— may they not survive the liberty they won. 
2 guns. 

V. General Joseph Warren ; — 

" Hope for a moment bade the world farewell, 
" And freedom shriek'd as Warren darkly fell." 

2 guns. 

VI. General Israel Putnam — while alive, 
neither Danger nor Treason dared look him in 
the face ; even his memory has proved an over- 
match for titled Defamation. 6 cheers and 

2 guns. 

VII. The battle of Lexington ; — " How great 
a matter a little fire kindleth ! " 2 guns. 

VIII. Bunker-Hill — let its thunders never 

cease to ring in the ears of our enemies. 6 

cheers and 2 guns. 

IX. Captain Nathan Hale ; — the blood of 
such martyrs is the sure seed of future patriots 
and heroes. 2 guns. 

X. Our pensions : — 

" The broken soldier kindly bade to stay — 
" Sat by the fire and talk'd the night away." 

XI. The spirit of '76 — may it descend to 

posterity, and ever stand at 4th proof. 2 

guns. 

XII. The rising generation ; — while they en- 
joy the blessings of liberty, may they never 
forget those who achieved it. 2 guns. 

XIII. Ourselves — We must all soon meet 
where the poverty we now plead shall be our 

best title to a pension of eternal rest. 2 guns 

\Drank silefk and standing.^ 

VOLUNTEERS. 

By major Curds. — The citizens of Hartford ; 

— " We were hungry, and they gave us meat." 

By captain Miller. — The batteries of our 



enemies — may America never want brave sons 
to storm them. 

By major Natch. — May our sons never re- 
linquish the liberties purchased by their fathers 
at the price of their blood. 

ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS OF THE DAY. 

An old officer to whom was assigned the duty 
of forming the company, after the line was 
formed, said with as much strength as age 
and infirmity would permit — " fellow soldiers ! 
dress by the right," finding that he was not 
heard upon the two e.xtremes of his company 
he exclaimed with new energy — " soldiers, look 
to the right ; the soldier's friends are always 
found on the right'' 

After the company was formed, they found 
themselves much annoyed by the spectators, 
whose eager curiosity led them to encroach too 
close upon these old veterans, upon which one 
of the sergeants stepped briskly forward — 
"Gentlemen," said he, stand back ; these men 
shall not want for room to-day — they shall have 
the whole city if they want it : you may look at 
us if you will, but you must not press upon our 
ranks — the British never dared to do that. 

In the morning after the troops were mus- 
tered, it was proposed to major Curtis, an aged 
and venerable patriot, that he should march at 
their head, and a sword was accordingly pro- 
cured for his use. When it was presented to 
him he strongly declined wearing it, saying 
that it was now an unfit instrument for his fee- 
ble palsied hand. LTpon this an old comrade 
stepped up — " Major," said he " you did not 
behave thus at Monmouth battle." " Mon- 
mouth ! Monmouth ! " said the major, " let me 
feel of it ; " then raised the sword aloft, his 
hand trembling like the aspen, he added — " I 
once could wield it, but the day has gone by — 
still if you wish it, I will try to carry it." 

After a short march the troops were halted 
a few moments in order to give the more aged 
and infirm an opportunity to rest. The old 
major mentioned above, after seating himself 
on a stone, obser\'ed to the by-standers " that 
it was pleasant to them to measure their steps 
once more to the martial drum and fife," but 
added he with feeling — " Hark ! from the tombs 
is now our appropriate music." 

The second volunteer toast, which was given 
by captain Miller of this town, may be read 
with additional interest, when it is known that 
he was the hero who commanded the for- 
lorn hope at the stonning of Stony-Point. 
The story, as we heard it related by a pen- 
sioner who was at his side at the time, is worth 
preserving. Miller, upon reaching the enemy's 



CONNECTICUT. 



153 



works, from his small size, was unable to reach 
the tops of the pickets ; after making one or 
two unsuccessful leaps, and fearing that he 
should be preceded by his companions, ex- 
claimed — " throw me into the fort with your 
bayoiu-ts," and he was literally tossed over with 
the muzzles of their muskets. 

The age, infirmities and extreme poverty of 
these pensioners, was calculated to render the 
scene peculiarly affecting. Most of them, as 
appeared by their declarations, possessed little 
or nothing. A great part of the inventories 
fell short of fifty dollars, and many of them 
amounted to a much smaller sum : one, in par- 
ticular, contained but one item, and that an 
empty tobacco box ! 

Captain Nathan Hale, whose virtues and mis- 
fortunes suggested the sentiment contained in 
the eighth toast, was a brave and valuable 
officer belonging to colonel Knowlton's regi- 
ment of Connecticut light-infantry. He was a 
native of Coventry, in this state, and graduated 
at Yale College in 1773. After the unfortunate 
battle on Long-Island and the retreat of the 
American troops to New York, general Wash- 
ington became very solicitous to obtain accurate 
information of the resources and movements 
of the British army. To spy out an enemy's 
camp is one of the most difficult and hazardous 
undertakings which a soldier is ever called upon 
to execute. But the salvation of America was 
at stake, and Washington had no difficulty in 
finding enough who were ready to yield up 
their lives in her defence. Hale promptly vol- 
unteered his services and immediately set forth 
upon the undertaking. He visited the British 
army in disguise, and collected all the necessary 
information, but, just as he was on the eve of 
returning, he was so unfortunate as to be de- 
tected. Circumstances being strongly against 
him and his inflexible integrity not permitting 
him to dissemble, he frankly confessed the 
object of his visit. He was not allowed even 
the form of a trial, and was barbarously 
executed the following morning. How unlike 
was the conduct of the American commander 
in the case of the unfortunate Andre. — Wash- 
ington not only gave him every indulgence 
which the laws of war would allow, but to 
these he added his sympathy and tears. The 
following just tribute to the memory of captain 
Hale is from the pen of the late president 
Dwight. 

Thus did fond virtue wish in vain to save, 
Hate, bright and generous, from a hapless grave; 
With genius' living tiame his bosom glow'd, 
And science charm'd him to her blest abode, 
In worth's fair path his feet had ventured far, 
I^Q pride of peace, the rising frai:^ o/viar^ 



In duty firm, in danger calm as ev'n, 
To friends unchanging, and sincere to Heaven. 
How short his course, the prize how early won. 
While weeping friendship mourns her fav'rite gone. 

FROM THE CONNECTICUT MIRROR. 

A view of the march of the veterans on Wed- 
nesday, occasioned the following : 

They once march'd in glory — their banners were stream- 
ing, 

M'ith th? glance of the sunbeam, their armor v;as gleam- 
ing i 

Then hopes swelled their bosoms — then firm was their 
tread — 

And round them the garlands of victory were spread. 

Then little they dream'd that the country they sav'd— 
That the country for whom every danger they brav'd, 
Would forget their desert when old age should come on 
And leave them forsaken— their comforts all gone. 

They now march in glory— still memory sheds, 
The brightest of haloes around their hoar heads ; 
Though faltering the footstep — though rayless the eye, 
Remembrance still dwells on the days long gone by. 

Yes ! Saviours and Sires, though the pittance be small, 
Which your country awards— and that pittance your all, 
Though the cold hand of Poverty press on your frames, 
Yet your children shall bless you and boast of your 
names. 

And when life with its toils and afflictions shall cease, 
O then may you hail the bright .\ngel of peace, 
Then freemen shall weep o'er the veteran's grave, 
-■^nd round it the laurel and cypress shall wave. 



Thursday August 3^/. 



A. T. 



INTERESTING REMINISCENCES OF 
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS. 

Among the applicants for pensions was lieut. 
M., who obtained his title by his valor. His 
declaration was made out in due form, and 
certified by the judge who knew him well, and 
could safely attest his merits and his services. 
The needy veteran possessed an infirmity 
which rendered him unable to write his name, 
and in signing the necessary documents, he 
could only make his mark. At the storming 
of Fort Montgomery, by the British, he was in 
the act of touching off a cannon, loaded to the 
muzzle with every kind of missile, when a shot 
carried away his arm, and the match dropped 
upon the ground ; he immediately seized it 
with his left hand, and fired the piece, at the 
very point and at the very instant the enemy 
were entering the fort, which swept down a 
whole phalanx of the foe. For this heroic 
action he was honored with a commission ; 
but in his old age he could not write his name 
with his left hand. 

Another of these venerable men, trembling 
with age, applied for the necessary papers to 



154 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



obtain a pension. The judge inquired where 
he had served.' "Why, first," said he, "in 
the old French war." Ah, said the judge, you 
cannot obtain a pension for services at that 
period, did you serve in the revolutionary 
army ? " O yes, I served all the war. I was 
at the battle of Bunker's Hill — afterwards at 
Long Island, and the capture of the Hessians 
at Trenton — I was at the attack of German- 
town, and the battle of Monmouth, — and, 
finally, at the capture and siege of Yorktown, 
in Virginia — and," added the old man, his eyes 
kindling with the fire of '76, " / was the first 
American sentinel placed at the quarters of lord 
Cornwallis, after he was an American pris- 
oner." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
Of Captain Ezra Lee, Lyme, Conn. 

Died, at Lyme, (Connecticut), on the 29th 
ult.. Captain EZRA LEE, aged 72, a revolu- 
tionary officer. It is not a little remarkable, 
that this officer is the only man, of which it 
can be said, that he fought the enemy upon 
land — upon water — zx\A under the water ; the 
latter mode of warfare was as follows : 

When the British fleet lay in the North 
River, opposite to the city of New York, and 
while general Washington had possession of 
the city, he was very desirous to be rid of such 
neighbors. A Mr. Bushnell, of Saybrook, 
(Conn.) who had the genius of a Fulton, con- 
structed a submarine machine, of a conical 
form, bound together with iron bands, within 
which one person might sit, and with cranks 
and sculls, could navigate it to any depth 
under water. In the upper part was affixed a 
vertical screw for the purpose of penetrating 
ships' bottoms, and to this was attached a 
magazine of powder, within which was a 
clock, which on being set to run any given 
time, would, when run down, spring a gunlock, 
and an explosion would follow. This Marine 
Turtle, so called, was examined by general 
Washington, and approved ; to preserve se- 
crecy, it was experimented with in an inclosed 
yard, over twenty to thirty feet water, and kept 
during day-light locked in a vessel's hold. The 
brother of the inventor was to be the person to 
navigate the machine into action, but on sink- 
ing it the first time, he declined the ser\'ice. 

Gen. Washington, unwilling to relinquish the 
object, requested major general Parsons to 
select a person, in whom he could confide, 
voluntarily to engage in the enterprise ; the 



latter being well acquainted with the heroic 
spirit, the patriotism, and the firm and steady 
courage of the deceased above mentioned, 
immediately communicated the plan, and the 
offer, which he accepted, observing that his 
life was at general Washington's service. 
After practicing the machine, until he under- 
stood its powers of balancing and moving 
under water, a night was fixed upon for the 
attempt. General Washington, and his asso- 
ciates in the secret, took their stations upon 
the roof a house in Broadway, anxiously wait- 
ing the result. Morning came and no intelli- 
gence could be had of the intrepid sub-marine 
navigator, nor could the boat who attended 
him, give any account of him after parting 
with him the first part of the night. While 
these anxious spectators were about to give 
him up as lost, several barges were seen to 
start suddenly from Governor's Island, (then 
in possession of the British), and proceed 
toward some object near the Asia ship of the 
line, — as suddenly they were seen to put about 
and steer for the Island with springing oars. 
In two or three minutes an explosion took 
place from the surface of the water, resem- 
bling a water spout, which aroused the whole 
city and region ; the enemy's ships took the 
alarm — signals were rapidly given — the ships 
cut their cables and proceeded to the Hook, with 
all possible dispatch, sweeping their bottoms 
with chains, and with difficulty prevented 
their affrighted crews from leaping overboard. 
During this scene of consternation, the 
deceased came to the surface, opened the brass 
head of his aquatic machine : rose up and 
gave a signal for the boat to come to him, but 
they could not reach him, until he again de- 
scended under water to avoid the enemy's 
shot from the Island, who had discovered and 
commenced firing in his wake. Having forced 
himself against a strong current under water 
until without the reach of shot, he was taken in 
tow and landed at the battery amidst a great 
crowd, and reported himself to general Wash- 
ington, who expressed his entire satisfaction, 
that the object was effected, without the loss 
of lives. The deceased was under the Asia's 
bottom more than two hours, endeavoring to 
penetrate her copper, but in vain. He fre- 
quently came up under her stern galleries 
searching for exposed plank, and could hear 
the sentinel's cry. Once he was discovered 
by the watch on deck, and heard them specu- 
late upon him, but concluded a drifted log had 
paid them a visit — he returned to her keel and 
examined it fore and aft, and then proceeded 
to some other ships ; but the impossibility of 



NEW YORK. 



155 



penetrating their copper, for want of a resist- 
ing power, hundreds owed their lives to this cir- 
cumstance. The longest space of time he could 
remain under water was two hours. For a 
particular description of this sub-marine curi- 
osity, see Silliman's Journal of arts and 
sciences. 

The deceased, during the war, ever had the 
confidence and esteem of the commander-in- 
chief, and was frequently employed by him on 
secret missions of importance. He fought 
with him at Trenton and Monmouth, at Bran- 
dywine the hilt of his sword was shot away, 
and his hat and coat were penetrated with the 
enemy's balls. On the return of peace, he 
laid aside the habiliments of war, and returned 
to his farm, where, like Cincinnatus, he tilled 
his lands, until now called by the great com- 
mander-in-chief to the regions above. He died 
without an enemy ; he was universally beloved. 
The suavity of his manners — evenness of tem- 



per, and correctness of principles, were prover- 
bial and pleasing to all his acquaintance. He 
enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, 
to an extent almost unparalleled. His desk 
was the repository of deeds, contracts and 
other evidences of property, as well as the 
widows' and orphans' wealth for safe keeping. 
He constantly read the papers of the day, and 
was by many considered a political prophet. 
His christian and moral life was sternly strict ; 
his Bible his guide and rule of action. " To do 
unto others, as he would they should do unto 
him," was his universal maxim and rule of life. 
His benevolence and charity was only circum- 
scribed by his means. Contented and happy, 
he was an example of the great blessings 
which flow from the perfect enjoyment of life, 
regelated by christian and moral virtue. He 
has left a widow (with whom he has lived fifty 
years), and a numerous offspring to mourn the 
loss of one of the best of men. 



NEW YORK. 



JOURNAL OF THE STAMP-ACT CON- 
GRESS, 

HELD AT NEW YORK, 1765. 

We have several times promised to treat our 
readers with a correct copy of this venerable 
manuscript, detailing the first movements of 
the friends of freedom in the new world. It is 
an official copy, under the signature of John 
Cotton, Esq. clerk to that illustrious body ; and, 
we have reason to believe, the only one extant. 
It was handed to the editor by his much 
respected friend, Cssar A. Rodney, Esq., of 
Delaware, who found it among the papers of 
his late revered uncle, the estimable and patri- 
otic Csesar Rodney, one of the delegates, and 
for many years the great prop and stay of 
Whiggism in the lower parts of his native state. 
On a loose piece of paper, in the manuscript 
book, is a list of the members, with which we 
have preceded the journal itself, in the hand 
writing of Mr. C. R. We are thus particular 
to shew the entire authenticity of the document : 
which, we are informed, many of our sages have 
sought for in vain. 

In this journal the reader will not find any 
thing to astonish or surprise him ; but there is 
much to admire. In every line he will discover 
a spirit of decision and firmness totally irrecon- 



cilable with a state of servitude, and highly 
worthy of imitation at the present day. The 
difficulties the people encountered in forming 
this congress, unknown to the laws and 
opposed by the Royalists invested with power, 
are honorable to their cause and its agents. 
With an eye steadily fixed on freedom, they 
cast behind them the cold maxims of prudence, 
and nobly resolved to systematize an opposition 
to the growing tyranny of the " mother country." 
They did so, and therein generated a spirit of 
union, that finally brought about the independ- 
ence of these states, and led to the establish- 
ment of our present happy constitution. — Niles' 
Weekly Register, of July 25, 1812. 

DELEGATES TO THE CONGRESS OF 1 765. 



Massachusetts. . 

Rhode Island. . 
Connecticut. 



New York. 



James Otis, 
Oliver Partridge, 
Timothy Ruggles. 
Metcalf Bowler, 
Henry Ward. 
Eliphalet Dyer, 
David Rowland, 
William S. Johnson. 
Robert R. Livingston, 
John Cruger, 
Philip Livingston, 



156 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



New York. . . 
New Jersey. 

Pennsylvania. . 



Delaware. 
Maryland. 



South Carolina. 



New Hampshire, 
Virginia, 
North Carolina, 

and 
Georgia, 



. William Bayard, 

Leonard Lispenard. 
. Robert Ogden, 

Hendrick Fisher, 

Joseph Borden. 
. John Dickinson, 

John Morton, 

George Bryan. 
. Thomas M'Kean, 

Csesar Rodney. 
. William Murdock, 

Edward Tilghman, 

Thomas Ringgold. 
. Thomas Lynch, 

Christopher Gadsden, 

John Rutledge. 

Were not represented in 
this congress. But their 
- assemblies wrote that they 
would agree to whatever 
was done by the congress." 



THE JOURNAL. 

Boston, June, 1765. 

Sir — The house of representatives of this 
province, in the present session of general court, 
have unanimously agreed to propose a meet- 
ing, as soon as may be, of committees from the 
houses of representatives or burgesses, of the 
several British colonies on this continent, to 
consult together on the present circumstances 
of the colonies, and the difficulties to which 
they are and must be reduced by the operation 
of the acts of parliament, for levying duties and 
taxes on the colonies ; and to consider of a 
general and united, dutiful, loyal and humble 
representation of their condition to his majesty 
and to the parliament, and to implore relief. 

The house of representatives of this province 
have also voted, to propose that such meeting 
be at the city of New York, in the province of 
New York, on the first Tuesday in October 
next, and have appointed the committee of 
three of their members to attend that service, 
with such as the other houses of representatives 
or burgesses, in the several colonies, may think 
fit to appoint to meet them : and the committee 
of the house of representatives of this province, 
are directed to repair to the said New York, on 
the first Tuesday in October next, accordingly : 
if, therefore your honorable house should agree 
to this proposal, it would be acceptable, that as 
early notice of it as possible might be trans- 
mitted to the speaker of the house of representa- 
tives of this province. 

Samuel White, Speaker. 

In consequence of the foregoing circular 



letter, the following gentlemen met at New 
York, in the province of New York, on Monday, 
the 7th of October, 1765, viz: 

From the province I. James Otis, \ „• 

oi Massachusetts I Oliver Partridge, V a" 

Bay, ( Timothy Ruggles. ) W 

Who produced their appointment as follows, viz : 

To James Otis, Oliver Partridge, and Timothy 
Ruggles, Esquires. 

Gentlemen, — The house of representatives of 
this province, have appointed you a committee 
to meet at New York on the first Tuesday in 
October next, such committees as the other 
houses of representatives or burgesses in the 
several colonies on this continent, may think fit 
to appoint, to consult together on the present 
circumstances of the colonies, on the difficulties 
to which they are, and must be reduced by the 
operation of the late acts of parliament. By 
this choice, the house has reposed in you a 
trust of singular importance, and have just 
reason to expect you will give your utmost 
attention to it. In case you should receive 
advice that the houses of representatives or 
burgesses of the other colonies, or any of them, 
agree to such committees, to join you in this 
interesting affair, you are directed to repair to 
New York at the time appointed, and endeavor 
to unite with them in sentiment, and agree 
upon such representations, as may tend to pre- 
serve our rights and privileges. And it is the 
opinion of this house, that no address or repre- 
sentation shall be esteemed the act of this 
house, unless it is agreed to and signed by the 
major part of their committee. 

If it should be said, that we are in any man- 
ner represented in parliament, you must by no 
means concede to it ; it is an opinion which 
this house cannot see the least reason to adopt. 

Further, the house think that such a repre- 
sentation of the colonies as British subjects are 
to enjoy, would be attended with the greatest 
difficulty, if it is not absolutely impracticable, 
and therefore, you are not to urge or consent 
to any proposal for any representation, if such 
be made in the congress. 

It is the expectation of the house, that a 
most loyal and dutiful address to his majesty 
and the parliament, will be prepared by the 
congress, praying as well for the removal of 
the grievances the colonies labor under at pre- 
sent, as for preventing others for the future ; 
which petitions, if drawn up, as far as you 
shall be able to judge, agreeable to the mind 
of the house, you are empowered to sign and 
forward ; and you are to lay a copy of the same 



NEW YORK. 



157 



before this house, and make report of your 
proceedings upon your return.* 

It is the hearty prayer of this house, that the 
congress may be endued with that wisdom 
which is from above, and that their councils and 
determinations may be attended with the divine 
blessing. Samuel White, Speaker. 

From the Colony of f^j.^^^LF Bowler, 
Rhode Islatia and J j 

Providence Plan- ^^^^^ ^ p. 

tattons. y ^ 

Wno produced the following appointment, viz : 
By the honorable Samuel Ward, governor, 
captain general and commander-in-chief of 
and over the English colony of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations in New England 
in America. 

To Metcalf Bowler and to Henry Ward, 
esquires. 

Greeting : 

Whereas, the general assembly of this pro- 
vince have nominated and appointed you, the 
same Metcalf Bowler and Henry Ward, to be 
commissioners in behalf of this colony to meet 
such commissioners as are or shall be ap- 
pointed by the other British governments in 
North America, to meet at New York the first 
Tuesday of October next, 

I do, therefore, hereby authorize and em- 
power, and commissionate you, the said Met- 
calf Bowler and Henry Ward, forthwith to re- 
pair to New York, and there, in behalf of this 
colony, to meet and join with the other com- 
missioners in consulting together on the pre- 
sent circumstances of the colonies, and the 
difficulties to which they are and must be re- 
duced by the operation of the act of parliament 
for levying duties and taxes upon the colonies ; 
and to consider of a general and united, dutiful, 
loyal and humble representation to his majesty 
and the parliament, and to implore relief. And 
you are also hereby empowered to conclude 
and agree with the other commissioners, upon 
such measures as you shall think necessary and 
proper for obtaining redress of the grievances 
of the colonies, agreeably to the instructions 
given you by the general assembly of this colony. 

Given under my hand and the seal of the 
said colony, this sixteenth day of September, 
1765 and in the fifth year of his majesty's reign. 
Samuel Ward. 

By his honor's command. 

Henry Ward, Secretary. 

* The reader may remark in all these commissions with 
how great authority the right 0/ instruction is assumed. 
-Ed. Reg. 



From the col- i Eliphalet Dyer, ^ « 
ony of Con- \ David Rowland, \ o" 
necticut, ( Wm. Saml. JOHNSON, ) W 

Who produced the following appointment, viz : 
At a general assembly of the governor and 
company of the colony of Connecticut, 
holden at Hartford, by special order of his 
honor the governor of said colony, on the 
nineteenth day of September, Anno Dom. 
1765. 

Whereas, it has been proposed that a con- 
gress be attended by commissioners from the 
several governments on this continent, to con- 
fer upon a general, united, humble, loyal and 
dutiful representation to his majesty and the 
parliament, of the present circumstances of 
the colonies and the difficulties to which they 
are and must be reduced by the operation of 
the acts of parliament for laying duties and 
taxes on the colonies, and to implore relief. 

Resolved by this assembly. That Eliphalet 
Dyer, David Rowland, and William Samuel 
Johnson, esqrs., or any two of them, be, and 
are hereby appointed commissioners, on behalf 
of this colony, to repair to New York to attend 
the proposed congress, in the matters above 
referred to ; and his honor is hereby desired 
to commissionate them accordingly. 
A true copy, examined by 

George Wyllys, Secretary. 

At a general assembly of the governor and 
company of the colony of Connecticut, 
holden at Hartford, by special order of his 
honor the governor of the said colony, on the 
19th day of September, Anno Dom. 1765. 

Instructions to the commissioners of this 
colony, appointed to meet commissioners from 
the other colonies at New York, on the first 
Tuesday of October next : 

Gentlemen. — You are to repair to the said 
city of New York, at the said time, or at the 
time which according to the intelligence you 
may receive of the convening of the other com- 
missioners, it may appear to you seasonable 
and best, to consult together with them on the 
present circumstances of the colonies, and the 
difficulties to which they are and must be re- 
duced, by the operation of the acts of parlia- 
ment for levying duties and taxes on the colo- 
nies, and to consider of and prepare a general 
and united, dutiful, loyal and humble represen- 
tation of their condition to his majesty and the 
parliament, and to implore relief, etc. In your 
proceedings you are to take care that you form 
no such junction with the other commissioners 
as will subject you to the major vote of the 
commissioners present. 



158 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



You are to inform the governor and general 
assembly at the sessions in October next, of all 
such proceedings, as appear to you needful 
and convenient to be communicated for con- 
sideration ; and to observe all such further in- 
structions as you may receive ; and you are to 
report your doings with the doings of the com- 
missioners at such meeting, to the general as- 
sembly of this colony for acceptance and ap- 
probation. 

A true copy, examined by 

George Wyllys, Secretary. 



Thomas Fitch, Esquire, governor and com- 
mander in chief of his majesty's 
colony of Connecticut in New-Eng- 
land, in America, 



(L.S.) 



To Eliphalet Dyer, David Rmuland, and Wil- 
liam Samuel 'Johnson, esquires, 

Greeting : 

Whereas, the general assembly of the 
said colony of Connecticut, at their session 
holden at Hartford on the nineteenth day of 
this instant, September, nominated and ap- 
pointed you, or any two of you, to be commis- 
sioners on behalf of this colony, to repair to 
New-York to attend a congress proposed to be 
held there by commissioners from the several 
governments on this continent, to confer upon 
a general and united, loyal, humble and duti- 
ful representation to his majesty and the parlia- 
ment, of the present circumstances of the 
colonies, and the difficulties to which they 
are and must be reduced by the operation of 
the acts of parliament, for levying duties and 
taxes on the colonies, and to implore relief, etc. 
and have desired me to commission you ac- 
cordingly. 

I do therefore, reposing a special trust and 
confidence in your loyalty, ability and good 
conduct, hereby constitute, and authorize and 
commission the said Eliphalet Dyer, David 
Rowland and William Samuel Johnson, esquires, 
or any two of you, for and on behalf of this 
colony, to repair to the said city of New York 
on the first day of October next, or at the time 
which, according to the intelligence you may 
receive of the convening of the other commis- 
sioners, may appear to you seasonable and best, 
to confer and consult with them or such of 
them as shall be present upon and convening, 
the matters and things before mentioned, for 
the purposes aforesaid ; wherein you are to 
observe such instructions as you have received, 
or shall further receive from the general assem- 
bly of the said colony of Connecticut, agreeable 
to the important trust reposed in you. 



Given under my hand, and the public seal oi 
said colony of Connecticut, within the same, 
the twenty-first day of September, in the fifth 
year of the reign of our sovereign lord George 
the third, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
king, defender of the faith, etc. Anno Domini, 
one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five. 

Thomas Fitch. 
By his honor's command 

George Wyllys, secretary. 

( Robert R. Livingston " 
From the col- I John Cruger, 
owy oi NewX Philip Livingston, 
York, I William Bayard, 

[Leonard Lispenard, J ^ 

Appeared, and informed the congress that 
since the above letter from the speaker of the 
house of representatives oi Massachusetts Bay, 
the general assembly of New-York have not 
had an opportunity of meeting, but that they 
confidently expect, from the general sense of 
the people, and such of the representatives as 
they have had an opportunity of speaking to, 
that when the assembly does meet, (which will 
be probably very soon) the congress will be 
approved, and a regular committee for the pur- 
pose appointed ; in the mean time they think 
themselves in some measure authorized to 
meet the congress, by the following vote, viz : 

E.xtract from the votes and proceedings of 
the general assembly of the colony of New York. 
Die Sabati, gh, a m. the 4th April, 1761. 

Mr. Speaker represented to this house, that 
his situation in the country rendered it vastly 
inconvenient to him alone to correspond with 
the agent of this colony, at the court of Great 
Britain, and more especially so, during the 
recess of the house. 

Ordered, That the members of the city of 
New York, or the major part of them, be a 
committee of correspondence to correspond 
with the agent of this colony at the court of 
Great Britain during the recess of the house, 
concerning the public affairs of this colony ; and 
that they lay before the house copies of all such 
letters as they may write to him, and also all 
such letters and advices as they may receive 
from him respecting the same. 

Die Jovis, 9h, a. m. 9th December, 1762. 

Alderman Livingston, from the committee 
appointed to correspond with the agent of this 
colony at the court of Great Britain, acquainted 
the house, that the committee conceived it 
expedient that one or more members should be 
added to the said committee to correspond 
with the said agent about the affairs of this 
colony. 



NEW YORK. 



1 59 



Ordered, That Robert R. Livingston, esq. be 
added to, and be made one of the said com- 
mittee of correspondence. 
Die Jovis, gh, a. m. the i8th October, 1764. 

Ordered, that the said committee appointed 
to correspond with the said agent, be also a 
committee during the recess of the house, to 
write to and correspond with the several assem- 
blies or committees of assemblies on this con- 
tinent, on the subject matter of the act, com- 
monly called the stamp act, of the act restrain- 
ing paper bills of credit in the colonies, from 
being a legal tender, and of the several other 
acts of parliament lately passed, with relation 
to the trade of the northern colonies : and also 
on the subject of the impending dangers, which 
threaten the colonies of being taxed by laws to 
be passed in Great Britain. 

Extract from., compared and examined with 
the records of the proceedings of the general 
assembly of the colony of New-York. 

By Abraham Lott, Clerk. 



the col- i Robert Ogden, 
oi Ncw^ Hendrick Fisher, 
( Joseph Borden, 



From the co 
ony 
Jersey, 

Who produced the following appointment, viz : 
At a meeting of a large number of the repre- 
sentatives of the colony of New- Jersey at the 
house of Robert Sproul, October 3d, 1765 : 
At the desire of the speaker of the house of 
representatives as aforesaid, and at the earnest 
request of many of our constitutents, to con- 
sider of some method for humbly, loyally and 
dutifully joining in a petition to his majesty, 
that he would be graciously pleased to recom- 
mend to the parliament of Great Britain to re- 
dress our grievances by repealing several of the 
late acts of parliament affecting the northern 
colonies, particularly that called the stamp act. 
Robert Odgen, esq. Hendrick Fisher, esq. 
and Joseph Borden, esq. were directed to at- 
tend at the congress now met at New- York, 
and join the measures there to be concluded, 
for the purposes aforesaid, and to make report 
of their proceedings therein, at the next meeting 
of the general assembly. 

Signed by order, John LAWRENCE. 

From the province i John Dickinson, \ w 

of \ John Morton, v g" 

Pennsylvania, ( George Bryan, ) ^ 

Who produced the following appointment in 
general assembly, September nth, 1765, A. M. 
The house resumed the consideration of their 
resolution of yesterday, to appoint a committee 
of three or more of their members, to attend 
the general congress of committees from the 



several assemblies on this continent, to be held 
at New- York on the first of October next, and, 
after some time spent therein. 

Resolved, That Mr. Speaker, Mr. Dickinson, 
Mr. Bryan and Mr. Morton be. and they are, 
hereby, nominated and appointed to that 
service. 

A true extract from the journals, 

Charles Moore. 

Clerk of the assembly. 

Extract from the journals of the house of rep- 
resentatives for the province of Pennsyl- 
vania : 
Wednesday, September wtli, 1765, A. M. — 
The committae appointed to prepare instruc- 
tions for the deputies nominated by this house 
to attend the proposed congress at New-York 
on the first of next month, reported an essay 
for that purpose, which they presented to the 
chair ; and the same being read and agreed to 
by the house, follows in these words, viz : 

Instructions to the comtnittee appointed to meet 
the committees of the other British continen- 
tal colonies, at New- York : 
It is desired by the house that you shall, with 
the committees that have been appointed by 
the several British colonies on this continent to 
meet at New-York, consult together on the 
present circumstances of the colonies, and the 
difficulties they are and must be reduced to, by 
the late acts of parliament for the levying du- 
ties and taxes upon these colonies ; and join 
with the said committees in loyal and dutiful 
addresses to the king and to the two houses of 
parliament, humbly representing the condition 
of these colonies, and imploring relief, by a 
repeal of the said acts ; and you are strictly 
required to take care that such addresses in 
which you join, are drawn up in the most de- 
cent and respectful terms ; so also avoid every 
expression that can give the least offence to 
his majesty or to either house of parliament. 

You are also directed to make report of your 
proceedings herein to the succeeding assembly. 
A true extract from the journals, 

Charles Moore, 

Clerk of the assembly. 
September 26th, 1765. 

From the government of the counties of New 
Castle, Kent znASus- 'jCx.sa.kKouv'EM, i g. 
sex, on Vela-ware, \ THOMAS M'Kean, / ^^ 
Whose appointment are as follows, viz : 

Caesar Rodney and Thomas M'Kean, esqrs. 
appeared from the government of the counties 
of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Dela- 
ware, and informed this congress, that the 



i6o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



representatives of the said government could 
not meet in general assembly after the above 
letter was wrote, and before the first day of 
this instant: that the said assembly consists 
only of eighteen members, fifteen of whom 
have appointed the other three to attencthere, 
&c. by three several instruments of writing, 
which are in the words following, to wit : 

To all whom these presents may come : 

Know ye. That we, the subscribers, five 
of the representatives of the freemen of the 
government of the counties of New-Castle, 
Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware, sensible of 
the weighty and oppressive taxes imposed upon 
the good people of this government by divers 
late acts of parliament, and of the great in- 
fringement of the liberties and just established 
rights of all his majesty's colonies on this conti- 
nent, occasioned by the late measures in Eng- 
land ; and being of opinion that the method 
proposed by the honorable house of assembly 
of the province of Massachusetts-Bay is the 
most likely to obtain a redress of these grievan- 
ces ; and, taking into consideration the misfor- 
tune we, at present, labor under, in not having 
it in our power to convene, as a house, and, in 
a regular manner, to appoint a committee : yet, 
zealous for the happiness of our constituents, 
think it our duty, in this way, to serve them as 
much as in us lies, (assured of the hearty ap- 
probation of any future house of assembly of 
this government) ; and, therefore, do hereby 
nominate and appoint Jacob KoUock, Thomas 
M'Kean and Csesar Rodney, esqrs. three of the 
representatives of the same government, a 
committee, to repair to the city of New-York 
on the first day in October next, and there to 
join with the committee sent by the other prov- 
inces, in one united and loyal petition to his 
majesty, and remonstrance to the honorable 
house of commons of Great Britain, against the 
aforesaid acts of parliament, therein dutifully, 
yet most firmly, asserting the colonies' right of 
exclusion from parliamentary taxation ; and 
praying that they may not, in any instance, be 
stripped of the ancient and most valuable privi- 
lege of a trial by their peers, and most humbly 
imploring relief 

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto 
set our hands, at New-Castle, the 
twenty-first day of September, Anno que 
Domini, 1765. 

Evan Rice, 
Thomas Cook, 
William Armstrong, 
George Monroe, 
John Evans. 



Ke/tt county, to wit : 

We, whose names are here underwritten, 
members of the general assembly of the gov- 
ernment of the counties of New-Castle, Kent 
and Sussex, upon Delaware, for the said county 
of Kent, though sensible of the impropriety of 
assuming the functions of assemblymen during 
the recess of our house, yet, zealous to concur 
in any measure which may be productive of 
advantage to this government and the other 
British colonies on this continent of America 
in general, have appointed, and, as much as 
in us lies, do appoint, Jacob Kollock, esq. Cae- 
sar Rodney, esq. and Thomas M'Kean, esq. 
members of said assembly, to be a committee 
to meet with the other committees already ap- 
pointed, or to be appointed, by the several and 
respective assemblies of said other colonies, at 
the city of New- York, on the first Tuesday in 
October next, in conjunction with the other 
committees, to consider of the present distress- 
ful circumstances of the said colonies, occa- 
sioned, in some measure, (as we apprehend), 
by several late acts of parliament, and to join 
with them in an humble address to his most 
gracious majesty, and the parliament of Great 
Britain, for the redress of our grievances, or in 
any other expedient that shall be agreed on, by 
the said committees, which may tend to pro- 
mote the utility and welfare of the British do- 
minions in America. 

John Vining, 
John Caton, 
John Barns, 
William Killen, 
Vincent Lockerman. 
September i^th, 1765. 

Sussex county, to luit : 

We, whose names are here underwritten, 
members of the general assembly of the gov- 
ernment of the counties of New-Castle, Kent 
and Sussex, upon Delaware, for the said 
county of Sussex, though sensible of the im- 
propriety of assuming the functions of assem- 
blymen during the recess of our house, yet, 
zealous to concur in any measure which may 
be productive of advantage to this government 
and the other colonies on the continent of 
America in general, have appointed, and, as 
much as in us lies, do appoint Jacob Kollock, 
esq. Cc-Esar Rodney, esq. and Thomas M'Kean, 
esq. members of the said assembly, to be a 
committee to meet with the other committees 
already appointed, or to be appointed, by the 
several and respective assemblies of the said 
other colonies, at the city of New-York, on the 
first Tuesday in October next, in conjunction 



NEW YORK. 



i6i 



with the said other committees, to consider of 
the present distressful circumstances of the 
said colonies, occasioned, in some measure, 
(as we apprehend), by several late acts of 
parliament ; and to join with them in an hum- 
ble address to his most gracious majesty and 
the parliament of Great Britain for redress of 
our grievances ; or on any other expedient, 
that shall be agreed on by the said commit- 
tees, which may tend to promote the utility and 
welfare of the British dominions in America. 

David Hall, 
Bbnj'n Burton, 
Levin Crapper, 
Tho's Robinson, 
Jacob KoLLOCK.jun. 
September \-]th, 1765. 

From the pro- I William Murdock, ^ « 
vinceofyl/rt- -^ Edward Tilghman, ;• o- 
ryland, ( THOMAS RINGGOLD, ) W 

Instructions from the honorable the lower 
house of assembly of the province of Mary- 
land. 

To William Murdock, Edward Tilghman and 
Thomas Ringgold, esqrs. a committee ap- 
pointed to join the several committees from 
the several colonies in America, at New- 
York : 

Gentlemen — You are to repair immediately 
to the city of New-York, in the province of 
New-York, and there join with the committees 
from the houses of representatives of the other 
colonies, in a general and united, loyal and 
humble representation to his majesty and the 
British parliament, of the circumstances and 
condition of the British colonies and planta- 
tions, and to pray relief from the burthens and 
restraints lately laid on their trade and com- 
merce, and especially from the taxes imposed 
by an act of the last session of parliament 
granting and applying certain stamp duties and 
other duties in the British colonies and planta- 
tions in America, whereby they are deprived, 
in some instances, of that invaluable privilege 
of Englishmen and British subjects — trials by 
juries, that you take care that such representa- 
tion shall humbly and decently, but expressly, 
contain an assertion of the rights of the colo- 
nies to be exempt from all and ever)' taxation 
and imposition upon their persons and pro- 
perties to which they do not consent in a legis- 
lative way. either by themselves or by their 
representatives, by them freely chosen and 
appointed. 

Signed by order of the house, 

Robert Lloyd, Speaker. 



From the province f Thomas Lynch, \ m 
of \ Christ'r Gadsden, \ o" 

South Carolina. ( JOHN Rutledge, ) W 
Who produced the following appointment : 

Thursday, 25/// July, 1765.— The house, 
(according to order), took into consideration 
the letter from the speaker of the house of rep- 
resentatives of the of Massachusetts-bay. 

laid before them on Friday last — and, debate 
arising thereon, and some time spent therein. 
Ordered, That the said letter be referred to a 
committee of the following gentlemen, viz: 
capt. Gadsden, Mr. Wright, Mr. Gaillard, Mr. 
Wragg, Mr. Parsons, Mr. Pinckney, colonel 
Lawrence, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Manigault and 
Mr. Drayton. 

Friday, 26th July, 1765. — Captain Gadsden 
reported, from the committee appointed to 
consider of the letter sent from the speaker of 
the house of representatives of the province of 
Massachusetts-bay to the speaker of this 
house, and to report their opinion thereupon of 
the expediency and utility of the measures 
therein proposed, and the best means of effect- 
ing the relief therein mentioned : 

That they are of opinion the measure there- 
in proposed is prudent and necessary, and 
therefore recommend to the house to send a 
committee to meet the committees from the 
houses of representatives or burgesses of the 
several British colonies on the continent, at 
New-York, on the first Tuesday in October 
next. 

That the said committee be ordered to con- 
sult there, with those other committees, on the 
present circumstances of the colonies, and the 
difficulties which they are and must be re- 
duced to, by the operation of the acts of parlia- 
ment for levying duties and taxes on the colo- 
nies, and to consider of a general and united, 
loyal and humble representation of their condi- 
tion to his majesty and the parliament, and to 
implore relief that the result of their consulta- 
tion shall, at their return, be immediately laid 
before the house, to be confirmed or not, as 
the house shall think proper. 

And the said report being delivered in at 
the clerk's table and read a second time, the 
question was severally put, that the house do 
agree to the first, second and third paragraphs 
of this report ; It was resolved in the atfir- 
mative. 

Friday, 2d August. 1765.— Motion being 
made. Resolved, that this house will provide a 
sum sufficient to defray the charges and ex- 
penses of a committee of three gentlemen on 
account of their going to, convening at, and 
returning from the meeting of the several com- 



1 62 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



mittees proposed to assemble at New-York on 
the 1st Tuesday in October next, to consult 
there with those other committees on the pre- 
sent circumstances of the colonies, and the 
difficulties which they are and must be re- 
duced to by the operation of the acts of 
parliament for levying duties and taxes on the 
colonies, and to consider of a general, united, 
dutiful, loyal, and humble representation of 
their condition to his majesty and the par- 
liament, and to implore relief. 

Ordered, That the public treasurer do ad- 
vance out of any monies in his hands, to the 
said committee, a sum not exceeding six-hun- 
dred pounds sterling, for the purpose aforesaid. 

Resolved, That this house will reimburse the 
treasurer the said sum. 

Ordered, That the following gentlemen be 
appointed a committee for the purpose afore- 
said, viz : Mr. Thomas Lynch, JVIr. Christopher 
Gadsden and Mr. John Rutledge. 

Thursday, ith August, 1765. — Ordered, That 
the said speaker inform Thomas Lynch, Chris- 
topher Gadsden and John Rutledge, esquires, 
that they are appointed a committee to meet 
the committees of the several other colo- 
nies on the continent, on the first Tuesday in 
October next, at New York ; and that he do 
acquaint them it is the desire of the house, that 
they repair to New York on the said first Tues- 
day in October next, for the purpose mentioned 
in the report of the committee, as agreed to by 
this house on Friday the 26th day of July last. 

Ordered, That three copies of the proceed- 
ings of this house relative to the said matter, 
be made out and signed by the speaker, and 
that he deliver one of the said copies to each 
of the said gentlemen. 

Raw. Lowndes, Speaker. 

Then the said committees proceeded to 
choose a chairman by ballot ; and Timothy 
RUGGLES, esq. on sorting and counting the 
votes, appeared to have a majority — and there- 
upon was placed in the chair. 

Resolved, nem. con. That Mr. John Cotton, 
be clerk to this congress during the continu- 
ance thereof. 

Then the congress took into consideration 
the several appointments of the committees 
from New- York, New Jersey, and the govern- 
ment of the lower counties on Delaware — and 

Resolved, nem. con. That the same are suffi- 
cient to qualify the gentlemen therein named, to 
sit in the congress. 

Resolved also. That the committee of each 
colony, shall have one voice only, in determining 
any questions that shall rise in the congress. 



Then the congress adjourned until to morrow 
morning, 9 o'clock. 

Tuesday, Oct. Zth, 1765, A. il/.— The con- 
gress met according to adjournment. Upon 
motion, voted, that provinces be * is adjourned 
to. Voted, that Mr. justice Livingston, Mr. 
McKean and Mr. Rutledge be a committee to 
inspect the proceedings and minutes, and cor- 
rect the same. 

Then the congress took into consideration 
the rights and privileges of the British Ameri- 
can colonists, with the several inconveniences 
and hardships to which they are and must be 
subjected by the operation of several late acts 
of parliament, particularly the act called the 
stamp act ; and after some time spent therein, 
the same was postponed for further considera- 
tion. 

Then the congress adjourned until to-mor- 
row morning, 9 o'clock. 

Wednesday, Oct. gth, 1765, A. M. — Then the 
congress met according to adjournment. The 
congress resumed the consideration of the 
rights and privileges of the British American 
colonists, etc., the same was referred after sun- 
dry debates, for further consideration. 

Then the congress adjourned until to morrow 
morning, 1 1 o'clock. 

Thursday, Oct. loth, 1765, A. j1/.— Then 
the congress met according to adjournment, and 
resumed, etc., as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to 10 o'clock, to-morrow morning. 

Friday, Oct. nth, 1765, A.M. — The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc.. as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to 10 o'clock, to-morrow morning. 

Saturday, Oct. \2th, 1765, A. M. — The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to Monday morning next, 10 o'clock. 

Monday, Oct. 14/h. 1765, A. M. — The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as on Saturday last — and then 
adjourned to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock. 

Tuesday, Oct. 15M, 1765, A. J/.— The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and 
resumed, etc. as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock. 

Wednesday, Oct. l6th, 1765, A. M.—The 
congress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock. 

Thursday, Oct. 17th. 1765.^. yl/.— The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock. 

Friday, Oct. iZth, 1765, A. J/.— The con- 
♦ There appears to be some error here.— Ed. Reg. 



NEW YORK. 



163 



gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as yesterday — and then adjourned 
to to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock. 

Saturday, Oct. igt/i. 1765, A. J/.— The con- 
gress met according to adjournment, and re- 
sumed, etc., as yesterday ; and upon mature 
deliberation, agreed to the following declara- 
tions of the rights and grievances of the colo- 
nists in America, which were ordered to be 
inserted. 

The members of this congress, sincerely 
devoted, with the warmest sentiments of 
affection and duly to his majesty's person and 
government ; inviolably attached to the present 
happy establishment of the protestant succes- 
sion, and with minds deeply impressed by a 
sense of the present and impending misfortunes 
of the British colonies on this continent ; hav- 
ing considered as maturely as time would per- 
mit, the circumstances of the said colonies, 
esteem it our indispensable duty to make the 
following declarations, of our humble opinion, 
respecting the most essential rights and liber- 
ties of the colonists, and of the grievances 
under which they labor, by reason of several 
late acts of parliament. 

1st. That his majesty's subjects in these 
colonies, owe the same allegiance to the crown 
of Great Britain, that is owing from his sub- 
jects born within the realm, and all due subor- 
dination to that august body, the parliament 
of Great Britain. 

2d. That his majesty's liege subjects in 
these colonies are entitled to all the inherent 
rights and privileges of his natural born sub- 
jects within the kingdom of Great Britain. 

3d. That it is inseparably essential to the 
freedom of a people, and the undoubted rights 
of Englishmen, that no taxes should be imposed 
on them, but with their own consent, given 
personally, or by their representatives. 

4th. That the people of these colonies are 
not, and from their local circumstances, cannot 
be represented in the house of commons in 
Great Britain. 

5th. That the only representatives of the 
people of these colonies, are persons chosen 
therein, by themselves ; and that no taxes ever 
have been, or can be constitutionally imposed 
on them, but by their respective legislatures. 

6th. That all supplies to the crown, being free 
gifts of the people, it is unreasonable and in- 
consistent with the principles and spirit of the 
British constitution, for the people of Great 
Britain to grant to his majesty the property of 
the colonists. 

7th. That trial by jury is the inherent and 



invaluable right of every British subject in these 
colonies. 

8th. That the late act of parliament, entitled, 
an act for granting and applying certain stamp 
duties, and other duties in the British colonies 
and plantations in America, etc., by imposing 
taxes on the inhabitants of these colonies, and 
the said act, and several other acts, by extend- 
ing the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty 
beyond its ancient limits, have a manifest ten- 
dency to subvert the rights and liberties of the 
colonists. 

9th. That the duties imposed by several late 
acts of parliament, from their peculiar circum- 
stances of these colonies, will be extremely 
burthensome and grievous, and Irom the scar- 
city of specie, the payment of them absolutelj 
impracticable. 

loth. That as the profits of the trade of these 
colonies ultimately centre in Great Britain, to 
pay for the manufactures which they are obliged 
to take from thence, they eventually contribute 
very largely to all supplies granted there to the 
crown. 

nth. That the restrictions imposed by seve- 
ral late acts of parliament, on the trade of 
these colonies, will render them unable to pur- 
chase the manufactures of Great. Britain. 

12th. That the increase, prosperity and hap- 
piness of these colonies, depend on the full and 
free enjoyment of their rights and liberties, and 
an intercourse, with Great Britain, mutually 
affectionate and advantageous. 

13th. That it is the right of the British sub- 
jects in these colonies, to petition the king or 
either house of parliament. 

Lastly, That it is the indispensable duty of 
these colonies to the best of sovereigns, to the 
mother country, and to themselves, to endeavor 
by a loyal and dutiful address to his majesty, 
and humble application to both houses of par- 
liament, to procure the repeal of the act for 
granting and applying certain stamp duties, of 
all clauses of any other acts of parliament, 
whereby the jurisdiction of the admiralty is 
extended as aforesaid, and of the other late 
acts for the restriction of the American com- 
merce. 

Upon motion, voted, that Robert R. Living- 
ston, William Samuel Johnson and William 
Murdock, Esqrs. be a committee to prepare an 
address to his majesty, and lay the same before 
the congress on Monday next. 

Voted also, that John Rutledge, Edward 
Tilghman and Philip Livingston, Esqrs. be a 
committee to prepare a memorial and petition 
to the lords in parliament, and lay the same 
before the congress on Monday next. 



164 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Voted also, that Thomas Lynch, James Otis 
and Thomas McKean, Esqrs. be a committee 
to prepare a petition to the house of commons 
of Great Britain, and lay the same before the 
congress on Monday next. 

Then the congress adjourned to Monday 
next, at twelve o'clock. 

Monday, Oct. 21s/, 1765, A. A/.— The com- 
mittee appointed to prepare and bring in an 
address to his majesty, did report, that they 
have essayed a draught for that purpose, which 
they laid on the table, and humbly submitted 
to the correction of the congress. 

The said address was read, and, after sun- 
dry amendments, the same was approved of 
by the congress, and ordered to be engrossed. 

The committee, appointed to prepare and 
bring in a memorial and petition to the lords 
in parliament did report that they had essayed 
a draught for th.at purpose, which they laid on 
the table, and humbly submitted to the correc- 
tion of the congress. 

The said address was read, and after sundry 
amendments, the same was approved of by 
the congress, and ordered to be engrossed. 

The committee appointed to prepare and 
bring in a petition to the house of commons of 
Great Britain, did report that they had essayed 
a draught for that purpose, which they laid on 
the table, and humbly submitted to the correc- 
tion of the congress. 

The said address was read, and after sundry 
amendments, the same was approved of by the 
congress, and ordered to be engrossed. 

Then the congress adjourned to to-morrow 
morning, at 9 o'clock. 

Tuesday, Oct. 22d, 1765, A, Af. — The con- 
gress met according to adjournment. The 
address to his majesty being engrossed, was 
read and compared, and is as follows, viz : 

To the King's Most E.xccllent Majesty, 
The petition of the freeholders and other in- 
habitants of the Massachusets Bay, Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, the government of the 
counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex 
upon Delaware, and province of Maryland,* 

Most Jiwnbly sheiveth. 

That the inhabitants of these colonies, unan- 
imously devoted with the warmest sentiments 
of duty and affection to your sacred person 
and government, and inviolably attached to the 
present happy establishment of the protestant 
succession in your illustrious house, and deeply 
sensible of your royal attention to their pros- 

• South Carolina^ we presume, is omitted in the 
copy.— Ed. 



perity and happiness, humbly beg leave to 
approach the throne, by representing to your 
majesty, that these colonies were originally 
planted by subjects of the British crown : who, 
animated with the spirit of liberty, encouraged 
by your majesty's royal predecessors, and con- 
fiding in the public faith for the enjoyment of 
all the rights and liberties essential to freedom, 
emigrated from their native country to this con- 
tinent, and, by their successful perseverance 
in the midst of innumerable dangers and diffi- 
culties, together with a profusion of their blood 
and treasure, have happily added these vast and 
extensive dominions to the empire of Great 
Britain. 

That, for the enjoyment of these rights and 
liberties, several governments were early formed 
in the said colonies, with full power of legisla- 
tion, agreeably to the principles of the English 
constitution ; — that under those governments, 
these liberties, thus vested in their ancestors, 
and transmitted to their posterity, have been 
exercised and enjoyed, and by the inestimable 
blessings thereof, under the favor of Almighty 
God, the inhospitable deserts of America have 
been converted into flourishing countries; 
science, humanity and the knowledge of divine 
truths diffused through remote regions of 
ignorance, infidelity, barbarism ; the number of 
British subjects wonderfully increased, and the 
wealth and power of Great Britain proportion- 
ably augmented. 

That, by means of these settlements and the 
unparalleled success of your majesty's arms, a 
foundation is now laid for rendering the British 
empire the most extensive and powerful of any 
recorded in history ; our connection with this 
empire we esteem our greatest happiness and 
security, and humbly conceive it may now be so 
established by your royal wisdom, as to endure 
to the latest period of time ; this with the most 
humble submission to your majesty, we appre- 
hend will be most effectually accomplished by 
fixing the pillars thereof on liberty and justice, 
and securing the inherent rights and liberties 
of your subjects here, upon the principles of 
the English constitution. To this constitution 
these two principles are essential ; the right of 
your faithful subjects freely to grant your 
majesty such aids as are required for the sup- 
port of your government over them, and other 
public exigencies, and trials by their peers. By 
the one they are secured from unreasonable 
impositions, and by the other from the arbitrary 
decisions of the executive power. The con- 
tinuation of these liberties, to the inhabitants of 
.'America, we ardently implore, as absolutely 
necessary to unite the several parts of your wide 



NEW YORK. 



165 



extended dominions, in that harmony so essen- 
tial to the presen'ation and happiness of the 
whole. Protected in these liberties, the emolu- 
ments Great Britian receives from us, however 
great at present, are inconsiderable, compared 
with those she has the fairest prospect of ac- 
quiring. By this protection, she will forever 
secure to herself the advantages of conveying 
to all Europe, the merchandise which America 
furnishes, and for supplying, through the same 
channel, whatsoever is wanted from thence. 
Here opens a boundless source of wealth and 
naval strength. Yet these immense advan- 
tages, by the abridgement of those invaluable 
rights and liberties, by which our growth has 
been nourished, are in danger of being forever 
lost, and our surbordinate legislatures in eflect 
rendered useless by the late acts of parliament 
imposing duties and taxes on these colonies, 
and extending the jurisdiction of the courts 
of admiralty here, beyond its ancient limits ; 
statutes, by which your majesty's commons in 
Britain undertake absolutely to dispose of the 
property of their fellow subjects in America 
without their consent, and for the enforcing 
whereof, they are subjected to the determina- 
tion of a single judge, in court unrestrained by 
the wise rules of the common law, the birth- 
right of Englishmen, and the safeguard of 
their persons and their properties. 

The invaluable rights of taxing ourselves and 
trial by our peers, of which we implore your 
majesty's protection, are not, we most humbly 
conceive, unconstitutional, but confirmed by 
the Great Charter of English liberties. On the 
first of these rights the honorable house of com- 
mons found their practice of originating money ; 
a right enjoyed by the kingdom of Ireland, by 
the clergy of England, until relinquished by 
themselves ; a right, in fine, which all other 
your majesty's English subjects, both within 
and without the realm, have hitherto enjoyed. 

With hearts, therefore, impressed with the 
most indelible characters of gratitude to your 
majesty, and to the memory of the kings of 
your illustrious house, whose reigns have been 
signally distinguished by their auspicious influ- 
ence on the prosperity of the British dominions, 
and convinced by the most affecting proofs of 
your majesty's paternal love to all your people, 
however distant, and your unceasing and be- 
nevolent desires to promote their happiness, 
we most humbly beseech your majesty that you 
will be graciously pleased to take into your 
royal consideration the distresses of your faith- 
ful subjects on this continent, and to lay the 
same before your majesty's parliament, and to 
aiford them such relief, as in your royal wisdom 



their unhappy circumstances shall be judged 
to require. 

And your petitioners will pray, etc. 
The memorial to the lords in parliament 
being engrossed, was read and compared, and 
is as follows, viz : 

To the Right Honorable the Lords Spiritiml 
and Temporal of Great Britain, in parlia- 
ment assembled. 

The memorial of the freeholders and other 
inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, New-Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania, the government of the 
counties of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex 
upon Delaware, and province of Maryland, in 
America. 

Most humbly sheweth. 

That his majesty's liege subjects in his 
American colonies, though they acknowledge 
a due subordination to that august body, the 
British parliament, are entitled, in the opinion, 
of your memorialists, to all the inherent rights 
and liberties of the natives of Great Britain, 
and have, ever since the settlement of the said 
colonies, exercised those rights and liberties, as 
far as their local circumstances would permit. 

That your memorialists humbly conceive 
that one of the most essential rights of these 
colonists, which they have ever till lately unin- 
terruptedly enjoyed, to be trial by jury. 

That your memorialists also humbly conceive 
another of these essential rights, to be the 
exemption from all taxes, but such as are 
imposed on the people by the several legisla- 
tures in these colonies, which rights they 
have also, till of late enjoyed. But your 
memorialists humbly beg leave to represent 
to your lordships, that the act for granting 
certain stamp duties in the British colonies in 
America, etc., fills his majesty's American 
subjects with the deepest concern, as it tends 
to deprive them of the two fundamental and 
invaluable rights and liberties above mentioned; 
and that several other late acts of parliament, 
which extend the jurisdiction and power of 
courts of admiralty in the plantations beyond 
their limits in Great Britain, thereby make an 
unnecessar)', unhappy distinction, as to the 
modes of trial between us and our fellow sub- 
jects there, by whom we never have been 
excelled in duty and loyalty to our sovereign. 

That, from the natural connection between 
Great Britain and America, the perpetual con- 
tinuance of which your memorialists most 
ardently desire, they conceive that nothing can 
conduce more to the interest of both, than the 



1 66 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



colonists* free enjoyment of their rights and 
liberties, and an affectionate intercourse be- 
tween Great Britain and them. But your 
memonalists (not waiving their claim to these 
rights, of which, with the most becoming ven- 
eration and deference to the wisdom and jus- 
tice of your lordships, they apprehend they 
cannot reasonably be deprived) humbly repre- 
sent, that from the peculiar circumstances of 
these colonies, the duties imposed by the 
aforesaid act, and several other late acts of 
parliament, are extremely grievous and bur- 
thensome ; and the payment of the several 
duties will very soon, for want of specie, be- 
come absolutely impracticable : and that the 
restrictions on trade by the said acts, will not 
only distress the colonies, but must be ex- 
tremely detrimental to the trade and true 
interest of Great Britain. 

Your memorialists, therefore, impressed with 
a just sense of the unfortunate circumstances 
of the colonies, the impending destructive 
consequences which must necessarily ensue 
from the execution of these acts, and animated 
with the warmest sentiments of filial affection 
for their mother country, most earnestly and 
humbly entreat your lordships will be pleased 
to hear their council in support of this memo- 
rial, and take the premises into your most 
serious consideration, and that your lordships 
will also be thereupon pleased to pursue such 
measures for restoring the just rights and 
liberties of the colonies, and preserving them 
forever inviolate, for redressing their present, 
and preventing future grievances, thereby pro- 
moting the united interest of Great Britain and 
America, as to your lordships, in your great 
wisdom, shall seem most conducive, and effec- 
tual to that important end. 

And your memorialists will pray, etc. 

Then the congress adjourned to to-morrow 
morning, 9 o'clock. 

Wednesday, Oct. 2id, 1765, A. M.— lht 
congress met according to adjournment. 

The petition to the house of commons being 
engrossed, was read and compared, and is as 
follows, viz : 

To the Honorable the Knights, Citizens and 
Burgesses of Great Britain, in parliament 
assembled. 

The petition of his majesty's dutiful, loyal sub- 
jects, the freeholders and other inhabitants 
of the colonies of the Massachusetts Bay, 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the government 
of the counties of New Castle, Kent, and 



Sussex upon Delaware, and province of 
Maryland, in America, 

Most humbly sheweth. 

That the several late acts of pari lament, 
imposing divers duties and taxes on the colo- 
nies, and laying the trade and commerce under 
very burthensome restrictions, but above all, 
the act for granting and applying certain stamp 
duties in America, have filled them with the 
deepest concern and surprise, and they humbly 
conceive the execution of them w^ill be attended 
with consequences very injurious to the com- 
mercial interest of Great Britain and her colo- 
nies, and must terminate in the eventual ruin 
of the latter. Your petitioners, therefore, most 
ardently implore the attention of the honorable 
house to the united and dutiful representation 
of their circumstances, and to their earnest 
supplications for relief from their regulations 
that have already involved this continent in 
anxiety, confusion, and distress. We most sin- 
cerely recognize our allegiance to the crown, 
and acknowledge all due subordination to the 
parliament of Great Britain, and shall always 
retain the most grateful sense of their assis- 
tance and approbation ; it is from and under 
the English constitution we derive all our civil 
and religious rights and liberties ; we glory in 
being subjects of the best of kings, having been 
bom under the most perfect form of government. 
But it is with the most ineffable and humiliating 
sorrow that we find ourselves of late, deprived 
of the right of granting our own property for 
his majesty's service, to which our lives and 
fortunes are entirely devoted, and to which on 
his royal requisitions, we have been ready to 
contribute to the utmost of our abilities. 

We have also the misfortune to find, that all 
the penalties and forfeitures mentioned in the 
stamp act, and divers late acts of trade ex- 
tending to the plantations, are, at the election of 
the informers, recoverable in any court of ad- 
miralty in America. This, as the newly erected 
court of admiralty has a general jurisdiction 
over all British America, renders his majesty's 
subjects in these colonies, liable to be carried 
at an immense expense from one end of the 
continent to the other. It always gives us great 
pain to see a manifest distinction made therein 
between the subjects of our mother country 
and the colonies, in that the like penalties and 
forfeitures recoverable there only in his maj- 
esty's courts of record, are made cognizable 
here by a court of admiralty. By this means 
we seem to be in effect, unhappily deprived of 
two privileges essential to freedom, and which 
all Englishmen have ever considered as theit 



NEW YORK. 



167 



best birth-rights ; that of being free from all 
taxes but such as they have consented to in 
person, or by their representatives, and of trial 
by their peers. 

Your petitioners further shew, that the 
remote situation and other circumstances of 
the colonies, render it impracticable that they 
should be represented but in their respective 
subordinate legislatures, and they humbly con- 
ceive that the parliament adhering strictly to 
the principle of the constitution, have never 
hitherto ta.xed any but those who were therein 
actually represented : for this reason, we hum- 
bly apprehend, they never have taxed Ireland, 
nor any other of the subjects without the realm. 
— But were it ever so clear, that the colonies 
might in law be reasonably represented in the 
honorable house of commons, yet we conceive 
that very good reasons from inconvenience, 
from the principles of true policy, and from the 
spirit of the British constitution, may be adduced 
to shew, that it would be for the real interest 
of Great Britain, as well as her colonies, that 
the late regulations should be rescinded, and 
the several acts of parliament imposing duties 
and ta.xes on the colonies, and extending the 
jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty here 
beyond their ancient limits, should be repealed. 

We shall not attempt a minute detail of all 
the reasons which the wisdom of the honorable 
house may suggest, on this occasion, but would 
humbly submit the following particulars to their 
consideration : 

That money is already very scarce in these 
colonies, and is still decreasing by the necessary 
exportation of specie from the continent for the 
discharging of our debts to British merchants, 
that an immensely heavy debt is yet due from 
the colonies for British manufactures, and that 
they are still heavily burthened with taxes to 
discharge the arrearages due for aids granted 
by them in the late war ; that the balance of 
trade will ever be much against the colonies, 
and in favor of Great Britain, whilst we con- 
sume her manufactures ; the demand of which 
must ever increase in proportion to the number 
of inhabitants settled here, with the means of 
purchasing them. We therefore humbly con- 
ceive it to be the interest of Great Britain to 
increase rather than diminish those means, as 
the profit of all the trade of the colonies ulti- 
mately centre there to pay for her manu- 
factures, as we are not allowed to purchase 
elsewhere, and by the consumption of which, 
at the advanced prices the British taxes oblige 
the makers and venders to set on them, we 
eventually contribute very largely to the reve- 
nues of the crown. 



That, from the nature of American business, 
the multiplicity of suits and papers used in mat- 
ters of small value, in a country where freeholds 
are so minutely divided, and property so 
frequently transferred, a stamp duty must be 
ever very burthensome and unequal. 

That it is extremely improbable that the 
honorable house of commons should at all 
times be thoroughly acquainted with our condi- 
tion, and all facts requisite to a just and equal 
ta.\ation of the colonies. 

It is also humbly submitted whether there 
be not a material distinction, in reason and 
sound policy at least, between the necessary 
exercise of parliamentary jurisdiction in general 
acts, and the common law, and the regulations 
of trade and commerce, through the whole 
empire, and the exercise of that jurisdiction by 
imposing taxes on the colonies. 

That the several subordinate provincial legis- 
latures have been moulded into forms as nearly 
resembling that of the mother country, as by 
his majesty's royal predecessors was thought 
convenient ; and these legislatures seem to have 
been wisely and graciously established, that the 
subjects in the colonies might, under the due 
administration thereof, enjoy the happy fruits 
of the British government, which in their pres- 
ent circumstances they cannot be so fully and 
clearly availed of any other way. 

Under these forms of government we and 
our ancestors have been born or settled, and 
have had our lives, liberties and properties pro- 
tected ; the people here as every where else, 
retain a great fondness of their old customs 
and usages, and we trust that his majesty's 
service, and the interest of the nation, so far 
from being obstructed, have been vastly pro- 
moted by the provincial legislatures. 

That we esteem our connection with and 
dependence on Great Britain, as one of our 
greatest blessings ; and apprehend the latter 
will be sufficiently secure, when it is considered 
that the inhabitants in the colonies have the 
most unbounded affection for his majesty's per- 
son, family and government, as well as for the 
mother country, and that their subordination 
to the pariiament is universally acknowledged. 

We, therefore, most humbly entreat that the 
honorable house would be pleased to hear our 
council in support of this petition, and take our 
distressed and deplorable case into their serious 
consideration, and that the acts and clauses of 
acts so grievously restraining our trade and 
commerce, imposing duties and taxes on our 
property, and extending the jurisdiction of the 
court of admiralty beyond its ancient limits, 
may be repealed ; or that the honorable house 



1 68 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



would otherwise relieve your petitioners as in 
your great wisdom and goodness shall seem 
meet. 

And your petitioners shall ever pray, etc. 

Then the congress adjourned until to-mor- 
row morning, lo o'clock. 

Thursday, Oct. 24///, 1765, A. j1/.— The 
congress met according to adjournment. 

The congress look into consideration the 
manner in which their several petitions should 
be preferred and solicited in Great Britain, and 
thereupon came to the following determina- 
tion, viz : 

It is recommended by the congress to the 
several colonies to appoint special agents for 
soliciting relief from their present grievances, 
and to unite their utmost interest and endeavors 
for that purpose. 

Voted unanimously, that the clerk of this 
congress sign the minutes of their proceedings, 
and dehver a copy for the use of each colony 
and province. 

By order of the congress, 

John Cotton, Clerk. 

A copy of the proceedings of the province of 
New-Hampshire, as transmitted to the con- 
gress. 

Province of New j In the house of represen- 
Hainpshire, \ tathics.June 2<)th, 1765. 

Mr. Speaker laid before the house a letter 
from the honorable speaker of the honorable 
representatives of the province of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay, to the speaker of this assembly, 
proposing a meeting of committees from the 
several assemblies of the British colonies on 
the continent, at New- York, to consider of a 
general, united, dutiful, loyal and humble rep- 
resentation of our committees, and for implor- 
ing his majesty and the parliament for relief; 
which being read. 

Resolved, That, notwithstanding we are sen- 
sible that such a representation ought to be 
made, and approve of the proposed method 
for obtaining thereof, yet the present situation 
of our governmental affairs, will not permit us 
to appoint a committee to attend such meet- 
ing; but shall be ready to join in any address, 
to his majesty and the parliament we may be 
honored with the knowledge of, probable to 
answer the proposed end. 

A. Clarkson, Clerk. 

A copy of a letter received from Georgia, 
during the sitting of the congress : 

Savannah, in Georgia, September 6th, 1765. 
Sir — Your letter dated in June last, acquaint- 
ing me that the house of representatives of 



your province, had unanimously agreed to pro- 
pose a meeting at the city of New York, of 
committees from the houses of representatives 
of the several British colonies on this continent, 
on the first Tuesday in October next, to consult 
together on the present circumstances of the 
colonies, and the difficulties to which they are 
and must be reduced by the operation of the 
acts of parliament, for laying duties and taxes 
on the colonies, and to consider of an humble 
representation of their condition to his majesty 
and the parliament, and to implore relief, came 
to hand at an unlucky season, it being in the 
recess of the general assembly of this province. 
Nevertheless, immediately upon the receipt of 
your letter, I dispatched expresses to the seve- 
ral representatives of this province, acquaint- 
ing them with the purport thereof, and re- 
questing them to meet at this place vt-ithout 
delay. 

And accordingly they met here on Monday 
last, to the number of sixteen, being a large 
majority of the representatives of this province ; 
the whole consisting of twenty-five persons, 
but J;iis excellency our governor, being applied 
to, did not think it expedient to call them to- 
gether on the occasion ; which is the reason of 
not sending a committee as proposed by your 
house, for you may be assured, no representa- 
tives on this sentiment can more sincerely con- 
cur in the measures proposed, than do the rep- 
resentatives of the province now met together : 
neither can any people, as individuals, more 
warmly espouse the common cause of the colo- 
nies, than do the people of this province. 

The gentlemen now present, request it as a 
favor, you'll be pleased to send me a copy of 
such representation as may be agreed upon by 
the several committees at New York, and 
acquaint me how, and in what manner the 
same is to be laid before the king and parlia- 
ment ; whether by any person particularly 
authorized for that purpose, or by the colony 
agents ? The general assembly of this prov- 
ince stands prorogued to the 22d day of Octo- 
ber next, which is the time it generally meets 
for the dispatch of the ordinary business of the 
province ; and I doubt not the representatives 
of this province will then, in their legislative ca- 
pacity, take under consideration the grievances 
so justly complained of. and transmit their sense 
of the same to Great Britain, in such way as 
may seem best calculated to obtain redress, 
and so as to convince the sister colonies of 
their inviolable attachment to the common 
cause. 

I am, sir, your most obedient and most hum- 
ble servant, ALEX. Wylly. 



NEW YORK. 



169 



To Samuel White, esqr. speaker of the 
house of representatives of Massachu- 
setts Bay, in New England. 

The two foregoing letters, are true copies 
from the original. 

Attest, John Cotton, Clerk. 



ASSOCIATION OF THE SONS OF 
LIBERTY 

To THE Public. 

New York^ December 15, 1773. 

The following association is signed by a great 
number of the principal gentlemen of the 
city, merchants, lawyers, and other inhabi- 
tants of all ranks, and it is still carried about 
the city, to give an opportunity to those who 
have not yet signed to unite with their fel- 
low-citizens, to testify their abhorrence to 
the diabolical project of enslaving America. 

The association of the Sons of Liberty of 
New York. 

It is essential to the freedom and security of 
a free people, that no taxes be imposed upon 
them but by their own consent, or their repre- 
sentatives. For " what property have they 
in that which another may, by right, take 
when he pleases to himself? " The former is 
the undoubted right of Englishmen, to secure 
which they expended millions and sacrificed 
the lives of thousands. And yet, to the aston- 
ishment of all the world, and the grief of 
America, the commons of Great Britain, after 
the repeal of the memorable and detestable 
stamp-act, reassumed the power of imposing 
taxes on the American colonies ; and, insisting 
on it as a necessary badge of parliamentary 
supremacy, passed a bill, in the seventh year 
of his present majesty's reign, imposing duties 
on all glass, painters' colors, paper and teas, 
that should, after the 20th of November, 1767, 
be " imported from Great Britain into any 
colony or plantation in America."— This bill, 
after the concurrence of the lords, obtained the 
royal assent. And thus they who, from time 
immemorial, have exercised the right of giving 
to, or withholding from the crown, their aids 
and subsidies, according to their own free will 
and pleasure, signified by their representatives 
in parliament, do, by the act in question, deny 
us, their brethren in America, the enjoyment 
of the same right. As this denial, and the ex- 
ecution of that act, involves our slavery, and 
would sap the foundation of our freedom, 
whereby we should become slaves to our 



brethren and fellow subjects, born to no 
greater stock of freedom than the Americans 
— the merchants and inhabitants of this city, 
in conjunction with the merchants and inhabi- 
tants of the ancient American colonies, entered 
into an agreement to decline a part of their com- 
merce with Great Britain, until the above men- 
tioned act should be totally repealed. This 
agreement operated so powerfully to the dis- 
advantage of the manufacturers of England 
that many of them were unemployed. To ap- 
pease their clamors, and to provide the subsis- 
tence for them, which the non-impoitation had 
deprived them of, the parliament, in 1770, re- 
pealed so much of the revenue act as imposed 
a duty on glass, painters" colors, and paper, 
and left the duty on tea, as a test of the parlia- 
tnentary right to tax us. The merchants of 
the cities of New York and Philadelphia, hav- 
ing strictly adhered to the agreement, so far 
as it is related to the importation of articles 
subject to an American duty, have convinced 
the ministry, that some other measures must 
be adopted to execute parliamentary supremacy 
over this country, and to remove the distress 
brought on the East India company, by the ill- 
policy of that act. Accordingly, to increase 
the temptation to the shippers of tea from 
England, an act of parliament passed the last 
session, which gives the whole duty on tea, the 
company were subject to pay, upon the impor- 
tation of it into England, to the purchasers and 
exporters ; and when the company have ten 
millions of pounds of tea, in their ware-houses 
exclusive of the quantity they may want to ship, 
they are allowed to export tea, discharged 
from the payment of that duty, with which 
they were before chargeable. In hopes of aid 
in the execution of this project, by the influence 
of the owners of the American ships, applica- 
tion was made by the company to the captains 
of those ships to take the tea on freight ; but 
they virtuously rejected it. Still determined on 
the scheme, they have chartered ships to bring 
the tea to this country, which may be hourly 
expected, to make an important trial of our 
virtue. If they succeed in the sale of that tea, 
we shall have no property that we can call our 
own, and then we may bid adieu to American 

liberty. Therefore, to prevent a calamity 

which, of all others, is the most to be dreaded 
— slavery, and its terrible concomitants — 
we, the subscribers, being influenced from a 
regard to liberty, and disposed to use all lawful 
endeavors in our power, to defeat the pernici- 
ous project, and to transmit to our posterity, 
those blessings of freedom which our ances- 
tors have handed down to us ; and to contri- 



I/O 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



bute to the support of the common liberties of 
America, which are in danger to be subverted, 
do, for those important purposes, agree to as- 
sociate together, under the ,name and style of 
the sons of New York, and engage our honor 
to, and with each other faithfully to observe 
and perform the following resolutions, viz. 

1st. Resolved, That whoever shall aid, or 
abet, or in any manner assist, in the introduc-, 
tion of tea, from any place whatsoever, into 
this colony, while it is subject, by a British act 
of parliament, to the payment of a duty, for the 
purpose of raising a revenue in America, he 
shall be deemed an enemy to the liberties of 
America. 

2d. Resolved, That whoever shall be aiding, 
or assisting, in the landing, or carting of such 
tea, from any ship, or vessel, or shall hire any 
House, store-house, or cellar or any place what- 
soever, to deposit the tea, subject to a duty as 
aforesaid, he shall be deemed an enemy to the 
liberties of America. 

3d. Resolved, That whoever shall sell, or 
buy, or in any manner contribute to the sale, 
or purchase of tea, subject to a duty as afore- 
said, or shall aid, or abet, in transporting such 
tea, by land or water, from this city, until the 
7th George III. chap. 46, commonly called the 
revenue act, shall be totally and clearly repealed, 
he shall be deemed an enemy to the liberties 
of America. 

4th. Resolved, That whether the duties on 
tea, imposed by this act, be paid in Great 
Britain or in America, our liberties are equally 
affected. 

5th. Resolved, That whoever shall transgress 
any of these resolutions, we will not deal 
with, or employ, or have any connection with 
him. 

MEETING 

Of the Inhabitants of New York, July 

6, 1774- 
At a numerous meeting of the inhabitants of 

the city of New-York, convened in the fields, 

by public advertisement, on Wednesday the 

6th of July, 1774. 

Mr. Alexander M'Dougall chairman — 

The business of the meeting being fully ex- 
plained by the chairman, and the dangerous 
tendency of the numerous and vile arts used by 
the enemies of America, to divide and distract 
her councils, as well as the misrepresentations 
of the virtuous intentions of the citizens of this 
metropolis, in this interesting and alarming 
state of the liberties of America, the following 
resolutions were twice read, and the question 



being separately put on each of them, they 
were passed without one dissentient. 

I St. Resolved, ?iein. eon. That the statute 
commonly called the Boston port act, is op- 
pressive to the inhabitants of that town, uncon- 
stitutional in its principles, and dangerous to the 
liberties of British America ; and that therefore, 
we consider our brethren at Boston as now 
suffering in the common cause of these colonies. 

2d. Resolved, nem. con. That any attack or 
attempt to abridge the liberties, or invade the 
constitution of any of our sister colonies is 
immediately an attack upon the liberties and 
constitution of all the British colonies. 

3d. Resolved, nem. con. That the shutting 
up of any of the ports in America, with intent 
to exact from Americans, a submission to 
parliamentary taxations, or extort a reparation 
of private injuries, is highly unconstitutional, 
and subversive of the commercial rights of the 
inhabitants of this continent. 

4th. Resolved, nem. con. That it is the opin- 
ion of this meeting, that if the principal colonies 
on this continent, shall come into a joint reso- 
lution, to stop all importation from, and expor- 
tation to Great Britain, till the act of parliament 
for blocking up the harbor of Boston be re- 
pealed, the same will prove the salvation of 
North America and her liberties, and that, on 
the other hand, if they continue their exports 
and imports, there is great reason to fear that 
fraud, power, and the most odious oppression, 
will rise triumphant over right, justice, social 
happiness, and freedom : — Therefore, 

5th. Resolved, nem. con. That the deputies 
who shall represent this colony in the congress 
of American deputies, to be held at Philadel- 
phia, about the first of September next, are 
hereby instructed, empowered, and directed to 
engage with a majority of the principal colo- 
nies, to agree, for this city, upon a non-impor- 
tation from Great Britain, of all goods, wares and 
merchandises, until the act for blocking up the 
harbor of Boston be repealed, and American 
grievances be redressed ; and also to agree to 
all such other measures as the congress shall, 
in their wisdom, judge advansive of these great 
objects, and a general security of the rights 
and privileges of America. 

6th. Resoh'ed, nem. con. That this meeting 
will abide by, obey, and observe all such resolu- 
tions, determinations, and measures, which the 
congress aforesaid shall come into, and direct 
or recommend to be done, for obtaining and 
securing the important ends mentioned in the 
foregoing resolutions. And that an engage- 
ment to this effect be immediately entered into 
and sent to the congress, to evince to them. 



NEW /ORK. 



171 



our readiness and determination to co-operate 
with our sister colonies, for the relief of our 
distressed brethren of Boston, as well as for the 
security of our common rights and privileges. 

7th. Resolved, nem. con. That it is the 
opinion of this meeting, that it would be proper 
for every county in the colony, without delay, 
to send two deputies, chosen by the people, or 
from the committee, chosen by them in each 
county, to hold in conjunction with deputies 
for this city and county, a convention for the 
colony (on a day to be appointed) in order to 
elect a proper number of deputies, to represent 
the colony in the general congress : but that, if 
the counties shall conceive this mode impracti- 
cable, or inexpedient, they be requested to give 
their approbation to the deputies who shall be 
chosen for this city and county, to represent 
the colony in congress. 

8th. Resolved, nem. con. That a subscrip- 
tion should immediately be set on foot, for the 
relief of such poor inhabitants of Boston as are, 
or may be deprived of the means of subsist- 
ence, by the operation of the act of parliament 
for stopping up the port at Boston. The money 
which shall arise from such subscription, to be 
laid out as the city committee of correspondence 
shall think will best answer the end proposed. 

9th. Resolved, nem. con. That the city com- 
mittee of correspondence be, and they are 
hereby instructed to use their utmost endeavors 
to carry these resolutions into execution. 

Ordered. That these resolutions be printed 
in the public newspapers of this city, and trans- 
mitted to the different counties in this colony, 
and to the committees of correspondence, for 
the neighboring colonies. 

New-York, July y, 1774. 
On Monday evening the committee met and 
nominated five gentlemen as delegates at the 
grand congress on the first of next September, 
who are to be proposed to the citizens sum- 
moned to assembly this day at 12 o'clock, at 
the city hall, for their approbation ; or to make 
such alterations as may be agreed upon. 



LETTER. 

From the committee of New York, to the lord 
mayor, aldermen, and common council of Lon- 
don, laid before the court of common council 
by the jnayor, on the lyl of June. 1775. 

Committee Chamber, ) 

New-York, May 5, 1775. \ 
My Lord and Gentlemen — Distinguished as 
you are, by your noble exertions in the cause 



of liberty, and deeply interested in the expiring 
commerce of the empire, you necessarily com- 
mand the most respectful attention. The 
general committee of association, for the city 
and county of New York, beg leave, therefore, 
to address you, and the capital of the British 
empire, through its magistrates, on the subject 
of American wrongs. Born to the bright inher- 
itance of English freedom, the inhabitants of 
this extensive continent, can never submit to 
the ignominious yoke, nor move in the galling 
fetters of slavery. The disposal of their own 
property, with perfect spontaneity, and in a 
manner wholly divested of every appearance 
of constraint, is their indefeasible birthright. 
This exalted blessing, they are resolutely de- 
termined to defend with their blood, and trans- 
fer it, uncontaminated, to their posterity. 

You will not tlien, wonder at their early jeal- 
ousy of the design, to erect in this land of 
liberty, a despotism scarcely to be paralleled 
in the pages of antiquity, or the volumes of 
modern times ; a despotism, consisting in 
power, assumed by the representatives of a 
part of his majesty's subjects, at their sover- 
eign will and pleasure, to strip the rest of 
their property : — and what are the engines of 
administration to execute this destructive pro- 
ject ? The duty on tea ; oppressive restraints 
on the commerce of the colonies ; the blockade 
of the port of Boston ; the change of internal 
police in the Massachusetts, and Quebec, the 
establishment of popery in the latter ; the 
extension of its bounds ; the ruin of our In- 
dian commerce, by regulations calculated to 
aggrandize that arbitrary government ; uncon- 
stitutional admiralty jurisdiction throughout 
the colonies ; the invasion of our right to a 
trial, in the most capital cases, by a jury of the 
vicinage ; the horrid contrivance to screen 
from punishment the bloody e.xecutioners of 
ministerial vengeance ; and not to mention the 
rest of the black catalogue of our grievances, 
the hostile operations of an army, who have 
already shed the blood of our countrymen. 
The struggles excited by the detestable stamp 
act, h,ave so lately demonstrated to the world 
that Americans will not be slaves ; that we 
stand astonished at the gross impolicy of the 
minister. — Recent experience had evinced, that 
the possessors of this extensive continent 
would never submit to a tax, by pretext of 
legislative authority in Britain ; disguise, there- 
fore, became the expedient. In pursuit of the 
same end, parliament declared their absolute 
supremacy in attempting to raise a revenue, 
under the specious pretence of providing for 
their good government and defence. Admin- 



172 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION 



istration, to sxhibit a degree of moderation, 
purely ostensible and delusory, while they 
withdrew their hands from our most necessary 
articles of importation, determined with an 
eager grasp to hold the duty on tea, as a 
badge of their taxative power. Zealous on our 
part, for an indissoluble union with the parent 
state, studious to promote the glory and happi- 
ness of the empire, impressed with a just 
sense of the necessity of a controlling autho- 
rity to regulate and harmonize the discordant 
commercial interests of its various parts ; we 
cheerfully submit to a regulation of commerce, 
by the legislature of a parent state, excluding, 
in its nature, every idea of taxation. 

Whither, therefore, the present machinations 
of arbitrary power infallibly tend, you may 
easily judge ; if unremittedly pursued, as they 
were inhumanly devised, they will, by a fatal 
necessity, terminate in a total dissolution of the 
empire. 

The subjects of the country will not, we 
trust, be deceived by any measures conciliatory 
in appearance, while it is evident that the min- 
ister aims at a sordid revenue, to be raised by 
grievous and oppressive acts of parliament, and 
by fleets and armies employed to enforce the 
execution. They never will, we believe, submit 
to an auction on the colonies, for the more 
effectual augmentation of the revenue, by hold- 
ing it up as a temptation to them, that the 
highest bidder shall enjoy the greatest share 
of government favor. This plan, as it would 
tend to sow the seeds of discord, would be far 
more dangerous than hostile force, in which we 
hope the king's troops will ever be, as they 
have already been, unsuccessful. Instead of 
those unusual, extraordinary, and unconstitu- 
tional modes of procuring levies from the sub- 
jects, should his majesty graciously be pleased, 
upon suitable emergencies, to make requisi- 
tions in ancient form, the colonies have ex- 
pressed their willingness to contribute to the 
support of the empire — but to contribute of 
their voluntary gift, as Englishmen ; and when 
our unexampled grievances are redressed, our 
prince will find his American subjects testify- 
ing, on all proper occasions, by as ample aids 
as their circumstances will permit, the most 
unshaken fidelity to their sovereign, and invio- 
lable attachment to the welfare of his realm 
and dominions. Permit us further to assure 
you that America is grown so irritable by op- 
pression, that the least shock, in any part, is by 
the most powerful and sympathetic affection, 
instantaneously felt through the whole conti- 
nent. That Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New 
York, have already stopped their exports to the 



fishing islands, and those colonies, which at 
this dangerous juncture, have refused to unite 
with their brethren in the common cause ; and 
all supplies to the navy and army at Boston ; 
and that probably the day is at hand, when 
our continental congress will totally shut up 
our ports. 

The minions of power here, may now inform 
administration, if they can ever speak the lan- 
guage of truth, that this city is as one man in 
the cause of liberty ; that to this end, our in- 
habitants are almost unanimously bound by 
the inclosed association ; that it is continually 
advancing to perfection, by additional subscrip- 
tions; that they are resolutely bent on sup- 
porting their committee, and the intended pro- 
vincial and continental congresses ; that there 
is not the least doubt of the efficacy of their 
example in the other colonies ; in short, that 
while the whole continent are ardently wish- 
ing for peace on such terms as can be acceded 
to by Englishmen, they are indefatigible in 
preparing for the last appeal. That such 
are the language and conduct of our fellow- 
citizens, will be further manifested by a repre- 
sentation of the lieutenant governor and coun- 
cil of the 1st inst. to general Gage, at Boston, 
and to his majesty's ministers by the packet. 
Assure yourselves, my lord and gentlemen, 
that we speak the real sentiments of the con- 
federated colonies on the continent, from Nova 
Scotia to Georgia, when we declare, that all 
the horrors of a civil war, will never compel 
America to submit to taxation, by authority of 
parliament. 

A sincere regard to the public weal, and the 
cause of humanity ; in hearty desire to spare 
the further effusion of human blood ; our loy- 
alty to our prince, and the love we bear to all our 
fellow subjects in his majesty's realm and do- 
minions ; a full conviction of the warmest 
attachment in the capital of the empire, to the 
cause of justice and liberty, have induced us to 
address you on this momentous subject, confi- 
dent that the same cogent motives will induce 
the most vigorous exertions of the city of Lon- 
don to restore union, mutual confidence, and 
peace to the whole empire. 

We have the honor to be, my lord and gen- 
tlemen, your most obedient and affectionate 
fellow-subjects, and humble servants, 

Isaac Low, Chairman. 

John Jay, Frederick Lewis, John Alsop, 
Philip Livingston, James Duane, E. Duyckorch, 
William Seton, William W. Ludlow, Cornelius 
Clopper, Abm. Brinkerhoff, Henry Remsen, 
Robert Ray, Ever. Bancker, Joseph Totten, 



NEW YORK. 



173 



Abm. P. Lott, David Buckman, Isaac Rooswelt, 
Gabriel H. Ludlow, Wm. Walton, Daniel 
Phenix, Frederick Jay, Samuel Broome, Jno. 
De Lancey, Alexander M'Dougall, Jno. Reade, 
Joseph Bull, George Janeway, John White, 
Gab. W. Ludlow, John Lasher, Theoph. An- 
thony, Thomas Smith, Richard Yates, Oliver 
Templeton, Jacobus Van Landby, Jeremiah 
Piatt, Peter S. Curtenius, Thos. Randall. Aug. 
V. Home, Ab. Duryee, Samuel Verplanck, 
Rudolphus Ritzeman, John Morton, Joseph 
Hellett, Robert Benson, Abraham Brasher, 
Leonard Lispenard, Thomas Marstory, Nicho- 
las Hoffman, P. V. B. Livingston, Lewis Pin- 
tard, John Imlay, Eleazer Miller, jun. John 
Broom, John B. Moore, Nicholas Bogert, John 
Anthony, Victor Bicker, William Goforth, Her- 
cules Mulligen, Nich. Roosevelt. Corn. P. Low, 
Francis Basset, James Beekman, Thomas 
Ivers, William Denning, John Berrien, Benja- 
min Helme, William W. Gilbert, Dan. Duns- 
comb, John Lamb, Rich. Sharp, John'Morin 
Scott, Jacob Vanvoorstis, Comfort Sands, 
Edward Fleming, Lancaster Burling, Benj. 
Kissauv, Jacob Lefferts, Ant. Van Dane, Abra- 
ham Walton, Hamilton Young, Peter Goelet, 
Gerret Kitettas, Thomas Buchanan, James 
Desbrosses, jun. Petrus Byvanck, Laurence 
Embren. 

To the right honorable the lord mayor, the 

aldermen, and common council of the city 

of London. 



PASTORAL LETTER 

Of Synod of New York and Philadel- 
phia, June 29TH, 1775. 

The Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 
published a pastoral letter, which was read in 
the churches under their care on Thursday, 
June 29, 1775, being the day of the general 
fast. This letter begins with entreating all 
ranks of people to acknowledge their sins, and 
turn from the errors of their ways : and " as the 
whole continent, with hardly any exception, 
seem determined to defend their rights by 
force of arms, it becomes the peculiar duty of 
those who profess a willingness to hazard their 
lives in the cause of liberty, to be prepared for 
death, which to many must be a certain, and 
to every one is a possible or probable event. 
It is well known to you, (otherwise it would be 
imprudent thus publicly to profess) that we have 
not been instrumental in inflaming the minds 
of the people, or urging them to acts of vio- 
lence and disorder. Perhaps no instance can 



be given on so interesting a subject, in which 
political sentiments have been so long and so 
fully kept from the pulpit, and even malice itself 
has not charged us with laboring for the press ; 
but things are now come to such a height, 
that we do not wish to conceal our opinions as 
men. Suffer us therefore to exhort you, by 
assuring you, that there is no army so formid- 
able as those who are superior to the fear of 
death. Let therefore every one who, from 
generosity of spirit, or benevolence of heart, 
offers himself as a champion in his country's 
cause, be persuaded to reverence the Lord of 
Hosts, and walk in the fear of the Prince of the 
kings of the earth, and then he may, with the 
most unshaken firmness, expect the issue even 
in death or victory-. 



ADDRESS 

Of Provincial Congress of New York to 
HIS excellency George Washington. 

New York, yuly 3, 1775. 

The following address of the provincial con- 
gress of the colony of New York, was presented 
on the 26th ult. to his excellency George Wash- 
ington, generalissimo of all the forces in the 
confederated colonies of America. 

" May it please your excellency : — At a time 
when the most loyal of his majesty's subjects, 
from a regard to the laws and constitution, by 
which he sits on the throne, feel themselves 
reduced to the unhappy necessity of taking up 
arms to defend their dearest rights and privi- 
leges ; while we deplore the calamities of this 
divided empire, we rejoice in the appointment 
of a gentleman, from whose abilities and virtue, 
we are taught to expect both security and 
peace. 

"Confiding in you, sir, and in the worthy 
generals immediately under your command, we 
have the most flattering hopes of success in the 
glorious struggle for American liberty, and the 
fullest assurances, that whenever this important 
contest shall be decided, by that fondest wish 
of each American soul, an accommodation with 
our mother country, you will cheerfully resign 
the important deposit committed into your 
hands, and reassume the character of our 
worthiest citizen. 
By order, 

P. V. B. Livingston, Pres't. 

Washington's Reply. 
To the above address, his excellency returned 
the following answer : 



174 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



"Gentlemen: — At the same time that with 
you I deplore the unhappy necessity of such an 
appointment, as that with which I am now 
honored, I cannot but feel sentiments of the 
highest gratitude for this affecting instance of 
distinction and regard. 

" May your warmest wishes be realized in 
the success of America, at this important and 
interesting period ; and be assured, that every 
exertion of my worthy colleagues and myself, 
will be equally extended to the re-establish- 
ment of peace and harmony, between the 
mother country and these colonies : as to the 
fatal but necessary operations of war, when we 
assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the 
citizen, and we shall most sincerely rejoice, 
with you, in that happy hour, when the estab- 
lishment of American liberty, on the most firm 
and solid foundations, shall enable us to return 
to our private stations, in the bosom of a free, 
peaceful, and happy country. 

G. Washington." 



ADDRESS OF THE MECHANICS 
Of New York City, June 14, 1776. 

To the honorable the delegates elected by the 
several counties and districts within thegov- 
^ernment of New York, in colonial congress 
convened. 

The respectful address of the mechanics in 
union, for the city and county of New York, 
represented by their general committee. 
Elected Delegates, — With due confidence in 
the declaration which you lately made to the 
chairman of our general committee, that you 
are at all times ready and willing to attend to 
every request of your constituents, or any part 
of them ; we, the mechanics in union, though 
a very inconsiderable part of your constituents, 
beg leave to represent, that one of the clauses 
in your resolve, respecting the establishment 
of a new form of government, is erroneously 
construed, and for that reason may serve the 
most dangerous purposes ; for it is well known 
how indefatigable the emissaries of the British 
parliament are in the pursuit of every scheme 
which is likely to bring disgrace upon our 
rulers, and ruin upon us all. At the same time 
we cheerfully acknowledge that the genuine 
spirit of liberty which animates the other part 
of that resolve, did not permit us to interpret it 
in any other sense than that which is the most 
obvious, and likewise the most favorable to the 
natural rights of man. We could not, we 
never can believe you intended that the future 
delegates, or yourselves, should be vested with 



the power of framing a new constitution for 
this colony ; and that its inhabitants at large 
should not exercise the right which God has 
given them, in common with all men, to judge 
whether it be consistent with their interest to 
accept or reject a constitution framed for that 
state of which they are members. This is the 
birthright of every man to whatever state he 
may belong. There he is, or ought to be by 
inadmissible right, a co-legislator with all the 
other members of that community. 

Conscious of our own want of abilities, we 
are, alas ! but too sensible that every individual 
is not qualified for assisting in the framing of 
a constitution : but, that share of common sense 
which the Almighty has bountifully distributed 
among mankind in general, is sufficient to 
quicken every one's feeling, and enable him to 
judge rightly what degree of safety, and what 
advantages he is likely to enjoy, or be deprived 
of, under any constitution proposed to him. 
For this reason, should a preposterous confi- 
dence in the abilities and integrity of our future 
delegates, delude us into measures which might 
imply a renunciation of our inalienable right to 
ratify our laws, we believe that your wisdom, 
your patriotism, your own interest, nay, your 
ambition itself, would urge you to exert all the 
powers of persuasion you possess, and try every 
method which, in your opinion, could deter us 
from perpetrating that impious and frantic act 
of self-destruction ; for, as it would precipitate 
us into a state of absolute slavery, the lawful 
power which, till now, you have received from 
your constituents, to be exercised over a free 
people, would be annihilated by that unnatural 
act. It might probably accelerate our political 
death ; but it must immediately cause your 
own. 

The continued silence of the bodies which 
are, by election, vested with an authority subor- 
dinate to that of your house, would strike us 
with amazement, should we suppose that, in 
their presence, your resolve ever was inter- 
preted by a sense that was not favorable to the 
free exercise of our inalienable rights. But we, 
who daily converse with numbers who have 
been deceived by such misconstruction, con- 
ceive that we ought to inform you in due time, 
that it has alarmed many zealous friends to the 
general cause which the United Colonies are 
defending with their lives and fortunes. 

As the general opmion of your uprightness 
depends, in a great measure, on your explana- 
tion of that matter ; and it being self-evident 
that the political happiness or misery of the 
people under your government, must be deeply 
affected by the measures which they may adopt 



NEW YORK. 



175 



in consequence of such explanation, we trust 
that you will receive this respectful address 
with indulgence, and that all our brethren in 
this, and the other colonies in the union, will 
do us the justice to believe, that it was dictated 
by the purest sentiments of unconfined pa- 
triotism. 

The resolve which contains the obnoxious 
clause already mentioned, is, together with the 
introduction to it, in the following words, to 
wit : 

" And whereas doubts have arisen, whether 
this congress are invested with sufficient power 
and authority to deliberate and determine on 
so important a subject as the necessity of 
erecting and constituting a new form of govern- 
ment and internal police, to the exclusion of 
all foreign jurisdiction, dominion and control 
whatever. And whereas it appertains of right, 
solely to the people of this colony to determine 
the said doubts. Therefore, 

" Resolved, That it be recommended to the 
electors in the several counties in this colony, 
by election in the manner and form prescribed 
for the election of the present congress, either 
to authorize, (in addition to the powers vested 
in this congress) their present deputies, or 
others in the stead of their present deputies, or 
either of them, to take into consideration the 
necessity and propriety of instituting such new 
government as in and by the said resolution of 
the continental congress is described and rec- 
ommended : And if the majority of the coun- 
ties, by their deputies in provincial congress, 
shall be of the opinion that such new govern- 
ment ought to be instituted and established ; 
then to institute and establish such a govern- 
ment as they shall deem best calculated to 
secure the rights, liberties, and happiness, of 
the good people of this colony, and to continue 
in force until a future peace with Great Britain 
shall render the same unnecessary." 

We cannot forbear expressing our astonish- 
ment at the existence of the doubts alluded to 
in the introduction just quoted. But when in 
comparison to those weak minds which gave 
them birth, you condescended to declare, that 
' It appertains solely to the people of this col- 
ony to determine the said doubts ; ' you have in 
the spirit of the recommendations of the general 
congress, demonstrated to your constituents, 
that you will on all occasions warn them to 
destroy in its embryo, every scheme that you 
may discover to have the least tendency to- 
wards promoting the selfish views of any foreign 
or domestic oligarchy. Your enemies never 
can persuade people of reflection, that you fully 
instructed the most ignorant among us by 



such a positive declaration of our rights, for 
the purpose of surreptitiously obtaining our re- 
nunciation of them. Human nature, depraved 
as it is, has not yet, and we hope never will be 
guilty of so much hypocrisy and treachery. 

We observe on the contrary, that your resolve 
is perfectly consistent with the liberal principle 
on which it is introduced ; for after having set 
forth what relates to the election of deputies 
you recommend to the electors, ' If the majority 
of the counties shall be of opinion that such 
new government ought to be instituted, then to 
institute and establish such a government.' 

Posterity will behold that resolve as the test 
of their rectitude. It will prove that you have 
fully restored to us the exercise of our right, 
finally to determine on the laws by which this 
colony is to be governed ; a right of which, by 
the injustice of the British government, we 
have till now been deprived. But a forced and 
most unnatural misconstruction, which is art- 
fully put upon your resolve, has deceived many, 
who really believe that we will not be allowed 
to approve or reject the new constitution ; they 
are terrified at the consequences, although a 
sincere zeal for the general cause inspire them 
to suppress their remonstrances, lest the com- 
mon enemy should avail himself of that circum- 
stance, to undermine your authority. 

Impressed with a just fear of the conse- 
quences which result from that error, we con- 
ceive it would be criminal in us to continue 
silent any longer ; and therefore we beseech 
you to remove by a full and timely explanation, 
the groundless jealousies which arise from a 
misconception of your patriotic resolve. 

As to us, who do not entertain the least 
doubt of the purity of your intentions ; who 
well know, that your wisdom could not suffer 
you to aim at obtaining powers, of which we 
cannot lawfully divest ourselves ; which, if 
repeatedly declared by us, to have been freely 
granted, would only proclaim our insanity, and 
for that reason, be void of themselves ; we beg 
leave, as a part of your constituents, to tender 
you that tribute of esteem and respect, to which 
you are justly entitled, for your zeal in so nobly 
asserting the rights which the people at large 
have to legislation ; and in promoting their free 
exercise of those rights. 

You have most religiously followed the lines 
drawn by the general congress of the United 
Colonies. Their laws, issued in the style of re- 
commendations, leave inviolate, in the conven- 
tions, the committees, and finally the people at 
large, the right of rejection or ratification. But 
though it be decreed by that august body, that 
the punishments of death shall, in some cases 



176 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



be inflicted, the people have not rejected any of 
their laws, nor even remonstrated against them. 
The reason of such general submission, is, that 
the whole of their proceedings is calculated to 
promote the greatest good to be expected from 
the circumstances which occasion theirresolves, 
and scarcely admit the delays attending more 
solemn forms. The conduct of their constitu- 
ents in this instance, clearly shews, what an 
unbounded confidence virtuous rules may place 
in the sound judgment, integrity, and modera- 
tion of a free people. 

Whatever the interested supporters of oli- 
garchy may assert to the contrary, there is not, 
perhaps, one man, nor any set of men upon 
earth, who, without the special inspiration of 
the Almighty, could frame a constitution, which 
in all its parts, would be truly unexceptionable 
by the majority of the people for whom it might 
be intended. And should God bless any man, 
or any set men, with such eminent gifts, that 
man, or those men, having no separate interest 
to support, in opposition to the general good, 
would fairly submit the work to the collective 
judgment of all the individuals who might be 
interested in its operation. These it is pro- 
bable, would after due examination, unani- 
mously concur in establishing that constitution. 
It would become their own joint w-ork, as soon 
as the majority of them should have freely ac- 
cepted it ; and by its having received their free 
assent, the only characteristic of the true law- 
fulness and legality that can be given to human 
institutions, it would be truly binding on the 
people. Any other concurrence in the acts of 
legislation is illusory and tyrannical ; it proceeds 
from the selfish principles of corrupt oligarchy ; 
and should a system of laws appear, or even be 
good in every other respect, which is scarcely 
admissible, yet it would be imperfect. It could 
be lawfully binding on none but the legislators 
themselves, and must continue in that state of 
imperfection which disgraces the best laws, now 
and then made in governments established on 
oligarchic principles, and deprives them of true 
legality. As such is the case with Great Bri- 
tain herself, it is evident that her parliament are 
so far from having a lawful claim to our obedi- 
ence, that they have it not to that of their own 
constituents : that all our former laws have but 
a relative legality, and that net one of them is 
lawfully binding upon us, though even now for 
the sake of common conveniency the operation 
of most of them be and ought to be tolerated, 
until a new system of government shall have 
been freely ratified by the co-legislative power 
of the people, the sole lawful legislature of this 
colony. It would be an act of despotism to 



put it in force by any other means, which God 
avert ! The people it is true might be awed, or 
openly forced to obey, but they would abhor the 
tyranny and execrate its authors. They would 
justly think that they were no longer bound to 
submit than despotism could be maintained by 
the same violent or artful means which would 
have produced its existence. 

But the free ratification of the people will 
not be sufficient to render the establishment 
lawful, unless they exercise in its fulness an 
uncontrolled power to alter the constitution in 
the same manner that it shall have been re- 
ceived. This power necessarily involves that 
of every district, occasionally to renew their 
deputies to committees and congresses when 
the majority of such district shall think fit ; 
and therefore, without the intervention of the 
executive, or any other power, foreign to the 
body of the respective electors, that right is so 
essential to our safety, that we firmly believe 
you will recommend to all your constituents 
immediately to exercise it, and never suffer its 
being wrested from them ; otherwise the sen- 
sibility of our delegates could not allow them 
to say that they hold their offices from the 
voluntary choice of a free people. 

We likewise conceive that this measure will 
more effectually and more speedily than any 
other, remove disaffected persons from all our 
councils, and give our public proceedings a 
much greater weight than they have hitherto 
obtained among our neighbors. 

We never did as a body, nor never will, 
assume any authority whatsoever in the public 
transactions of the present times. Common 
sense teaches us, that the absurdity of the 
claim would not only destroy our usefulness 
as a body of voluntary associators, who are 
warmly attached to the cause of liberty : but 
that it would likewise expose every one of us 
to desen-ed' derision. At the same time, we 
assure your honorable house, that on all occa- 
sions we will continue to testify our zeal in 
supporting the measures adopted by congresses 
and committees, in the prosecution of their 
grand object, the restoration of human rights 
in the United Colonies. And if at any future 
time, the silence of the bodies in power give us 
reason to conceive that our representations 
may be useful, we then will endeavor to dis- 
charge our duty with propriety, and rely on 
public indulgence for any imperfection which 
cannot affect our uprightness. 

Signed by order of the committee, 

Malcolm M'Euen, Chairman. 
Mechanics-hall, June 14, 1776. 



NEW VORK. 



177 



RESIGNATION OF MILITIA OFFICERS. 

In convention of the representatives of the 
state of New York, August 10, 1776. 

Resolved, That if any of the militia officers in 
the service of this state shall, during the 
present invasion, resign his commission after 
having received orders to proceed upon duty 
from this convention or his superior officer, 
without the permission of this state, or shall 
not repair with all possible dispatch to such 
place or places, as he or they may be ordered 
to by the convention of this state, or by his 
superior officer, shall, upon proof before a 
general court martial, be rendered incapable of 
holding any military employment under this 
state, and his name held up as a deserter of his 
country's cause. 

Robert Benson, Sec. 



A PROCLAMATION 

By his Excellency General Washing- 
ton, GENERAL AND COM.MANDER-IN-CHIEF 

of the army of the united states of 
North America. Aug. 17, 1776. 

Whereas a bombardment and attack upon 
the city of New York by our cruel and invete- 
rate enemy may be hourly expected ; and as 
there are great numbers of women, children, 
and infirm persons yet remaining in the city, 
whose continuance will rather be prejudicial 
than advantageous to the army, and their per- 
sons exposed to great danger and hazard ; I 
do therefore recommend it to all persons, as 
they value their own safety and preservation, 
to remove with all expedition out of the said 
town at this critical period — trusting that with 
the blessing of heaven upon the American 
arms they may soon return to it in perfect 
security. And I do enjoin and require all the 
officers and soldiers in the army under my 
command, to forward and assist all such per- 
sons in their compliance with this recommen- 
dation. 

Given under my hand, at head-quarters, New 
York, August 17, 1776. 

George Washington. 

Response of Convention. 

In Convention of the Representatives of the 
State of New York, held at Harlem, Aug. 
17. 1776. 

Resolved, That the women and children, and 
infirm persons in the city of New York, be im- 



mediately removed from the said city, agree- 
able to General Washington's request of this 
house, in his letter of this date. 

Robert Benson, Secretary. 



LETTER 

From Major General Robertson to his 
excellency Governor Livingston. 

New-York, January 4, 1777. 

Sir — I am interrupted in my daily attempts 
to soften the calamities of persons and recon- 
cile their case with our security, by a general 
cry of resentment, arising from an informa- 
tion 

That officers in the king's service, taken on 
the 27th of November, and Mr. John Brown, a 
deputy commissary, are to be tried in Jersey 
for high treason ; and that Mr. Iliff and an- 
other prisoner have been hanged. 

Though I am neither authorized to threaten 
or to sooth, my wish to prevent an increase of 
horrors, will justify my using the liberty of an 
old acquaintance, to desire your interposition 
to put an end to, or prevent measures which, 
if pursued on one side, would tend to prevent 
every act of humanity on the other, and render 
every person who exercises this to the king's 
enemies, odious to his friends. 

I need not point out to you all the cruel con- 
sequences of such a procedure. I am hopeful 
you'll prevent them, and e.xcusethis trouble from, 
Sir, your obedient humble servant, 
James Robertson. 

N. B. At the moment that the cry of murder 
reached my ears, I was signing orders that Fell's 
request to have the liberty of the city, and colo- 
nel Reynold may be set free on his parole, should 
be complied with. I have not recalled the order, 
because, though the evidence be strong, I can- 
not believe it possible, a measure so cruel and 
unpolitic, could be adopted where you bear sway. 
To William Livingston, Esq., etc. etc. 



Governor Livingston's Answer. 

January 7, 1777. 
Sir — Having received a letter under your 
signature, dated the 4th instant, which I have 
some reason to think you intended for me, I 
sit down to answer your enquiries concerning 
certain officers in the serv'ice of your king 
taken on Staten Island, and one Browne, who 
calls himself a deputy commissary ; and also * 



178 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



respecting one Iliff and another prisoner, (I sup- 
pose you must mean John Mee he having shared 
the fate you mention) who have been hanged. 

Buskirk-, Earl and Hammel, who are, I 
presume, the officers intended, with the said 
Browne, were sent to me by general Dick- 
enson as prisoners taken on Staten-Island. 
Finding them all to be subjects of this state, 
and to have committed treason against it, the 
council of safety committed them to Trenton 
jail. At the same time I acquainted general 
Washington, that if he chose to treat the three 
first, who were British officers, as prisoners of 
war, I doubted not the council of safety would 
be satisfied. General Washington has since 
informed me that he intends to consider them 
as such ; and they are therefore at his service, 
whenever the commissary of prisoners shall 
direct concerning them. Browne, I am told, 
committed several robberies in this state be- 
fore he took sanctuary on Staten Island, and I 
should scarcely imagine that he has expiated 
the guilt of his former crimes by committing 
the greater one of joining the enemies of his 
country. However if general Washington 
chooses to consider him also as a prisoner 
of war, I shall not interpose in the matter. 

Iliff was executed after a trial by a jury, for 
enlisting our subjects, himself being one, as 
recruits in the British army, and he was ap- 
prehended on his way with them to Staten- 
Island. Had he never been subject to this 
state, he would have forfeited his life as a spy. 
Mee was one of his company, and had also 
procured our subjects to enlist in the service 
of the enemy. 

If these transactions, sir, should induce you 
to countenance greater severities towards our 
people, whom the fortune of w-ar has thrown 
into your power, than they have already suf- 
fered, you will pardon me for thinking that you 
go farther out of your way to tind palliatives 
for inhumanity than necessity seems to re- 
quire ; and if this be the cry of murder to 
which you allude as having reached your ears, 
I sincerely pity your ears for being so fre- 
quently assaulted with cries of murder much 
more audible, because much less distant. — I 
mean the cries of your prisoners who are 
constantly perishing in the jails of New- York 
(the coolest and most deliberate kind of murder) 
from the rigorous manner of their treatment. 

I am, with all due respect, your most 
humble servant, 

William Livingston. 
James Robertson, Esq. etc. etc. 

P. S. You have distinguished me by a title 



which I have neither authority nor ambition to 
assume. I know of no man, sir, who bears sway 
in this state. It is our peculiar felicity, and our 
superiority over the tyrannical system we have 
discarded, that we are not swayed by men. — 
In New-Jersey, sir, the laws alone bear sway. 



PROCLAMATION 



By John Burgoyne, Esq., lieutenant 

GENERAL of HIS MAJESTY'S ARMIES IN 

america, colonel of the queen's regi- 
ment of light dragoons, governor of 
Fort William in North Britain, one 

OF the representatives of THE COM- 
MONS OF Great Britain, and command- 
ing AN army and fleet EMPLOYED ON 
AN EXPEDITION FROM CANADA, ETC., ETC. 

The forces entrusted to my command, are 
designed to act in concert, and upon a common 
principle, with the numerous armies and fleets 
which already display in every quarter of 
America, the power, the justice, and, when 
properly sought, the mercy of the king. 

The cause in which the British arms is thus 
exerted, applies to the most affecting interests 
of the human heart ; and the military servants 
of the crown, at first called forth for the sole 
purpose of restoring the rights of the constitu- 
tion, now combine with love of their country, 
and duty to their sovereign, the other extensive 
incitements, which forma due sense of the gen- 
eral privileges of mankind. To the eyes and ears 
of the temperate part of the public, and the 
breasts of suffering thousands, in the provinces, 
be the melancholy appeal, whether the present 
unnatural rebellion has not been made a foun- 
dation for the completest system of tyranny 
that ever God, in his displeasure, suffered for a 
time to be exercised over a froward and stub- 
born generation. 

Arbitrary imprisonment, confiscation of pro- 
perty, persecution, and torture, unprecedented 
in the inquisition of the Romish church, are 
among the palpable enormities that verify the 
affirmative. These are inflicted, by assem- 
blies and committees, who dare to profess 
themselves friends to liberty, upon the most 
quiet subjects, without distinction of age or 
sex, for the sole crime, often for the sole sus- 
picion, of having adhered in principle to the 
government under which they were born, and 
to which, by every tie, divine and human, 
they owe allegiance. To consummate these 
shocking proceedings, the profanation of reli- 
gion is added to the most profligate prosti- 
tution of common reason, the consciences of 



NEW YORK. 



179 



men are set at nought ; and multitudes are 
compelled not only to bear arms, but also 
to swear subjection to an usurpation they 
abhor. 

Animated by, these considerations — at the 
head of troops in the full powers of health, dis- 
cipline, and valor — determined to strike where 
necessary — and anxious to spare where pos- 
sible — I, by these presents, invite and exhort 
all persons, in all places where the progress 
of this army may point — and by the bless- 
ing of God I will extend it far — to maintain 
such a conduct as may justify me in pro- 
tecting their lands, habitations, and families. 
The intention of this address is to hold forth 
security, not depredation to the country. To 
those, whom spirit and principle may induce to 
partake the glorious task of redeeming their 
countrymen from dungeons, and re-establish- 
ing the blessings of legal government, I offer 
encouragement and employment ; and, upon 
the first intelligence of their association, I will 
find means to assist their undertakings. The 
domestic, the industrious, the infirm, and even 
the timid inhabitants, I am desirous to protect, 
provided they remain quietly at their houses ; 
that they do not suffer their cattle to be re- 
moved, nor their corn or forage to be secreted 
or destroyed ; that they do not break up their 
bridges or roads ; nor by any other act, directly 
or indirectly, endeavor to obstruct the opera- 
tions of the king's troops, or supply or assist 
those of the enemy. 

Every species of provision, brought to my 
camp, will be paid for at an equitable rate, and 
in solid coin. 

In consciousness of Christianity, my royal 
master's clemency, and the honor of soldier- 
ship, I have dwelt upon this invitation, and 
wished for more persuasive terms to give 
it impression. And let not people be led 
to disregard it, by considering their distance 
from the immediate situation of my camp. I 
have but to give stretch to the Indian 
forces under my direction — and they amount 
to thousands — to overtake the hardened 
enemies of Great Britain and America. I 
consider them the same, wherever they may 
lurk. 

If, notwithstanding these endeavors, and sin- 
cere inclination to effect them, the frenzy of 
hostility should remain, I trust I shall stand 
acquitted in the eyes of God and man in de- 
nouncing and executing the vengeance of the 
state against the wilful outcasts. The mes- 
sengers of justice and of wrath await them in 
the field ; and devastation, famine, and every 
concomitant horror, that a reluctant, but indis- 



pensable prosecution of military duty must 
occasion, will bar the way to their return. 

John Burgoyne. 

Camp, at Ticonderoga, July 2, 1777. 

By order of his excellency the lieut. general. 
Robert Kingston, Secretary. 

A REPLY TO BURGOYNE'S PR0CLAM.\TI0N. 

To John Burgoyne, Esq. lieutenant general 
of his majesty's armies in America, colonel 
of the queen's regiment of light dragoons, 
governor of Fort William in North Britain, 
one of the representatives of Great Britain, 
and commandingan army and fleet employed 
on an expedition from Canada, etc. etc. 

Most high, jnost mighty, most puissant and 
sublime general! 

When the forces under your command 
arrived at Quebec in order to act in concert 
and upon a common principle with the numer- 
ous fleets and armies which already display 
in every quarter of America, the justice and 
mercy of your king, we, the reptiles of .Amer- 
ica, were struck with unusual trepidation and 
astonishment. But what words can express 
the plenitude of our horror, when the colonel 
of the queen's regiment of light dragoons 
advanced toward Ticonderoga. The moun- 
tains shook before thee, and the trees of the 
forest bowed their lofty heads — the vast lakes 
of the north were chilled at thy presence, and 
the mighty cataracts stopped their tremendous 
career, and were suspended in awe at thy 
approach. Judge, then. Oh ! ineffable gover- 
nor of Fort William in North Britain, what 
must have been the terror, dismay, and despair 
that overspread this paltry continent of Amer- 
ica, and us, its wretched inhabitants. Dark 
and dreary indeed, was the prospect before us, 
till, like the sun in the horizon, your most gra- 
cious, sublime, and irresistible proclamation, 
opened the doors of mercy, and snatched us, 
as it were, from the jaws of annihilation. 

We foolishly thought, blind as we were, that 
your gracious master's fleets and armies were 
come to destroy us and our liberties ; but we 
are happy in hearing from you (and who can 
doubt what you assert ?) that they were called 
forth for the sole purpose of restoring the 
rights of the constitution, to a froward and 
stubborn generation. 

And is it for this. Oh ! sublime lieutenant 
general, that you have given yourself the 
trouble to cross the wide Atlantic, and with 
incredible fatigue traverse uncultivated wilds ? 
And we ungratefully refuse the proffered 



i8o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



blessing ? — To restore the rights of the consti- 
tution you have called together an amiable 
host of savages, and turned them loose to 
scalp our women and children, and lay our 
country waste — this they have performed with 
their usual skill and clemency ; and yet we 
remain insensible of the benefit, and unthankful 
for so much goodness. 

Our congress have declared independence, 
and our assemblies, as your highness justly 
observes, have most wickedly imprisoned the 
avowed friends of that power with which they 
are at war, and most profanely compelled those, 
whose consciences will not permit them to 
fight, to pay some small part toward the ex- 
penses their country is at, in supporting what 
is called a necessary defensive war. If we go 
on thus in our obstinacy and ingratitude, what 
can we expect, but that you should, in your 
anger, give a stretch to the Indian forces under 
your direction amounting to thousands, to 
overtake and destroy us ! or, which is ten 
times worse, that you should withdraw your 
fleets and armies, and leave us to our own mis- 
ery, without completing the benevolent task 
you have begun, of restoring to us the rights 
of the constitution. 

We submit — we submit — most puissant col- 
onel of the queen's regiment of light dragoons, 
and governor of Fort William in North Bri- 
tain ! We offer our heads to the scalping 
knife, and our bellies to the bayonet. Who 
can resist the force of your eloquence? Who 
can withstand the terror of your arms ? The 
invitation you have made, in the consciousness 
of Christianity, your royal master's clemency, 
and the honor of soldiership, we thankfully 
accept. The blood of the slain, the cries of in- 
jured virgins and innocent children, and the 
never ceasing sighs and groans of starving 
wretches, now languishing in the jails and 
prison ships of New York, call on us in vain ; 
while your sublime proclamation is sounded in 
our ears. Forgive us, O our country ! For- 
give us, dear posterity ! Forgive us, all ye for- 
eign powers, who are anxiously watching our 
conduct in this important struggle, if we yield 
implicitly to the persuasive tongue of the most 
elegant colonel of her majesty's regiment of 
light dragoons. 

Forbear, then, thou magnanimous lieutenant 
general ! Forbear to denounce the vengeance 
against us — Forbear to give a stretch to those 
restorers of constitutional rights, the Indian 
forces under your direction. — Let not the mes- 
sengers of justice and wrath await us in the 
field, and devastation, and every concomitant 
horror, bar our return to the allegiance of a 



prince, who, by his royal will, would deprive us 
of every blessing of life, with all possible 
clemency. 

We are domestic, we are industrious, we are 
infirm and timid : we shall remain quietly at 
home, and not remove our cattle, our corn, or 
forage, in hopes that you will come, at the 
head of troops, in the full powers of health, dis- 
cipline, and valor, and take charge of them for 
yourselves. Behold our wives and daughters, 
our flocks and herds, our goods and chattels, 
are they not at the mercy of our lord the king, 
and of his lieutenant general, member of the 
house of commons, and governor of Fort Wil- 
liam in North Britain ? A. B. 

C. D. 
E. F. etc. etc. 

Saratoga, loth July, 1777. 



JUDGE JAY'S CHARGE. 
The charge delivered by John Jay, esq. 

CHIEF justice of the STATE OF NEW 

York, to the grand jury of the su- 
preme COURT, held at Kingston, in 
Ulster county, Sept. 9, 1777. 

Advertisement. The foUcnving charge was 
given at a time when the assembly and senate 
were convening, and the whole system of govern- 
fnent, established by the constitution, about being 
put in motion — The grand inquest was com- 
posed of the most respectable characters in the 
county, and no less than twenty-two of them 
attended and were sworn. 

Gentlemen — It affords me very sensible 
pleasure to congratulate you on the dawn of 
that free, mild and equal government, which 
now begins to rise and break from amidst those 
clouds of anarchy, confusion and licentious- 
ness, which the arbitrary and violent domina- 
tion of the king of Great Britain has spread, in 
greater or less degree, throughout this and 
the other American states. And it gives me 
particular satisfaction to remark, that the first 
fruits of our excellent constitution appear in a 
part of this state, whose inhabitants have dis- 
tinguished themselves, by having unanimously 
endeavored to deserve them. 

This is one of those signal instances, in which 
Divine Providence has made the tyranny of 
princes instrumental in breaking the chains of 
their subjects ; and rendered the most inhuman 
designs, productive of the best consequences, 
to those against whom they were intended. 

The infatuated sovereign of Britain, forgetful 
that kings were the servants, not the propria- 



NEW YORK. 



181 



tors, and ought to be the fathers, not the in- 
cendiaries of their people, hath, by destroying 
our former constitutions, enabled us to erect 
more eligible systems of government on their 
ruins ; and, by unwarrantable attempts, to bind 
us, in all cases whatt-i>er, has reduced us to the 
happy necessity of hemg free from his control 
in any. 

Whoever compares our present with our 
former constitution, will find abundant reason 
to rejoice in the exchange, and readily admit, 
that all the calamities, incident to this war, will 
be amply compensated by the many blessings 
flowing Irom this glorious revolution. A revo- 
lution which, in the whole course of its rise 
and progress, is distinguished by so many- 
marks of the Divine favor and interposition, 
that no doubt can remain of its being finally 
accomplished. 

It was begun, and has been supported, in a 
manner so singular, and I may say, miracu- 
lous, that when future ages shall read its his- 
tory, they will be tempted to consider great 
part of it as fabulous. What, among other 
things, can appear more unworthy of credit, 
than that in an enlightened age, in a civilized 
and Christian country, in a nation so celebrated 
for humanity, as well as love of liberty and 
justice, as the English once justly were, a 
prince should arise, who, by the influence of 
corruption alone, should be able to seduce 
them into a combination, to reduce three mill- 
ions of his most loyal and affectionate subjects, 
to absolute slavery, under pretence of a right, 
appertaining to God alone, of binding them in 
all cases whatever, not even excepting cases of 
conscience and religion ? What can appear 
more improbable, although true, than that this 
prince, and this people, should obstinately steel 
their hearts, and shut their ears, against the 
most humble petitions and affectionate remon- 
strances ; and unjustly determine, by violence 
and force, to execute designs which were re- 
probated by every principle of humanity, equity, 
gratitude and policy — -designs which would 
have been execrable, if intended against sava- 
ges and enemies, and yet formed against men 
descended from the same common ancestors 
with themselves ; men, who had literally con- 
tributed to their support, and chcerlully fought 
their battles, even in remote and baleful cli- 
mates.'' Will it not appear extraordinary, that 
thirteen colonies, the object of their wicked 
designs, divided by variety of governments and 
manners, should immediately become one peo- 
ple, and though without funds, without maga- 
zines, without disciplined troops, in the face of 
their enemies, unanimously determine to be 



free ; and, undaunted by the power of Britain, 
refer their cause to the justice of the Almighty, 
and resolve to repel force by force .'' Thereby 
presenting to the world an illustrious example 
of magnanimity and virtue scarcely to be par- 
alleled. Will it not be matter of doubt and 
wonder, that, notwithstanding these difficul- 
ties, they should raise armies, establish funds, 
carry on commerce, grow rich by the spoils of 
their enemies, and bid defiance to the armies 
of Britain, the mercenaries of Germany and the 
savages of the wilderness ? — But, however in- 
credible these things may in future appear, we 
know them to be true, and we should always 
remember, that the many remarkable and un- 
expected means and events, by which our 
wants have been supplied, and our enemies re- 
pelled or restrained, are such strong and striking 
proofs of the interposition of heaven, that our 
having been hitherto delivered from the threat- 
ened bondage of Britain, ought, like the eman- 
cipation of the Jews from Egyptian servitude, 
to be forever ascribed to its triw cause, and 
instead of swelling our breasts with arrogant 
ideas of our prowess and importance, kindle 
in them a flame of gratitude and piety, which 
may consume all remains of vice and irreligion. 

Blessed be God ! the time will now never 
arrive when the prince of a country, in another 
quarter of the globe, will command your obedi- 
ence and hold you in vassalage. His consent 
has ceased to be necessary to enable you to 
enact laws essential to your welfare ; nor will 
you, in future, be subject to the imperious sway 
of rulers, instructed to sacrifice your happiness, 
whenever it might be inconsistent with the 
ambitious views of their royal master. 

The Americans are the first people whom 
heaven has favored with an opportunity of 
deliberating upon, and choosing the forms of 
government under which they should live ; — all 
other constitutions have derived their existence 
from violence or accidental circumstances, and 
are therefore probably more distant from their 
perfection, which, though beyond our reach, 
may nevertheless be approached under the 
guidance of reason and experience. 

How far the people of this state have im- 
proved this opportunity, we are at no loss to 
determine. — Their constitution has given gen- 
eral satisfaction at home, and been not only 
approved, but applauded abroad. It would be 
a pleasing task to take a mmute view of it, to 
investigate its principles, and remark the con- 
nection and use of its several parts— but that 
would be a work of too great length to be 
proper on this occasion. I must therefore con- 
fine myself to general observations ; and among 



1 82 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



those which naturally arise from a considera- 
tion of this subject, none are more obvious, 
than that the highest respect has been paid to 
those great and equal rights of human nature, 
which should forever remain inviolate in every 
society — and that such care has been taken in 
the disposition of the legislative, executive and 
judicial powers of government, as to promise 
permanence to the constitution, and give energy 
and impartiality to the distribution of justice. 
So that, while you possess wisdom to discern 
and virtue to appoint men of worth and abilities 
to fill the offices of the state, you will be happy 
at home and respectable abroad. — Your life, 
your liberties, your property, will be at the 
disposal only of your Creator and yourselves. 
You will know no power but such as you will 
create ; no authority unless derived from your 
grant ; no laws, but such as acquire all their 
obligations from your consent. 

Adequate security is also given to the rights 
of conscience and private judgment. They are, 
by nature, subject to no control but that of the 
Deity, and in that free situation they are now 
left. Every man is permitted to consider, to 
adore and to worship his Creator in the manner 
most agreeable to his conscience. No opinions 
are dictated ; no rules of faith prescribed ; no 
preference given to one sect to the prejudice of 
others. — The constitudon, however, has wisely 
declared, that the " liberty of conscience, there- 
by granted, shall not be so construed as to 
excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices 
inconsistent with the peace or safety of this 
state." In a word, the convention, by whom 
that constitution was formed, were of opinion, 
that the gospel of Christ, like the ark of God, 
would not fall, though unsupported by the arm 
of flesh ; and happy would it be for mankind, 
if that opinion prevailed more generally. 

But let it be remembered, that whatever 
marks of wisdom, experience and patriotism 
there may be in your constitution, yet, hke the 
beautiful symmetry, the just proportions, and 
elegant forms of our first parents, before their 
maker breathed into them the breath of life, it 
IS yet to be animated, and till then, may indeed 
excite admiration, but will be of no use — from 
the people it must receive its spirit, and by 
ihem be quickened. Let virtue, honor, the love 
of liberty and of science be, and remain, the 
soul of this constitution, and it will become the 
source of great and extensive happiness to this 
and future generations. Vice, ignorance, and 
want of vigilance, will be the only enemies able 
to destroy it. Against these provide, and, of 
these, be forever jealous. Every member of 
the state, ought diligently to read and study 



the constitution of his country, and teach the 
rising generation to be free. By knowing their 
rights, they will sooner perceive when they are 
violated, and be the better prepared to defend 
and assert them. 

This, gentlemen, is the first court held under 
the authority of our constitution, and I hope its 
proceedings will be such, as to merit the appro- 
bation of the friends, and avoid giving cause of 
censure to the enemies of the present establish- 
ment. 

It is proper to observe, that no person in this 
state, however exalted or low his rank, however 
dignified or humble his station, but has a right 
to the protection of, and is amenable to the 
laws of the land ; and that if those laws be 
wisely made and duly executed, innocence will 
be defended, oppression punished, and vice 
restrained. Hence it becomes the common 
duty, and indeed the common interest, of every 
subject of the state, and particularly of those 
concerned in the distribution of justice, to unite 
in repressing the licentious, in supporting the 
laws, and thereby diffusing the blessings of 
peace, security, order and good government, 
through all degrees and ranks of men among us. 

I presume it will be unnecessary to remind 
you, that neither fear, favor, resentment, or other 
personal and partial considerations, should in- 
fluence your conduct. Calm, deliberate reason, 
candor, moderation, a dispassionate, and yet a 
determined resolution to do your duty, will, I 
am persuaded, be the principles by which you 
will be directed. 

You will be pleased to observe, that all 
offences committed in this county against the 
peace of the people of this state, from treason 
to trespass, are proper objects of your attention 
and enquiry. 

You will pay particular attention to the 
practice of counterfeiting the bills of credit, 
emitted by the general congress, or other of 
the American states, and of knowingly pass- 
ing such counterfeits. Practices no less crimi- 
nal in themselves, than injurious to the interest 
of that great cause, on the success of which the 
happiness of America so essentially depends. 



AN ADDRESS 

From the Legislature of the State of 
New York, to their Constituents, 
March 13, 1781. 

EXPLANATORY LETTER. 

Permit me to solicit to treat your readers 
and patrons with the publication of the follow- 
ing address. The journal of the assembly of 



NEW YORK. 



183 



the year 1 78 1, at their second meeting, was 
never printed ; it appears that the state printer 
for that year could not procure the necessarj- 
paper for the purpose. Three hundred copies 
of this address were printed in a pamphlet 
form for the whole state, and the same was 
ordered to be printed in the friendly news- 
papers. New York city being then in the pos- 
session of the enemy, this latter means of cir- 
culation must have been small. In the manu- 
script journal of 1781, above mentioned, is the 
original state address, from which I have 
made this exact copy. It appears from this 
journal, that previous to the publication of this 
interesting document, the great body of the 
people of this state, although they loved their 
countr)' and still wished and prayed for liberty, 
yet found themselves fatigued, distressed, em- 
barrassed, drained of property and deprived of 
the ser\'ices of their useful, hardy husbandmen 
— surrounded and daily encroached upon by 
the ravaging enemy, and pressed by a merciless 
savage foe. The record of their complaints 
and entreaties for relief, transmitted to the 
legislature from every part of the state, prove 
them to have been greatly disquieted, and 
anxious to put a speedy termination to taxes, im- 
presses, assessments, and levies of militia. By 
the history of the succeeding year, this admir- 
able address seems to have had the desired 
effect. The committee for drafting and pre- 
paring the same were Mr. L'Hommedieu, Mr. 
Tayler, and Mr. Benson, of the assembly, and 
Mr. Schulyer, Mr. Yates, and Mr. Piatt, of the 
senate. It was first reported in the assembly 
by Mr. Benson. 

By its publication in your state paper, you 
will deserve the thanks of the present genera- 
tion, and preserve to posterity an important 
item of the history of the memorable Ameri- 
can REVOLUTION. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble 
servant, Aaron Clark. 

Albany, Nov. 3, 1819. 



ADDRESS. 

Albany, March 13, 1781. 

"Friends and fellow-citizens— While 
government is without corruption, the repre- 
sentatives of a free people cannot be inatten- 
tive to the opinions of their constituents : They 
will hear their complaints and examine into 
the causes of them ; if they proceed from errors 
in government, they will endeavor to correct 
such errors ; if they originate in evils which 



arise from their peculiar situation, they will 
explain the necessity which gives them birth — 
well satisfied that such evils will be borne with 
patience, by those virtuous citizens, who count 
temporary inconveniences as dust in the balance 
when weighed against their own freedom, and 
the happiness of posterity. 

The weight of taxes, the rigorous measures 
that have been used to restrain the disaffected, 
exertions oppressive to individuals, by which 
supplies have been obtained, the wants of the 
army, the calls upon the militia, and the de- 
struction of our frontiers, and the principal 
sources from which the present discontents 
are supposed to flow. At first view, it will a{>- 
pear that most of these complaints militate 
against each other, and that to diminish the 
causes of some evils, others must be increased : 
Thus, to procure supplies without force, money 
must be obtained and taxes rendered more 
burthensome ; to relieve the frontiers, great 
demands must be made upon the militia ; to 
conduct military' operations with success, vigor 
and energy must be given to government, and 
temporary restraint be imposed upon the liberty 
of the subject. Those who candidly admit 
these truths, will judge of the embarrassments 
which perplex the legislature — will make pro- 
per allowances for them, and by aiding and 
supporting government, enable their rulers to 
distinguish between the manly representations 
of freemen and real patriots, and the insidious 
murmurs of those grovelling souls, whom the 
flesh pots of Egypt would lure back to the 
land of bondage. 

But to enter more minutely into particulars : 
With respect to the weight and inequality of 
taxes, let the sincere and zealous friend of his 
country, for to such characters only we mean 
to address ourselves, look back to the begin- 
ning of this controversy, and test the justice of 
present complaints by past promises. Greater 
evils than any we have yet experienced, were 
apprehended when we entered into the present 
contest. Cowards shuddered and attempted 
to fly from them ; you set them at defiance ; 
and animated with the spirit of freedom in 
your public assemblies, at your private meet- 
ings, by your solemn acts, and in your familiar 
conversations, repeatedly pledged your lives 
and fortunes to prosecute the war with vigor. 

That the taxes are burthensome, will readily 
be admitted ; but on the other hand, we submit . 
to your candor, whether they are not far short 
of what you had reason to expect ; especially 
when you consider the real3.wA. not the nominal 
sum demanded ; and take into the account, 
that the war had been carried on for several 



1 84 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



campaigns, at a considerable expense, before 
any taxes were collected, and we are persuaded 
your justice will not permit you to ascribe to 
the legislature, hardships arising from taxes 
which it was their duty to lay, in conformity to 
the resolutions of that august body, whom the 
common voice of America has rendered supreme 
in matters relatrve to the war. If congress, 
urged by their necessities, have unhappily 
called for more than you are in circumstances 
to grant — if they have not duly weighed the 
various events which have impoverished and 
distressed this state, it becomes us, without 
deranging the general system, faithfully to 
represent our situation, while we endeavor to 
comply with their requisitions. This we have 
done ; and have reason to hope for every relief 
which the present emergencies will permit 
them to afford. In this expectation we have 
also taken measures to suspend the operation 
of the law for raising a sum equal to one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars in specie. 

As the vast debt due to individuals of this 
state from the United States remains unpaid, 
and therefore you are destitute of a circulating 
medium : and also because the desolation on 
the frontiers in the last campaign, has com- 
pelled us to require you to raise an extraor- 
dinary, but necessary number of men for their 
security, we have given further time for the 
payment of the tax, which will be due on the 
first of April, and we propose in the mean 
time to digest some plan for a more just and 
equal distribution of that and the other bur- 
thens of the war. To this, your represen- 
tatives engage to turn their earnest attention. 
They lament that the wants of the army, and 
the negligence of states who have built too 
much upon our efforts, have so frequently 
rendered it necessary to disturb the common 
course of trade ; and in some measure to 
violate the rights of property : we trust, how- 
ever, that this necessity will justify us in the 
opinion of those who sincerely believe the 
relief of the troops a national object, and their 
wants a national grievance. 

We have stated to congress the difficulties 
into which we are involved, and flatter our- 
selves that they will take measures to procure 
from every state its just quota, and thereby 
render exertions beyond our proportion, un- 
necessary in future. And we presume so 
much on your attachment to the cause of 
freedom, as not to doubt that you will cheer- 
fully submit to every equitable mode which the 
legislature may devise to draw forth the re- 
sources of this state, and by that means 
prevent us from being exposed to the cen- 



sure of those whom we charge with neg- 
lect. 

We have already hinted, that we feel the 
inconvenience to which the non-payment of 
the continental debts, as well as those con- 
tracted by the state, has subjected many of 
you. To this subject we have again earnestly 
entreated the attention of congress, and pointed 
out a mode of redress. We have now under 
consideration, a plan for calling to account 
such persons as have been entrusted with 
public money, and thereby to restrain im- 
proper expenditures. We sincerely wish that 
the charge against public officers had been so 
particular as to direct us in our enquiries to the 
persons aimed at, and still hope that where 
abuses have crept into any department, the 
same zeal which dictated the complaint, will, 
by regular information to the prosecutor for 
the public, to a grand jury, composed of the 
body of each country, or to your representa- 
tives, in assembly, enable them to bring the 
offenders to justice. 

The extraordinary powers given to com- 
missioners for defeating conspiracies, may 
undoubtedly be justified by our peculiar situa- 
tion, and by the practice of all nations under 
similar circumstances. On this occasion, we 
are again impelled to call on your candor, and 
to ask, beset as we are by avowed enemies, 
and infested with concealed traitors, who with 
facility maintain criminal intercourse, scatter 
the seeds of disaffection, and take advantage 
of the credulity of the honest but misinformed 
— whether it is not absolutely necessary to 
be attentive to their motions — to compare in- 
telligence received from different quarters — 
to counteract the various machinations they 
are incessantly practising to subjugate us to 
British tyranny — that the legislature should 
delegate such powers as these commissioners 
are invested with. From a persuasion that 
you conceived their proceedings may, in some 
instances, have been improper, we do you the 
justice to believe, that hence your complaints 
have originated ; and we flatter ourselves that 
in a more serious consideration, you, as friends 
to your country, will be impressed with the 
necessity of such powers, and that they will 
be obnoxious to none but the disaffected. The 
proceedings of these commissioners will, how- 
ever, be submitted to the inspection of a com- 
mittee of both houses, in order to discover 
whether they have abused their authority. 

We have already taken measures for the 
defence of the frontiers, which, if successful, 
will greatly relieve the militia ; and we indulge 
ourselves in a hope that our endeavors will be 



NEW YORK. 



185 



warmly seconded by those, at least, whose 
zeal has justly led them to consider the de- 
struction of the frontiers as a national misfor- 
tune. 

We see with pain, many of the inhabitants 
of the state remonstrating against that as a 
grievance which, as a part of the original con- 
stitution, is so intimately interwoven therewith, 
as not to be rent from it without destroying the 
fabric, namely the share which the representa- 
tives of the southern part of the state have in 
legislation. We find ourselves constrained to 
declare, that we cannot consider this as a proper 
subject of complaint. A convention was chosen 
for the whole state, and consisted of deputies 
from every county, with unlimited powers 
to institute and establish a government which 
should conclude the -djhole. Whilst this great 
business was in agitation, the southern counties 
became under a restraint from the enemy and 
the convention made provision for affording to 
the inhabitants of those counties as much of the 
benefits of the constitution as their situation 
and circumstances would admit. We presume 
the convention were convinced, that as legisla- 
tion and representation is the leading principle 
in our constitution, it would, therefore, be highly 
unjust, if because our brethren were unfortu- 
nate and could not enjoy the whole of their 
inheritance, we should deprive them of that in 
which they could participate. To prevent this 
injustice, and influenced by motives of necessity 
and expediency, the convention passed the 
ordinance which we cannot, without violating 
the rights of the people, consider otherwise than 
as part of the constitution, from which we de- 
rive our powers, and therefore not to be altered 
or annulled by us. Independent of these con- 
clusions, which we have drawn from the strict 
principles of the consdtution, we find our con- 
duct supported by the example of the great 
council of the United States. Congress has 
allowed, and doth still permit the delegates from 
Georgia and South Carolina to sit, debate, and 
vote, although the former is entirely in posses- 
sion of the enemy, and the capital of the latter, 
with a great part of the state, experience the 
same misfortune. Indeed, should the delegates 
of those states, or the representatives of those 
counties be deprived of their seats, the former 
might of right, and agreeable to the law of 
nations, separate from the federal union, enter 
into compacts with other nations, and even 
unite with Great Britain — and the latter might 
on the same principles hold a similar conduct 
with respect to us. We forbear to enter into 
a further detail of reasoning on this subject, 
presuming that the least reflection will discover 



that, as in the one case the Jurisdiction of con- 
gress could not, of right, extend to Georgia 
and South Carolina, so in the other, our sover- 
eignty would be restricted in point of territory, 
and our act could not rightfully bind the in- 
habitants of the counties in the power of the 
enemy. Consequences so detrimental to both, 
we are persuaded, were not foreseen by those 
among our constituents who wish well to the 
cause of their country, other\\'ise we flatter our- 
selves that this matter would not have been 
suggested as a grievance. 

Thus, friends and fellow-citizens, impelled by 
the laudable principle that the public weal only 
ought to influence the conduct of its servants, 
have we admitted the justice of some of your 
complaints, promised our endeavors to lessen 
the cause of others, submitted to your candor 
our observations on those which we cannot 
deem grievous, pointed at the embarrassments 
which surround us, and the means we have 
pursued to remove them ; but while duty dic- 
tated this line of conduct on our part, it be- 
comes us, the temporary representatives of the 
majesty of the people, to prosecute this address 
in a style which freemen ought to use to their 
equals ; and we therefore cannot hesitate to 
assert, that it is incumbent on you candidly to 
distinguish between errors in the general sys- 
tem of the laws themselves, and the persons 
employed in the execution of them ; between 
those which care and attention in your legisla- 
ture and magistrates may remedy, those which 
your situation and circumstances render un- 
avoidable. Your representations have been 
useful in pointing out defects, but in your forti- 
tude, in a due obedience to the laws, and in a 
determination to support theauthority of govern- 
ment can relief only be obtained against partial 
burdens, and although we cannot suspect that 
you will be remiss in these great duties of the 
good citizens, yet it behoves us to advise you, 
that a criminal negligence has been lately too 
prevalent with some ; that it is your duty to 
interfere, especially whilst the British tyrant 
insults you with his unmeaning offers of peace 
and pardon, and whilst his infamous emissaries 
industriously attempt to excite the honest, but 
credulous friends of his countr>', to unwarrant- 
able commotions, and induce him to mix with 
well founded grievances, those that do not 
exist. We mention this to sound the alarm to 
you whose zeal and firmness have remained 
unshaken in every vicissitude of the present 
contest, that the weak and unwary may, by 
your example, be led to the bettei policy of 
removing the difficulties and embarrassments 
which lay between us and the great objects we 



1 86 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



have in view, INDEPENDENCE, LIBERTY and 
PEACE, and not, by throwing fresh difficulties 
in the way, remove to a more remote period the 
completion of your wish. 

Listen, friends, fellow-citizens, and country- 
men, to the recommendations of that great and 
good man, whose virtues and patriotism, as 
the soldier and the citizen, have drawn down 
the admiration, not of America only, but all 
Europe ; whose well-earned fame will roll 
down the tide of time until it is absorbed in the 
abyss of eternity : listen to what he recom- 
mended to your army on a recent and an 
alarming occasion, and seriously apply it to 
yourselves and to us: " The general is deeply 
sensible of the sufferings of the army ; he 
leaves no expedient unused to relieve them, 
and he is persuaded that congress and the sev- 
eral states are doing everything in their power 
for the same purpose. But while we look to 
the public for the fulfilment of its engagements, 
we slwiild do it with proper allowance for the 
embarrassments of public affairs ; we began a 
contest for liberty and independetice, ill provided 
for with the means of war, relying on our pat- 
riotism to supply deficiencies ; we expected to 
encounter many wants and difficulties, and we 
should neither shrink from them when they 
happen, nor fly in the face of law and govern- 
ment to procure redress. There is no doubt 
the public will, in the event, do ample justice 
to the men fighting and suffering in their de- 
fence ; but it is our duty to bear present evils 
with fortittide, looking fonvard to the period 
when our country will have it more in its 
power to reward our services. History is full of 
examples of armies suffering, with patience, the 
extremities of distress which exceed those we 
have experienced, and those in the cause of am- 
bition and conquest, not in that of the rights of 
humanity, of their country, of their families, and 
of themselves. Shall we, who aspire to the dis- 
tinction of a patriot army, who are contending 
for everything precious in society, against 
everything hateful and degrading in slavery ; 
shall we, who call ourselves citizens, discover 
less constancy, and military virtue, than the 
mercenary instruments of ambition ? " 

These are the sentiments of a Washington, 
and although he had not us immediately in 
view, yet every sentence is replete with whole- 
some admonition to all orders of men in these 
states. The force and artifice of the enemy, 
have hitherto proved equally abortive. Britain's 
proud boasts of conquest are no more, and all 
Europe detests her cause. You are already 
within sight of the promised land, and, by the 
blessing of Heaven, and adequate efforts on 



your part, you may shortly hope, under your 
own vine and your own fig-tree, to spend the 
remainder of your days in tranquility and ease 
when the dangers you have passed, and the 
difficulties you sustain, will only seem to heigh- 
ten your enjoyments ; when you will look for- 
ward to the applauses of succeeding ages, and 
extend your happiness to the most remote pe- 
riod, by anticipating that which your exertions 
shall transmit to your posterity. 

But, friends, fellow citizens and countrymen, 
vain is your hope to experience these glorious 
rewards, for all your toils, and quaff the cup 
of bliss ; in vain has our hardy ancestor trav- 
ersed the trackless ocean to seek in the wilds 
of the new world a refuge from the oppres- 
sions of the old ; in vain for our sakes has he 
fled from that tyranny which, by taxing indus- 
try, transmits poverty as an inheritance from 
one generation to another ; in vain has he 
strove with the ruthless barbarian, and with the 
various difficulties incident on the emigration 
to countries untrodden by civilized man ; if, by 
internal discord, by a pusillanimous impatience 
under unavoidable burthens, by an immoderate 
attachment to perishable property, by an intem- 
perate jealousy of those servants whom each 
revolving year may displace from your confi- 
dence, by forgetting those fundamental princi- 
ples which induced America to separate from 
Britain, we play into the hands of a haughty 
nation, spurred on to perseverance in injury, by 
a despairing yet unrelenting tyrant, and his ra- 
pacious minions. 

Your representatives feel themselves incapa- 
ble of believing that any but the misguided, 
the weak and the unwary among our fellow- 
citizens, can be guilty of so foully staining the 
honor of the state, and wantonly becoming 
parricides of their own, and the peace and hap- 
piness of their posterity. — Let us then all, for 
our interest is the same, with one heart and 
one voice, mutually aid and support each 
other. Let us steadily, unanimously, and vig- 
orously, prosecute the great business of estab- 
lishing our independence. Thus shall we be 
free ourselves, and leave the blessings of free- 
dom to millions yet unborn. 

By order of the Senate, 
(Signed) Pierre Van Cortlandt, Pres't. 

By order of the Assembly, 
(Signed) Evert Bancker, Speaker. 

Albany, March I2,th, 1781 



NEW YORK. 



187 



ADDRESS 

Of citizens of the city of New York 
TO General Washington, and Gover- 
nor Clinton, after the evacuation 
OF the City by the British Forces 
in 1783. 

A committee had been appointed by the 
citizens to wait upon General Washington and 
Governor Clinton and other American officers, 
and to express their joyful congratulation to 
them upon this occasion. A procession for 
this purpose formed in the Bowery, marched 
through a part of the city, and halted at a 
tavern, then known by the name of Cape's 
tavern, in Broadway, where the following ad- 
dresses were delivered. Mr. Thomas Tucker, 
late of this town, and, at that time, a reputable 
merchant in New York, a member of the com- 
mittee, was selected to perform the office on 
the part of the committee. 



TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASH- 
INGTON, ESQ. 

General and commander in chief of 

THE armies of THE UNITED STATES 

of America. 

The address of the citizens of New York, 
who have returned from exile, in behalf 
of themselves and their suffering breth- 
ren : 

Sir — At a moment when the army of ty- 
ranny is yielding up its fondest usurpations, we 
hope the salutations of long suffering exiles, 
but now happy freemen, will not be deemed an 
unhappy tribute. In this place, and at this 
moment of exultation and triumph, while the 
ensigns of slavery still linger in our sight, we 
look up to you, our deliverer, with unusual 
transports of gratitude and joy. Permit us to 
welcome you to this city, long torn from us by 
the hard hand of oppression, but now, by your 
wisdom and energy, under the guidance of 
Providence, once more the seat of peace and 
freedom We forbear to speak our gratitude 
or your praise. We should but echo the voice 
of applauding millions. But the citizens of 
New York are eminently indebted to your vir- 
tues ; and we, who have now the honor to ad- 
dress your excellency, have often been com- 
panions of your sufferings and witnesses of 
your exertions. Permit us, therefore, to ap- 
proach your e.xcellency with the dignity and 



sincerity of freemen, and to assure you that we 
shall preserve, with our latest breath, our grati- 
tude for your services, and veneration for your 
character ; and accept of our sincere and 
earnest wishes that you may long enjoy that 
calm domestic felicity, which you have so gen- 
erously sacrificed — that the cries of injured 
liberty may never more interrupt your repose 
— and that your happiness may be equal to 
your virtues. 

Signed, at the request of the meeting. 



Thomas Randall, 
Danl. Phoenix, 
Saml. Broome, 
Wm. Gilbert, Sen, 
Francis Van Dyck, 
Geo. Janeway, 
Ephraim Brashier, 

New York, Nov. 25, 1783. 



Thomas Tucker, 
Henry Kipp, 
Pat. Dennison, 
Wm. Gilbert, jun. 
Jeremiah Wool, 
Abrm. P. Lott. 



GEN. WASHINGTON'S REPLY 

To THE foregoing ADDRESS, NEW YORK, 

Nov. 25, 1783. 

Gentlemen — I thank you sincerely for 
your affectionate address, and entreat you to 
be persuaded that nothing could be more 
agreeable to me than your polite congratula- 
tions. Permit me, in return, to felicitate you 
on the happy repossession of your city. 

Great as your joy must be on this pleasing 
occasion, it can scarcely exceed that which I 
feel at seeing you, gentlemen, who, from the 
noblest motives, have suffered a voluntary 
exile of many years, return again in peace and 
triumph to enjoy the fruits of your virtuous 
conduct. 

The fortitude and perseverance which you 
and your suffering brethren have exhibited in 
the course of the war, have not only endeared 
you to your countrymen, but will be remem- 
bered with admiration and applause, to the 
latest posterity. 

May the tranquility of your city be perpetual 
—may the ruins soon be repaired, commerce 
flourish, science be fostered, and all the civil 
and social virtues be cherished in the same 
illustrious manner which formerly reflected so 
much credit on the inhabitants of New York. 
In fine, may every species of felicity attend 
you, gentlemen, and your worthy fellow-citi- 
zens. 

George Washington. 



\l 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



THE ADDRESS TO GOV. CLINTON 
With the Answer. 

to his excellency george clinton, 
esquire, governor of the state of 
New York, commander in chief of 

THE militia, and ADMIRAL OF THE 
NAVY OF THE SAME. 

The address of the citizens of New York, who 
have returned from exile, in behalf of them- 
selves and their suffering brethren : 

Sir — When we consider your faithful labors 
at the head of the government of this state, 
devoid, as we conceive every free people ought 
to be, of flattery, we think we should not be 
wanting in gratitude to your vigilant and assid- 
uous services in the civil line. 

The state, sir, is highly indebted to you in 
your military capacity ; a sense of your real 
merit will secure to you that reputation which 
a brave man opposing himself in defence of 
his country, will ever desen'e. 

We most sincerely congratulate you on your 
happy arrival at the capital of the state. Your 
excellency hath borne a part with us in the 
general distress, and was ever ready to alle- 
viate the calamities you could not effectually 
remove. Your example taught us to suffer 
with dignity. 

We beg leave to assure your excellency that, 
as prudent citizens and faithful subjects to the 
people of the state of New York, we will do 
every thing in our power to enable you to support 
order and good government in the community 
over which you have, by the suffrages of a free 
and discerning people, been elected to preside. 

Signed, at request of the meeting. 



Thomas Randall, 
Danl. Phcenix, 
Saml. Broome, 
Wm. Gilbert, sen. 
Francis Van Dyck, 
Geo. Janeway, 
Ephraim Brasher, 
JVew York, Nov. 25, 1783. 



Thomas Tucker, 
Henry Kipp, 
Pat. Dennison, 
Wm. Gilbert, jun. 
Jeremiah Wool, 
Abrm. P. Lott. 



His Excellency's Reply. 

Gentlemen — Accept my most sincere 
thanks for your very affectionate and respect- 
ful address. Citizens who, like you, to vindi- 
cate the sacred cause of freedom, quitted their 
native city, their fortunes and possessions, and 
sustained with manly fortitude, the rigors of a 
long and painful exile, superadded to the griev- 
ous calamities of a vengeful war, merit, in an 
eminent degree, the title of patriots and the 



esteem of mankind ; and your confidence and 
approbation are honors which cannot be re- 
ceived without the utmost sensibility or con- 
templated without gratitude and satisfaction. 

To your sufferings and to the invincible spirit 
with which they were surmounted, I have been 
witness, I have deeply lamented that I had not 
means to alleviate them equal to my inclina- 
tion. 

The assurances of your firm support in the 
administration of government, give me singu- 
lar pleasure. A reverence for the laws is 
peculiarly essential to public safety and pros- 
perity under our free constitution ; and should 
we suffer the authority of the magistrate to be 
violated for the sake of private vengeance, we 
should be unworthy of the numberless bless- 
ings which an indulgent Providence hath placed 
in our reach. I shall endeavor steadily to dis- 
charge my duty, and I flatter myself that this 
state will become no less distinguished for 
justice and public tranquility, in peace, than it 
has hitherto been marked, in war, for vigor, 
fortitude and perseverance. 

Gentlemen — Your kind congratulations on 
my arrival at this metropolis, after so long an 
absence, are highly acceptable, and I most 
cordially felicitate you on the joyful events which 
have restored us to the free and uncontrolable 
enjoyment of our rights. While we regard, 
with inviolable gratitude and affection all who 
have aided us by their counsel or their arms, 
let us not be unmindful of that Almighty 
Being, whose gracious Providence has been 
manifestly interposed for our deliverance and 
protection, and let us shew by our virtues that 
we deserve to partake of the freedom, sover- 
eignty and independence which are so happily 
established throughout these United States. 
George Clinton. 

New- York, ilth Nov. 1783. 



DR. TUSTEN, 

Southold, Long Island. 

Sketch of Revolutionary History. — At the late 
anniversary meeting of the Medical Society of 
Orange county, an address was delivered by 
Dr. Arnell, in which he introduced a biography 
of Dr. Tusten, a native of Southold, L. I., who 
was a distinguished practitioner in the early 
settlement of that county. In relation to the 
death of Dr. Tusten, his biographer gives the 
following interesting sketch of our revolutionary 
history: 

In June, 1779, colonel Brandt, who com- 



NEW YORK. 



189 



manded the six nations of Indians, left Niagara, 
vvitii about 300 warriors and a number of 
tories, who had joined that murderous crew, 
with an intention of destroying the settlements 
upon the Delaware river, which was then con- 
sidered as the frontier of our unsettled country. 
On the 20th of July, he appeared on the west 
of Minisink — he sent down a party which 
destroyed the settlement, burnt several houses, 
and plundered the inhabitants, returning with 
their ill-gotten booty to the main body, which 
lay then at Grassy Swamp Brook. An express 
was immediately dispatched to colonel Tusten, 
his superior officer. General Allison, being 
then confined in New York, having been taken 
prisoner at the battle of Fort Montgomery — 
the colonel received the news that evening — he 
instantly issued orders to the officers of the 
regiment to rendezvous at Minisink, where he 
would meet them. Having taken an affection- 
ate, and it proved a final, leave of his family, he 
collected what few he could, and was at the 
appointed place by morning. In the after part 
of that day, about 120 men were collected, 
when a council was held, to determine whether 
it would be best to pursue the Indians into the 
woods ; a majority of the officers were in favor 
of that measure ; colonel Tusten, who viewed 
things in a calm manner and judicious light, 
was opposed to that plan ; he gave, as his 
reasons for his opposition, that the men were 
not sufficiently supplied with ammunition for a 
battle — that there were probably a much 
greater number of Indians than had been seen 
— that they were piloted by tories and Indians 
well acquainted with the woods, and com- 
manded by Brandt, a well known warrior, who 
would never risk a battle unless he had superior 
advantages. To this was answered, that there 
was no danger of their numbers — that the 
Indians dare not fight — that they had several 
cattle and horses which they had plundered 
from the inhabitants which they must guard 
or leave upon the appearance of an enemy — 
that they might be pursued with deliberation 
until they came to the fording place of the 
Delaware river, which was near the entrance 
of Lacawac river into the Delaware, and finally, 
major Meeker mounted his horse and flourished 
his sword, requesting all those who were men 
of courage to follow him, and let the cowards 
stay behind. This last appeal was too much 
for American valor, and the men immediately 
turned out, determined to pursue and destroy 
the Indians or perish in the attempt. They 
marched that evening about seventeen miles, 
when they encamped for the night. 

In the morning they were overtaken by 



colonel Hathorn, of the Wanvick regiment, 
who, being the oldest colonel and highest 
officer in rank, took the command. He called 
a council and himself opposed the pursuit, but 
here it was urged that they had a pilot, captain 
Tyler, who was as well acquainted with the 
woods as any among their enemies, and who 
could bring them to a spot most eligible for an 
attack with perfect safety, and the same scene 
of bullying was acted by major Meeker, who is 
well calculated by the poet, "a fool devoid of 
rule," and the fatal line of march was again 
commenced. They had not proceeded far 
before Brandt discovered them — he ordered a 
few of his Indians to keep in sight and decoy 
them to the very spot where they intended to 
surprise him ; but before they reached the 
place captain Tyler was shot, which damped 
the spirits of our men. During this confusion 
a party of Indians hove in sight — colonel H. 
ordered that no man should fire until they had 
prepared for a general battle ; a large Indian 
however rode past on a horse which had been 
stolen from Minisink, and which one of our 
men knew ; the temptation was too great, and 
our hero fired his rifie and brought the Indian 
to the ground. The advanced Indians then 
fired and rushed towards our men, in order to 
divide them, and about thirty were separated 
from the main body, who could not afterwards 
be brought into action. In a few minutes 
Brandt appeared with his whole force, when 
the firing became general. A very confused 
and irregular fire was kept up from behind 
trees and rocks both by the Indians and our 
men. From the situation in which they were 
placed every one fought in his own way, and it 
was impossible for any one to command : 
colonel Tusten retired to a spot surrounded by 
rocks, where he directed the wounded to be 
conveyed to him, and he now became the 
surgeon and friend of the wounded. Early in 
the battle he had received a slight wound in 
the hand, though not sufficient to prevent his 
dressing the wounds of the soldiers. The 
battle lasted the whole day ; the Indians con- 
stantly endeavoring to divide and break the 
main body which had possession of the ground 
until sunset, when their ammunition was 
expended, and a general retreat was ordered — 
no regularity could be preserved, and every one 
was left to effect his escape in the best manner 
he could — some crossed the river, while others 
were shot in it ; some retreated through the 
woods, while others were destroyed in the 
attempt ; but now a scene presented itself 
which of all others was the most tr>ing. Dr. 
Tusten had seventeen with him, whose wounds 



igo 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



he had dressed, and whose lives might have 
been saved — the cries they kept up for mercy 
and protection when they heard the retreat 
ordered, beggared all description ; they were 
necessarily left to be sacrificed by savage bar- 
barity ; and whether Dr. Tusten stayed and 
perished with his wounded countr)'men, or 
attempted to make his retreat, is not known. 
This is the last time he was ever seen by any 
white man, though it is generally believed that 
he suffered by the same tomahawk which 
destroyed those that were with him. On this 
fatal day forty-four of our countrymen fell, 
some of whom might emphatically be called the 
pride and flower of Goshen. Among them was 
a Jones, a Little, a Duncan, a Wisner, a Vail, a 
Townsend, and a Knapp ; and there perished 
our friend and brother in profession. Dr. 
Tusten, a sacrifice for the independence and 
liberty of our country. 



REFERENCE 



To Churches of New York during the 
Revolution. 

T^e Churches. Extract from a sermon preached 
at New York, by the Rev. Dr. Rodgers, Dec. 
II, 1783, the day appointed by congress as 
a public thanksgiving throughout the United 
States. 

" It is much to be lamented, that the troops 
of a nation who had been considered as one of 
the bulwarks of the reformation, should act as 
if they had waged war with the God whom 
Christians adore. They have, in the course of 
this war, utterly destroyed more than fifty pla- 
ces of worship in these states. Most of these 
were burnt, others they levelled with the 
ground, and in some places left not a vestige 
of their former situation ; while they have wan- 
tonly defaced, or rather destroyed others, by 



converting them into barracks, jails, hospitals, 
riding schools, etc. Boston, Newport, Phila- 
delphia and Charlestown, all furnished melan- 
choly instances of this prostitution and abuse of 
the house of God ; — and of nineteen places of 
public worship in this city, when the war began, 
there were but nine fit for use when the British 
troops left it. It is true. Trinity church, and 
the old Lutheran, were destroyed by the fire, 
that laid waste so great part of the city, a few 
nights after the enemy took possession of it ; 
the fire was occasioned by the carelessness of 
their people; and they prevented its more 
speedy extinguishment. But the ruinous sit- 
uation in which they left two of the Low Dutch 
Reformed churches, the three Presbyterian 
churches, the French Protestant church, the 
Anabaptist church, and the Friends new meet- 
ing house, was the effect of design, and strongly 
marks their enmity to those societies." 



THE MIDDLE DUTCH CHURCH. 

Of this church, which, in the beginning of the 
war, was used by the British as a prison, and 
afterwards converted into a riding school, 
the venerable Dr. Livingston thus expresses 
himself, in a sermon, delivered July 4, 1790, 
when it was for the first time opened for 
public worship, after being repaired. 

" I dare not speak of the wanton cruelty of 
those who destroyed this temple, nor repeat 
the various indignities which have been per- 
petrated. It would be easy to mention facts 
which would chill your blood ! A recollection 
of the groans of dying prisoners, which pierced 
this ceiling, or the sacrilegious shouts and 
rough feats of horsemanship exhibited within 
these walls, might raise sentiments in your 
minds which would, perhaps, not harmonize 
with those religious affections, which I wish, at 
present, to promote, and always to cherish." 



NEW JERSEY. 



191 



NEW JERSEY, 



APPROPRIATION OF MONEY 

In the Public Treasury by the people 
OF New Jersey. 

Newport, May 2», 1775. 

The people of New Jersey have taken pos- 
session of the treasury of that province, in 
which was the amount of between twenty and 
thirty thousand pounds ; which money is to be 
appropriated to the payment of the troops now 
raised in that province, for the defence of the 
liberties of America. 



VOTE OF CENSURE 

On Governor Wm. Franklin, by the 
Provincial Congress, of New Jersey. 

Burlington, June 14, 1776. 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this con- 
gress, the proclamation of William Franklin, 
esq. late governor of New Jersey, bearing 
date the thirtieth day of May last, in the name 
of the king of Great Britain, appointing a 
meeting of the general assembly, to be held 
on the twentieth of this instant, June, ought 
not to be obeyed. 

Resolved. That, in the opinion of this con- 
gress, the said William Franklin, esq. by such 
his declaration, has acted in direct contempt 
and violation of the resolve of the continental 
congress of the 1 5th day of May last. 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of this con- 
gress, all payments of money on account of 
salary or otherwise, to the said William Frank- 
lin, esq. as governor, ought from henceforth, to 
cease ; and that the treasurer or treasurers of 
this province, shall account for the monies in 
their hands to this congress, or to the future 
legislation of this colony. 

By order of the congress, 

Samuel Tucker, President. 

A true copy, 

William Patterson, Secretary. 



ADDRESS, 



To the inhabitants of New Jersey by 
THE Provincial Congress, June 15th, 
1776. 

Countrymen and friends — This province has 



been requested by the continental cong^ress to 
send, without delay, from their militia, three 
thousand three hundred men to New-York, in 
consequence ot authentic information that the 
grand attack of our common enemy this sum- 
mer, which will probably prove the decisive 
campaign, is to be upon that city ; and that 
their force may be expected there in a few 
days. — Your representatives in this congress 
have, with all the despatch in their power, and 
with the utmost unanimity, prepared an ordin- 
ance for raising the number called for, as 
equally from the different parts of the pro- 
vince as possible. They have determined to 
raise the men by voluntary enlistment in the 
several counties, in full confidence that, in this 
war, they will be raised most speedily, as well 
as consist of persons of the greatest spirit and 
alacrity for the important service. Filled with 
the same zeal for the defence of their country, 
they apply to you by this short address — and, 
in the most earnest and affectionate manner 
entreat you not to sully the reputation ac- 
quired on all former occasions ; but to give a 
new proof to the public of your courage and 
intrepidity, as men, of your unalterable attach- 
ment to the liberties of America, and the sin- 
cerity of your unanimous resolutions from the 
beginning of this contest. Were there time to 
draw up a long discourse in this hour of dan- 
ger, the arguments that might be used are 
innumerable, and as some of them are of the 
most urgent, so (blessed be God) others are of 
the most encouraging and animating kind. 

The danger is not only certain, but immedi- 
ate and imminent. It does not admit of a 
moment's delay, for our unjust and implacable 
enemy is at hand. The place where the attack 
is expected is of the last importance ; not only 
a city of great e.xtent, the interest of whose 
numerous inhabitants must be exceedingly 
dear to us, but situated in the middle of 
the colonies, and where the success of the 
enemy would separate the provinces, and 
disunite their efforts by land, which are of 
necessity liable to interruption from the ene- 
my's fleet by sea. It is scarce worth while to 
add, that this province, by its vicinity, would 
then be exposed to the cruel depredations of 
the enemy, who happily, hitherto have been 
able to do us little or no mischief but by theft 
and rapine. It would seem to carry unjust 



192 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



suspicion of you to say any more on our own 
private interest, as we hope every honest man 
is chiefly concerned for, and will strain every 
nerve in support of, the common cause of the 
united colonies. 

We cannot help putting you in mind how 
signally Almighty God has prospered us hith- 
erto, and crowned our virtuous efforts with 
success. The expulsion of the enemy from 
Boston, where they first took possession, and 
began their oppressive measures, was an event 
as disgraceful to them, as it was advantageous 
to the public cause, and honorable to that 
brave and resolute army by which it was 
accomplished. It will certainly be no small 
encouragement to those who shall now pro- 
ceed to the place of danger, that they shall 
join with many of the same soldiers, who 
have gained immortal honor by their past 
conduct, as well as serve imder that wise 
and able leader, whose prudence, firmness 
and attention to his great charge, have pro- 
cured him the most unlimited confidence, both 
of those who direct the public counsels, and 
of those who are in arms under his command. 

We must not forget the activity and success 
of the inhabitants of the southern colonies. 
They ran to arms in thousands the moment 
they heard of an attack, both in Virginia and 
North Carolina. God was pleased, in both 
cases, to reward their alacrity, for they ob- 
tained a complete victory over their ene- 
mies with so little loss of blood, as was not 
barely wonderful, but scarcely credible. At 
the battle of Moor-Creek Bridge, there were 
but few men killed and at Norfolk Great- 
Bridge we did not lose a single life. 

Time does not permit us to enlarge on the 
past events of this war, in which the kindness 
of Providence is so clearly to be seen. We 
therefore only further observe, that, by the 
preparations in Britain for this campaign, and 
by all the intelligence received from Europe, it 
is plain that not honor and advantage only, 
but absolute necessity requires us to e.xert our 
utmost efforts, for our all is at stake. Every 
one now is obliged to confess what many saw 
long .igo, that entire and unconditional sub- 
mission is the point to which our enemies are 
determined to bring us, if in their power ; so 
that nothing remains for us but either the 
abject slavery of tributary states, or to main- 
tain our rights and liberties by force of arms, 
and hand down the fair inheritance to our 
posterity, by a brave and determined defence. 

We desire and expect, that, in such a situa- 
tion of things, all particular difference of small 
moment, arising from whatever cause, whether 



religious denominations, rivalship of different 
classes of men, scarcity of some articles of 
commerce, or any other, may be entirely laid 
aside. The present danger requires the most 
perfect union. Let every enemy perceive, that 
the representatives of the colonies, as soon as 
they determine upon any measure, are able 
to bring out the whole strength of this vast 
country to carry it into execution. 

That you may be under no apprehension 
either of inequality in the burden, or that our 
own coasts will be left unguarded by the des- 
tination of this brigade, we have thought it 
best to inform you, that the continental con- 
gress have amply provided for the defence of 
this province, and have made such arrange- 
ment of the continental army for the ensuing 
campaign, as lays an equal burden on the 
inhabitants of the different colonies ; in par- 
ticular, that a flying camp of ten thousand men 
is now forming for the protection of the mid- 
dle colonies, which, we are credibly informed, 
is to have its chief station in this province. 
We add no more, but that we trust and hope, 
that, while every province is making the most 
spirited efforts. New Jersey in its place and 
duty will be second to none. 

Signed in name, and by appointment of con- 
gress, Burlington, June 15, 1776. 

Samuel Tucker, President. 

A true copy, 

Wm. P.\tterson, Secretary. 



SPEECH 

Of his excellency William Livingston, 
Governor of the State of New Jersey 
TO the Legislature of that state, 
Haddonfield, N. J. Feb. 25, 1777. 

Gentlemen — Having already laid before 
the assembly, by messages, the several mat- 
ters that have occurred to me, as more particu- 
larly demanding their attention during the 
present session, it may seem less necessary to 
address you in the more ceremonious form of a 
speech. But conceiving it my duty to the 
state, to deliver my sentiments on the present 
situation of affairs, and the eventful contest 
between Great Britain and America, which 
could not, with any propriety, be conveyed in 
occasional messages, you will excuse my giv- 
ing you the trouble of attending for that 
purpose. 

After deploring with you, the desolation 
spread through this state by an unrelenting 
enemy, who have indeed marked their progress 



NEW JERSEY. 



193 



with a devastation unknown to civilized na- 
tions, and evincive of ttie most implacable 
vengeance — I heartily congratulate you upon 
that subsequent series of success wherewith it 
has pleased the Almighty to crown the Ameri- 
can arms ; and particularly on the important 
enterprise against the enemy at Trenton — and 
the signal victor)' obtained over them at Prince- 
ton, by the gallant troops under the command 
of his excellency general Washington. 

Considering the contemptible figure they 
make at present, and the disgust they have 
given to many of their own confederates 
among us, by their more than Gothic rava- 
ges — (for thus doth the Great Disposer of 
events often deduce good out of evil) — their 
irruption into our dominion will probably re- 
dound to the public benefit. It has certainly 
enabled us the more effectually to distinguish 
our friends from our enemies. It has winnowed 
the chaff from the grain. It has discriminated 
the temporizing politician, who, at the first ap- 
pearance of danger, was determined to secure 
his idol, property, at the hazard of the general 
weal, from the persevering patriot — who, hav- 
ing embarked his all in the common cause, 
chooses rather to risk — rather to lose that all. 
for the preservation of the more estimable 
treasure, liberty, than to possess it — (enjoy it 
he certainly could not) — upon the ignominious 
terms of tamely resigning his country and pos- 
terity to perpetual servitude. It has, in a word, 
opened the eyes of those who were made to 
believe, that their impious merit, in abetting our 
persecutors, would exempt them from being 
involved in the general calamity. But as the 
rapacity of the enemy was boundless — their 
havoc vs'as indiscriminate, and their barbarity 
unparalleled. They have plundered friends and 
foes. Effects capable of division, they have 
divided. Such as were not, they have destroyed. 
They have warred upon decrepit age — warred 
upon defenceless youth. They have committed 
hostilities against the professors of literature, 
and the ministers of religion — against public 
records, and private monuments, and books of 
improvement, and papers of curiosity, and 
against the arts and sciences. They have 
butchered the wounded, asking for quarter ; 
mangled the dying, weltering in their blood ; 
refused to the dead the rites of sepulture ; suf- 
fered prisoners to perish for want of sustenance ; 
violated the chastity of women ; disfigured pri- 
vate dwellings, of taste and elegance ; and, in 
the rage of impiety and barbarism, profaned 
and prostrated edifices dedicated to Almighty 
God. 

And yet there are among us, who, either 

13 



from ambitious or lucrative motives — or intimi- 
dated by the terror of their arms — or from a 
partial fondness for the British constitution — or 
deluded by insidious propositions — are secretly 
abetting, or openly aiding their machinations, 
to deprive us of that liberty, without which man 
is a beast, and government a curse. 

Besides the inexpressible baseness of wish- 
ing to rise on the ruins of our countr)' — or to 
acquire riches at the expense of the liberties 
and fortunes of millions of our fellow-citizens — 
how soon would these delusive dreams, upon 
the conquest of America, end in disappoint- 
ment ? For where is the fund to recompense 
those retainers to the British arms .' Was 
every estate in America to be confiscated, and 
converted into cash, the product would not 
satiate the avidity of their national dependents ; 
nor lurnish an adequate repast for the keen 
appetites of their own ministerial beneficiaries. 
Instead of gratuities and promotion, these un- 
happy accomplices in their tyranny, would meet 
with supercilious looks and cold disdain ; and, 
after tedious attendance, be finally told by their 
haughty masters, that they indeed approved the 
treason, but despised the traitor. Insulted, 
in fine, by their pretended protectors, but 
real betrayers — and goaded with the stings of 
their own consciences — they would remain 
the frightful monuments of human contempt 
and divine indignation, and linger out the 
rest of their days in self-condemnation and 
remorse — and in weeping over the ruins of 
their country, which themselves had been in- 
strumental in reducing to desolation and 
bondage. 

Others there are, who, terrified by the power 
of Britain, have persuaded themselves that she 
is not only formidable, but irresistible. That 
her power is great, is beyond question ; that it 
is not to be despised, is the dictate of common 
prudence. But then we ought also to consider 
her, as weak in council, and ingulfed in debt 
— reduced in her trade — reduced in her 
revenue — immersed in pleasure — enervated with 
luxury- — and, in dissipation and venality, sur- 
passing all Europe. We ought to consider her 
as hated by a potent rival, her natural enemy 
and particularly exasperated by her imperious 
conduct in the last war, as well as her insolent' 
manner of commencing it ; and thence inflamed 
with resentment, and only watching a favorable ■ 
juncture for open hostilities. We ought to 
consider the amazing expense and difficulty of 
transporting troops and provisions above three 
thousand miles, with the impossibility of re- 
cruiting their army at a less distance, save only 
with such recreants, whose conscious guilt' 



194 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



must at the first approach of danger, appal the 
stoutest heart. Those insuperable obstacles 
are known and acknowledged by every virtuous 
and impartial man in the nation. Even the 
author of this horrid war is incapable of conceal- 
ing his own confusion and distress. Too great 
to be wholly suppressed, it frequently discovers 
itself in the course of his speech — a speech ter- 
rible in word, and fraught with contradiction 
—breathing threatenings, and betraying terror — 
a motley mixture of magnanimity and consterna- 
tion — of grandeur and abasement. — With troops 
invincible he dreaded a defeat, and wants re- 
inforcements. Victorious in America, and 
triumphant on the ocean, he is an humble de- 
pendent on a petty prince ; and apprehends an 
attack upon his own metropolis ; and, with full 
confidence in the friendship and alliance of 
France, he trembles upon his throne, at her 
secret designs and open preparations. 

With all this, we ought to contrast the 
numerous and hardy sons of America, inured 
to toil — seasoned alike to heat and cold — hale 
— robust — patient of fatigue — and, from their 
ardent love of liberty, ready to face danger and 
death — the immense e.\tent of continent, which 
our infatuated enemies have undertaken to 
subjugate — the remarkable unanimity of its 
inhabitants, notwithstanding the exception of a 
few apostates and deserters — their unshaken 
resolution to maintain their freedom, or perish 
in the attempt — the fertility of our soil in all 
kinds of provisions necessary for the support of 
war — our inexhaustible internal resources for 
military stores and naval armaments — our com- 
parative economy in public expenses — and the 
millions we save by having reprobated the 
farther exchange of our valuable staples for the 
worthless baubles and finery of English manu- 
facture. Add to this, that in a cause so just 
and righteous on our part, we have the highest 
reason to expect the blessing of Heaven upon 
our glorious conflict. For who can doubt the 
interposition of the supremely just, in favor of 
a people forced to recur to arms in defence of 
every thing dear and precious, against a nation 
deaf to our complaints — rejoicing in our 
misery — wantonly aggravating our oppressions 
— determined to divide our substance — and by 
fire and sword to compel us into submission ? 

Respecting the constitution of Great Britain, 
bating certain royal prerogatives, of dangerous 
tendency, it has been applauded by the best 
judges ; and displays, in its original structure, 
illustrious proofs of wisdom and the knowledge 
of human nature. But what avails the best 
constitution, with the worst administration ? 
For what is their present government— and 



what has it been for years past, but a pensioned 
confederacy against reason, and virtue, and 
honor, and patriotism, and the rights of man? 
What were their leaders, but a set of political 
craftsmen, flagitiously conspiring to erect the 
babel, despotism, upon the ruins of the ancient 
and beautiful fabric of law — a shameless cabal, 
notoriously employed in deceiving the prince, 
corrupting the parliament, debasing the people, 
depressing the most virtuous, and exalting the 
most profligate — in short, an insatiable junto 
of public spoilers, lavishing the national wealth 
and, by peculation and plunder, accumulating a 
debt already enormous.' And what was the 
majority of their parliament, formerly the most 
august assembly in the world, but venal pen- 
sioners to the crown — a perfect mockery of all 
popular representation — and at the absolute 
devotion of every minister ? What were the 
characteristics of their administration of the 
provinces ? The substitution of regal instruc- 
tions in the room of law ; the multiplication of 
officers to strengthen the court interest ; per- 
petually extending the prerogatives of the king, 
and retrenching the rights of the subject, ad- 
vancing to the most eminent stations, men 
without education, and of the most dissolute 
manners ; employing, with the people's money, 
a band of emissaries to misrepresent and traduce 
the people ; and, to crown the system of mis- 
rule, sporting with our persons and estates by 
filling the highest seats of justice, with bank- 
rupts, bullies, and blockheads. 

From such a nation (though all this we bore, 
and should perhaps have borne for another 
century-, had they not avowedly claimed the 
unconditional disposal of life and property) it 
is evidently our duty to be detached. To 
remain happy or safe in our connection with 
her, became thenceforth utterly impossible. 
She is moreover precipitating her own fall, or 
the age of miracles is returned — and Britain 
a phenomenon in the political world, without 
a parallel. 

The proclamations to ensnare the timid and 
credulous, are beyond expression disingenuous 
and tantalizing. In a gilded pill they conceal 
real poison : they add insult to injurj-. After 
repeated intimations of commissioners to treat 
with America, we are presented, instead of the 
peaceful olive-branch, with the devouring sword : 
instead of being visited by plenipotentiaries to 
bring matters to an accommodation, we are 
invaded by an army, in their opinion, able to 
subdue us — and upon discovering their error, 
the terms propounded amount to this, " If you 
will submit without resistance, we are content 
to take your property, and spare your lives : and 



NEW JERSEY. 



195 



then (the consummation of arrogance !) we 
will graciously pardon you, for having hitherto 
defended both." 

Considering then their bewildered councils, 
their blundering ministry, their want of men 
and money, their impaired credit, and declining 
commerce, their lost revenues, and starving 
islands, the corruption of their parliament, 
with the effeminacy of their nation — and the 
success of their enterprise is against all proba- 
bility. Considering farther, the horrid enormity 
of their waging war against their own brethren, 
expostulating for an audience, complaining of 
injuries, and supplicating for redress, and wag- 
ing it with a ferocity and vengeance unknown 
to modern ages, and contrary to all laws, 
human and divine ; and we can neither ques- 
tion the justice of our opposition, nor the 
assistance of Heaven to crown it with victory. 

Let us not, however, presumptuously rely 
on the interposition of Providence, without 
exerting those efforts which it is our duty to 
exert, and which our bountiful Creator has 
enabled us to exert. Let us do our part to 
open the next campaign with redoubled vigor ; 
and until the United States have humbled the 
pride of Britain, and obtained an honorable 
peace, cheerfully furnish our proportion for 
continuing the war — a war, founded on our side 
on the immutable obligation of self-defence 
and in support of freedom, of virtue, and every- 
thing tending to ennoble our nature, and render 
a people happy — on their part, prompted by 
boundless avarice, and a thirst for absolute 
sway, and built on a claim repugnant to every 
principle of reason and equity — a claim subver- 
sive of all liberty, natural, civil, moral, and 
religious ; incompatible with human happiness, 
and usurping the attributes of deity, degrading 
man, and blaspheming God. 

Let us all, therefore, of every rank and 
degree, remember our plighted faith and honor, 
to maintain the cause with our lives and for- 
tunes. Let us inflexibly persevere in prosecut- 
ing to a happy period, what has been so glori- 
ously begun, and hitherto so prosperously con- 
ducted. And let those in more distinguished 
stations use all their influence and authority, 
to rouse the supine ; to animate the irreso- 
lute ; to confirm the wavering; and to draw 
from his lurking hole, the skulking neutral, 
who, leaving to others the heat and burden of 
the day, means in the final result to reap the 
fruits of that victory, for which he will not con- 
tend. Let us be peculiarly assiduous in bring- 
ing to condign punishment, those detestable 
parricides who have been openly active against 
their native country. And may we, in all our 



deliberations and proceedings, be influenced 
and directed by the Great Arbiter of the fate 
of nations, by whom empires rise and fall, and 
who will not always suffer the sceptre of the 
wicked to rest on the lot of the righteous, but 
in due time avenge an injured people on their 
unfeeling oppressor, and his bloody instru- 
ments. 

Haddonfield, Feb. 25, 1777. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



From the Legislature of New Jersey 
TO ITS delegates in Congress, Decem- 
ber 4. 1777- 

The Council and Assembly of the State of New- 
fersey, in j oint meeting . 

To the Hon. John Witherspoon. Abraham 
Clark, Jonathan Elmer, Nathaniel Scudder 
and Elias Boudinot, Esquires, and each and 
every of you : 

We have called you to the important and 
interesting service of representing this state in 
the congress of the United States of North 
America. A higher proof cannot be given of 
the confidence we repose in your abilities and 
integrity ; and we rest assured your best en- 
deavors will, at all times, be exerted to promote 
the freedom, independence, and happiness of 
the whole union, particularly to that part to 
which you stand in more immediate relation. 

Numerous and diversified as the objects of 
your attention will be, we attempt not to point 
out either the line or the extent of your mission. 
Keep in constant view the cause of your dele- 
gation, and let all your conduct be directed to 
the general good and the prosperity of your 
country. We cannot, however, omit the fol- 
lowing particulars, suggested by the present 
posture of affairs, and to which we require you 
carefully to attend. 

I. We hope you will habitually bear in mind 
that the success of the great cause in which 
the United States are engaged, depends upon 
the favor and blessing of Almighty God. and, 
therefore, you will neglect nothing which is 
competent to the assembly of the states, for 
promoting piety and good morals among the 
people at large. But, especially, we desire that 
you may give attention to this circumstance 
in the government of the army, taking care 
that such of the articles of war as forbid pro- 
faneness, riot and debauchery, be observed and 
enforced with all due strictness and severity. 
This, we apprehend, is absolutely necessary 
for the encouragement and maintenance of 



196 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



good discipline, and will be a means of recruit- 
ing the army with men of credit and principle 
— an object ardently to be wished, but not to be 
expected, if the warmest friends of thcT coun- 
try should be deterred from sending their sons 
and connections into the service, lest they 
should be tainted with impious and immoral 
notions, and contract vicious habits. 

2. We have no doubt that, as guardians of 
the state of New-Jersey, you will be particu- 
larly attentive to its interests ; but we also ex- 
pect you will be watchful to guard against every 
thing which will be hurtful to the general 
union, or injurious to the common interests of 
the United States. Extinguish, by all means 
in your power, the least appearance of jealousy 
in its earliest rise. Discountenance all local 
and partial reflections in every instance, and 
reprove, by your example, and suppress, as far 
as your authority extends, party feuds and 
factions, be the offenders who they may. 

3. Let the wants of the soldiery be amply 
supplied and due provision made for their 
health and comfort ; and, as we think this can 
be done, so we wish it always may, in such 
manner as to guard the civil rights of the people 
against military encroachment, and the arbi- 
trary oppression of officers of the army, or of 
persons employed in the commissary's, quar- 
ter-master's or hospital departments. We 
contemplate w'ith concern, the slightest appear- 
ance of such an evil, and wish you to take 
proper pains to prevent it. This state is for- 
wardly disposed to use every exertion in behalf 
of their troops, and, as far as can reasonably 
be expected, of the army in general ; but we 
desire, when a requisition for this effect is nec- 
essary, it may be seasonably made, without 
waiting till the very hour of necessity, when it 
is impossible to take due and legal means of 
complying with it so as to answer any good 
purpose. 

4. We desire you may be cautious of mul- 
tiplying offices, or the number of the officers in 
the several continental departments, and there- 
by unnecessarily increasing the public expense. 
Especially, you will use your utmost influence 
that the departments be filled with men of 
probity, and discretion, well qualified in point 
of capacity, and of unsuspected attachment to 
the liberties of America. We need not urge 
the reasons for calling your attention to this 
object, they are daily before your eyes. 

5. We recommend the immediate completing 
of the establishment for wounded and disabled 
soldiers and seamen, by extending it to the 
militia in the continental ser\'iee, and making 
some provision for the widows and children 



of those who fall in battle, or die in the service, 
whether in the regular or militia troops. The 
necessity of a law, in this as well as the several 
states in the union, grounded upon such estab- 
lishment, requires that it be attended to as 
speedily as possible. 

6. You are to take the earliest opportunity of 
having some effectual mode adopted for nego- 
ciating the exchange of citizens and civil pris- 
oners, no adequate provisions being, as we 
conceive, made for this end in the cartel now 
subsisting. Numbers of civil officers, inhabi- 
tants and subjects of this state, in captivity, 
and, we doubt not, the case is similar in other 
states, where the operations of war have ex- 
tended, not being taken in arms, and, therefore, 
not within the description of prisoners of war, 
are languishing in jails and chains, under the 
power of the enemy, without the means of hope 
or relief As their sufferings are in conse- 
quence of their zeal and activity in the common 
cause, they are entitled to the most vigorous 
exertions of their country in their behalf. 

7. The great irregularities and abuses which 
have been, and continue to be, committed in 
this state, and, probably, in others where the 
army hath been, or now is, by the impressing 
horses, teams and carriages, and taking pro- 
visions, forage and fuel for the troops on march 
or in camp, and in delaying, neglecting, or 
totally refusing, upon the application of the 
inhabitants, with their receipts or certificates, 
to those whose duty it is to make satisfaction, 
have given rise to such universal uneasiness 
and complaint, that it cannot have escaped 
your notice. The ill consequences of such a 
grievance, not only to individuals, but to the 
cause in general, are so obvious, we need only 
remind you of it, and desire you would use 
your endeavors to procure a speedy remedy. 

8. We wish you to consider whether it may 
not be advisable, and even necessary, that con- 
gress digest and recommend to the several 
states, some general plan for a treason law, 
lest inconveniences and difficulties should arise 
from such laws being drawn in different forms 
and settled on different principles, either as to 
the crimes or penalty, in the different states ; 
and particularly that treason against the union 
may be properly described, and the punishment 
thereof suitably defined. Such a general foun- 
dation being once laid, the law can be varied 
and accommodated, if necessary, to the local 
and special circumstances of each state, without 
substantially departing from it. 

9. That your attendance on the duties of your 
appointment may be the more easy and con- 
venient, and that you may have leisure and 



NEW JERSEY. 



197 



opportunity occasionally to attend to your do- 
mestic concerns, from which, otherwise, you 
must have been totally abstracted, we have 
made the representation to consist of five, some 
three to be constantly present in congress, un- 
less when precluded by unavoidable accident. 
And that the state may not be put to unneces- 
sary expense, not more than three are to attend 
at the same time. 

By order of the joint-meeting. 

John Stevens, Chairman. 
Princeton, December \, 1777. 



PROPOSALS FOR AN EXCHANGE 

Of General Burgoyne, after his sur- 
render TO General Gates, at Sara- 
toga, December 8, 1777. 

Ascribed to his Excellency William Living- 
ston, Governor of the State of New Jersey.* 

Should the report of General Burgoyne's 
having infringed the capitulation, between 
Major General Gates and himself, prove to be 
true, our superiors will doubtless take proper 
care to prevent his reaping any benefit from it ; 
and should he be detained as a prisoner for his 
infraction of any of the articles, I would hum- 
bly propose to exchange him in such manner, 
as will at the same time flatter his vanity and 
redound to the greatest emolument of America. 
To evince the reasonableness of my proposal, 
I would observe, that by the same parity of 
reason, that a general is exchanged for a gene- 
ral, a colonel for a colonel, and so on, with re- 
spect to other officers, mutually of equal rank, 
we ought to have for one and the same gentle- 
man, who shall happen to hold both those 
offices, both a general and a colonel. This 
will appear evident from the consideration 
that those exchanges are never regulated by 
viewing the persons exchanged in the light of 
men, but as officers ; since otherwise, a colonel 
might as well be exchanged for a sergeant as 
for an officer of his own rank a sergeant be- 
ing, undoubtedly, equally a man, and, as the 
case sometimes happens, more of a }nan too. 
One prisoner, therefore, having twenty difTer- 

* The turgid, bombastic proclamation (for which see 
American Museum, vol II. page 495) which gave rise to 
this elegant and poignant satire, was prefaced in the fol- 
lowing manner : " Proclamation by John Burgoyne, es- 
quire, lieutenant general ot his majesty's armies in 
America,colonel of the queen's regiment of light dragoons, 
governor of Fort "W'illiam, in North Britain, one of the re- 
presentatives of the commons of Great Britain, and com- 
manding an army and fleet on an expedition from Canada, 
etc etc. etc."— C. 



ent offices, ought to redeem from captivity 
twenty prisoners aggregately holding the same 
offices ; or such greater or less number as 
shall, with respect to rank, be equal to his 
twenty offices. This being admitted, I think 
General Burgoyne is the most profitable pris- 
oner we could have taken, having more offices, 
or (what amounts to the same thing in Old 
England) more titles, than any gentleman on 
this side the Ganges. And as his impetuous 
excellency certainly meant to avail himself of 
his titles, by their pompous display in his pro- 
clamation, had he proved conqueror, it is but 
reasonable that we should avail ourselves of 
them now he is conquered ; and, till I meet 
with a better project for that purpose, I per- 
suade myself that the following proposal will 
appropriate them to a much better use, than 
they were ever applied to before. 

The exchange I propose is as follows : 

I. For John Burgoyne, esquire. 

Some worthy justice of the peace, magnani- 
mously stolen out of his bed, or taken from his 
farm by a band of ruffians in the uniform of 
British soldiers, and now probably perishing 
with hunger and cold in a loathsome jail in 
New York. 

II. For John Burgoyne, lieutenant general of 
his majesty's artnies in America. 

Two majors general. 

III. For John Burgoyne, co^wt'/ ^ the queen's 
regiment of light dragoons. 

As the British troops naturally prize every 
thing in proportion as it partakes of royalty, 
and under value whatever originates from a 
republican government, I suppose a colonel of 
her majesty's own regiment will procure at 
least three continental colonels of the horse. 

IV. For John Burgoyne, governor of fori 
William in North Britain. 

Here I would demand one governor of one 
of the United States, as his multitulary excel- 
cellency is governor of a fort ; and two more, 
as XhaXfort is 'm North Britain, which his Bri- 
tannic majesty may be presumed to value in 
that proportion ; but considering that the said 
fort is called William, which may excite in his 
majesty's mind the rebellious idea of liberty, I 
deduct one upon that account, and rather than 
puzzle the cartel with any perplexity, I am 
content with two go'dernors. 

V. For John Burgoyne, one of the representa- 
tives of Great Britain. 

The first member of congress who may fall 
into the enemy's hands. 

VI. For John Burgoyne, commander of a fleet 
employed in an expedition from Canada. 
The admiral of our navy. 



198 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



VII. For John Burgoyne, commander of an 
army employed in an expedition from 
Canada. 

One commander-in-chief in any of our de- 
partments. 

VIII. For John Burgoyne, etc., etc., etc. 
Some connoisseurs in hieroglyphics imagine 

that these three et ceteras are emblematical of 
three certain occult qualities in the general, 
which he never intends to exhibit in more legi- 
ble characters, viz., prudence, modesty, and 
humanity. Others suppose that they stand for 
king of America ; and that, had he proved 
successful, he would have fallen upon general 
Howe, and afterward have set upon for him- 
self. Be this as it may, (which it however 
behoves a certain gentleman on the other side 
of the water seriously to consider) I insist 
upon it, that as all dark and cabalistical char- 
acters are suspicious, these incognoscible enig- 
mas may portend much more than is generally 
apprehended. At all events, general Burgoyne 
has availed himself of their importance, and I 
doubt not they excited as much terror in his 
proclamation, as any of his more luminous 
titles. As his person, therefore, is by the cap- 
ture, become the property of the congress, all 
his titles, (which some suppose to constitute 
his very essence) whether more splendid or 
opaque, latent or invisible, are become, ipso 
facto the lawful goods and chattels of the conti- 
nent, and ought not to be restored without a con- 
sideration equivalent. If we should happen to 
over-rate them, it is his own fault, it being in 
his power to ascertain their intrinsic value ; 
and it is a rule in law, that when a man is pos- 
sessed of evidence to disprove what is alleged 
against him. and refuses to produce it, the 
presumption raised against him, is to be taken 
for granted. Certain it is, that these three et 
ceteras must stand for three somethings, and as 
these three somethings must, at least, be equal 
to three somethings without rank or title, I 
had some thoughts of setting them down for 
three privates ; but then as they are three 
somethings in general Burgoyne, which must 
be of twice the value of three any things, in 
any three privates, I shall only double them, 
and demand in exchange for these three prob- 
lematical, enigmatical, hieroglyphical, mystic, 
necromantic, cabalistical and portentous et 
ceteras, six privates. 

So that, according to my plan, we ought to 
detain this ideal conqueror of the North, now 
a real prisoner in the East, till we have got in 
exchange for him, one esquire, two major gen- 
erals, three colonels of light horse, two govern- 
ors, one member of congress, the admiral of 



our navy, one commander in chief in a sepa- 
rate department, and six privates ; which is 
probably more than this extraordinary hero 
would fetch in any part of Great Britain, were 
he exposed at public auction for a day and a 
year. All which is nevertheless, humbly sub- 
mitted to the consideration of the honorable 
the congress, and his e.xcellency general Wash- 
ington. 

Prineetown, December 8, 1777. 



CORRESPONDENCE 

Between Col. Charles Mawhood, com- 
manding British forces, and Col. 
Elijah Hand, commanding American 
Militia, Salem, New Jersey, March, 
1778. 

The following correspondence, which passed 
between the commanding officers of the British 
troops and American militia, at this place, in 
the time that " tried men's souls," in the revo- 
lutionary struggle, was handed us by a venera- 
ble old man ; who bore the fatigues and pri- 
vation of a soldier in those days. It was 
presented for publication, for the purpose 
of reviving and keeping alive our gratitude 
to those who so nobly contended for liberty, 
and adoration to the supreme Ruler of the 
universe, for causing the seemingly just, 
though apparently weaker power, to prevail. 
The proposal of the British commander is 
cruel and insulting : the answer mgenious 
and bold. They are as follows : 

Letter from Col. Mawhood. 

" Colonel Mawhood, commanding a detach- 
ment of the British army at Salem, induced by 
motives of humanity, proposes to the militia 
at Quinton's Bridge and the neighborhood, as 
well officers as private men, to lay down their 
arms and depart, each man to his own home ; 
on that condition he solemnly promises to re- 
embark his troops without delay, doing no fur- 
ther damage to the country, and he will cause 
his commissaries to pay for the cattle, hay and 
corn, that have been taken, in sterling money. 

" If, on the contrary, the militia should be 
deluded and blind to their true interest and 
happiness, he will put the arms which he has 
brought with him, into the hands of the in- 
habitants well affected, called tories, and will 
attack all such of the militia as remain in 
arms ; burn and destroy their houses and 
other property, and reduce them, their un- 
fortunate wives and children to beggary and 



NEW JERSEY. 



199 



distress.— And to convince them that these are 
not vain threats, he has subjoined a list of the 
names of such as will be the first objects to 
feel the vengeance of the British nation. 

"Given under my hand at head-quarters, 
Salem, 2i5t day of March, 1778. 

Cs. Mawhood, Col." 



Answer of Col. Hand. 

" Sir — I have been favored with what you 
say humanity has induced you to propose. 
It would have given me much pleasure to 
have found that humanity had been the line 
of conduct to our troops since you have come 
to Salem. Not only denying quarters, but 
butchering our men who surrendered them- 
selves prisoners in the skirmish at Quinton's 
Bridge last Thursday: and bayoneting yes- 
terday morning, at Hancock's Bridge, in the 
most cruel manner, in cold blood, men who 
were taken by surprise, in a situation in which 
they neither could nor did attempt to make 
any resistance ; and some of whom were not 
fighting men, are instances too shocking for 
me to relate, and I hope for you to hear. 
The brave are ever generous and humane ! 
After expressing your sentiments of humanity, 
you proceed to make a request which I think 
you would despise us if we complied with. 
Your proposal that we should lay down our 
arms, we absolutely reject. We have taken 
them up to maintain rights which are dearer 
to us than our lives, and will not lay them 
down, till either success has crowned our 
cause with victory, or like many ancient 
worthies contending for liberty, we meet with 
an honorable death. — You mention, that if we 
reject your proposal, you will put arms into 
the hands of the tones against us. We have 
no objections to the measure, for it would be 
a very good one to fill our arsenals with arms. 
Your threat to wantonly burn and destroy our 
houses and other property, and reduce wives 
and children to beggary and distress, is a sen- 
timent which my humanity almost forbids me 
only to recite ! and induces me to imagine that 
I am reading the cruel order of a barbarous 
Attila, and not of a gentleman, brave, gene- 
rous and polished with a genteel European 
education. — To wantonly destroy will injure 
your cause more than ours. It will increase 
your enemies and our army. To destine to 
destruction the property of our most distin- 
guished men, as you have done in your pro- 
posal, is, in my opinion, unworthy a generous 
foe, and more like a rancorous feud between 
two contending barons, than a war carried on 



by one of the greatest powers on earth against 
a people nobly struggling for liberty. A line 
of honor would mark out that these men 
should share the fate of their country. If your 
arms should be crowned with victory, which 
God forbid, they and their property will be 
entirely at the disposal of your power, will 
only make them desperate, and, as I said 
before, increase your foes and our army ; and 
retaliation upon tories and their property is 
not entirely out of our power. Be assured 
that these are the humble sentiments and 
determined resolution not only of myself, but 
of all the officers and privates under me. 

" My prayer is, sir, that this answer may 
reach you in good health and happiness. 

" Given at head-quarters, at Quinton's 
Bridge, March 22d, 1778. 

Elijah Hand, Colonel. 
"To Cs. Mawhood, Colonel." 



REMARKS ON LIBERTY OF CON- 
SCIENCE. 

Ascribed to his excellency William 
Livingston, Governor of New Jer- 
sey, 1778. 

If, in our own estimate of things, we ought 
to be regulated by the importance, doubtless 
every encroachment upon religion, of all things 
the most important, ought to be considered as 
the greatest imposition ; and the unmolested 
exercise of it, a proportionable blessing. 

By religion, I mean an inward habitual rev- 
erence for, and devotedness to the Deity, with 
such external homage, cither public or private, 
as the worshipper believes most acceptable to 
hitn. According to this definition, it is impos- 
sible for human laws to regulate religion with- 
out destroying it ; for they cannot compel 
inward religious reverence, that being alto- 
gether mental and of a spiritual nature ; nor 
can they enforce outward religious homage, 
because all such hom.age is either a man's own 
choice, and then it is not compelled, or it is 
repugnant to it, and then it cannot be religious. 

The laws of England, indeed, do not peremp- 
torily inhibit a man from worshipping God, 
according to the dictates of his own conscience, 
nor positively constrain him to violate it, by 
conforming to the religion of the state : But 
they punish him for doing the former, or what 
amounts to the same thing, for omitting the 
latter, and consequently punish him for his reli- 
gion. For what are the civil disqualifications 
and the privation of certain privileges he there- 



200 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



by incurs, but so many punishments ? And 
wlnat else is the punishment for not embracing 
the religion of others, but the punishment for 
practising one's own ? With how little pro- 
priety a nation can boast of its freedom under 
such restraints on religious liberty, requires no 
great sagacity to determine. They affect, 'tis 
true, to abhor the imputation of tolerance, and 
applaud themselves for their pretended tolera- 
tion and lenity. As contra-distinguished, in- 
deed, from actual prohibition, a permission 
may doubtless be called a toleration ; for as a 
man is permitted to enjoy his religion under 
whatever penalties or forfeitures, he is certainly 
tolerated to enjoy it. But as far as he pays 
for such enjoyment, by suffering those penalties 
and forfeitures, he as certainly does not enjoy 
it freely. On the contrary, he is persecuted in 
the proportion that his privilege is so regulated 
and qualified. I call it persecution, because it 
is harassing mankind for their principles ; and 
I deny that such punishments derive any sanc- 
tion from law, because the co/isa'enccs of men 
are not the objects of hionan legislation. And 
to trace this stupendous insult on the dignity 
of reason to any other source than the one 
from which I induced it in the preceding essay, 
I mean the abominable combination of king- 
craft and priest-craft, (in everlasting indissolu- 
ble league to extirpate liberty, and erect on its 
ruins boundless and universal despotism,) 
would I believe puzzle the -most assiduous 
enquirer. For what business, in the name of 
common sense, has the magistrate (distinctly 
and singly appointed for our political and tem- 
poral happiness) with our religion, which is to 
secure our happiness spiritual and eternal.' 
And indeed among all the absurdities charge- 
able upon human nature, it never yet entered 
into the thoughts of any one to confer such 
authority upon another. The institution of 
civil society I have pointed out as originat- 
ing from the unbridled rapaciousness of indi- 
viduals, and as a necessary curb to prevent 
that violence and other inconveniences to which 
men in a state of nature were exposed. But 
whoever fancied it a violence offered to himself, 
that another should enjoy his own opinion ? 
Or who, in a state of nature, ever deemed it 
an inconvenience that every man should choose 
his own religion ? Did the free denizens of 
the world, before the monstrous birth of 
priest-craft, aiding by and aided by the secu- 
lar arm, ever worry one another for not prac- 
tising ridiculous rites, or for disbelieving things 
incredible } Did men in their aboriginal con- 
dition ever suffer persecution for conscience 
sake.' The most frantic enthusiast will not 



pretend it. Why then should the members of 
society be supposed, on their entering into it, 
to have had in contemplation the reforming an 
abuse which never existed.' Or why are they 
pretended to have invested the magistrate with 
authority to sway and direct their religious 
sentiment .' In reality, such delegation of 
power, had it ever been made, would be a 
mere nullity, and the compact by which it was 
ceded, altogether nugator)', the rights of con- 
science being immutably personal and absolutely 
inalienable, nor can the state or community as 
such have any concern in the matter. For in 
what manner doth it affect society, which is 
evidently and solely instituted to prevent per- 
sonal assault, the violation of property and the 
defamation of character; and hath not (these 
remaining inviolate) any interest in the actions 
of men — how doth it, I say, affect society what 
principles we entertain in our own minds, or 
in what outward form we think it best to pay 
our adoration to God? But to set the absurd- 
ity of the magistrate's authority to interfere in 
matters of religion, in the strongest light, I 
would fain know what religion it is that he has 
authority to establish ? Has he a right to 
establish only the true religion, or is any reli- 
gion true because he does not establish it .' If 
the former, his trouble is as vain as it is arro- 
gant, because the true religion being not of 
this world, wants not the princes of this world 
to support it ; but has in fact either languished 
or been adult crated wherever they meddledwith 
it. If the supreme magistrate, as such, has 
authority to establish any religion he thinks to 
be true, and the religion so established is 
therefore right and ought to be embraced, it 
follows, since all supreme magistrates have the 
same authority, that all established religions 
are equally right, and ought to be embraced. 
The emperor of China, therefore, having, as 
supreme magistrate in his empire, the same 
right to establish the precepts of Confucius, and 
the Sultan in his, the imposture of Mahomet, 
as hath the king of Great Britain the doctrine 
of Christ in his dominion, it results from these 
principles, that the religions of Confucius and 
Mahomet are equally true with the doctrine of 
our blessed Saviour and his Apostles, and equally 
obligatory upon the respective subjects of China 
and Turkey, as Christianity is on those within 
the British realm ; a position which, I presume, 
the most zealous advocate for ecclesiastical 
domination would think it blasphemy to avow. 
The English ecclesiastical government, 
therefore, is, and all the RELIGIOUS ESTAB- 
LISHMENTS IN THE ViO'S.'LVi are manifest viola- 
tions of the right of private judgment in mat- 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



20 1 



/CIS of religion. They are impudent outrages 
on common sense, in arrogating apowerofcon- 
troling the devotional operations of the mind 
and external acts of divine homage not cogniz- 
able by any human tribunal, and for which we 
are accountable only to the Great Searcher of 
hearts, whose prerogative it is to judge them. 

In contrast with this spiritual tyranny, how 
beautiful appears our Catholic constitution in 
disclaiming all jurisdiclion over the souls of 
men, and securing, by a law never to be re- 



pealed, the voluntary, unchecked moral suasion 
of every individual, and his own self-directed 
intercourse with the father of spirits, either by 
devout retirement or public worship of his own 
election ! How amiable the plan of entrench- 
ing, with the sanction of an ordinance, immut- 
able and irrevocable, the sacred rights of con- 
science, and renouncing all discrimination be- 
tween men on account of their sentiments about 
the various modes of church government, or 
the different articles of their faith ! " 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



ACTION 

Of the citizens of Philadelphia, in 
opposition to the importation of 
Tea. 

Philadelphia, January 3, 1774. 

The unanimity, spirit and zeal which have 
heretofore animated all the colonies, from Bos- 
ton to South Carolina, have been so eminently 
displayed in the opposition to the pernicious 
project of the East India company, in sending 
tea to America, while it remains subject to a 
duty, and the Americans at the same time con- 
fined by the strongest prohibitory laws to 
import it only from Great Britain, that a par- 
ticular account of the transactions of this city 
cannot but be acceptable to all our readers, 
and every other friend of American liberty. 

Upon the first advice of this measure, a 
general dissatisfaction was expressed, that, at 
a time when we were struggling with this 
oppressive act, and an agreement not to import 
tea while subject to the duty, our fellow sub- 
jects in England should form a measure so 
directly tending to enforce that act, and again 
embroil us with our parent state. When it 
was also considered, that the proposed mode 
of disposing of the tea, tended to a mono- 
poly, ever odious in a free country, a universal 
disapprobation shewed itself throughout the 
city. A public meeting of the inhabitants was 
held at the state house on the i8th October, 
at which great numbers attended, and the 
sense of the city was expressed in the fol- 
lowing resolves — 

1. That the disposal of their own property is 
the inherent rights of freemen ; that there can 
be no property in that which another can, of 
right, take from us without our consent ; that 



the claim of parliament to tax America is, in 
other words, a claim of right to levy contribu- 
tions on us at pleasure. 

2. That the duty imposed by parliament upon 
tea landed in America, is a tax on the .'^.meri- 
cans, or levying contributions on them without 
their consent. 

3. That the express purpose for which the 
tax is levied on the Americans, namely, for the 
support of government, administration of jus- 
tice, and defence of his majesty's dominions in 
America, has a direct tendency to render 
assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary 
government and slavery. 

4. That a virtuous and steady opposition to 
this ministerial plan of governing America, is 
absolutely necessary to preserve even the sha- 
dow of liberty, and is a duty which every free- 
man in America owes to his country, to himself 
and to his posterity. 

5. That the resolution lately entered into by 
the East India company to send out their tea 
to America, subject to the payment of duties 
on its being landed here, is an open attempt to 
enforce this ministerial plan, and a violent 
attack upon the liberties of America. 

6. That it is the duty of every American to 
oppose this attempt. 

7. That whoever shall, directly or indirectly, 
countenance this attempt, or in any wise aid or 
abet in unloading, receiving or vending the 
tea sent, or to be sent out by the East India 
company, while it remains subject to the pay- 
ment of duty here, is an enemy to his country. 

8. That a committee be immediately chosen 
to wait on those gentlemen who, it is reported, 
are appointed by the East India company to 
receive and sell the said tea, and request them 
from a regard to their own character, and the 



202 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



peace and good order of the city and province, 
immediately to resign their appointment. 

In consequence of this appointment, the 
committee waited upon the gentlemen in this 
city, who had been appointed consignees of 
the expected cargo. They represented to them 
the detestation and abhorrence in which this 
measure was held by their fellow-citizens, the 
danger and difficulties which must attend the 
execution of so odious a trust, and expressed 
the united desires of the city, that they would 
renounce the commission, and engage not to 
intermeddle with the ship or cargo in any 
shape whatever. Some of the commissioners 
resigned, in a manner that gave general satis- 
faction, others in such equivocal terms as 
required further explanation. However in a 
few days the resignation was complete. In 
this situation things remained for a few days. 
In the meantime, the general spirit and indig- 
nation rose to such a height, that it was thought 
proper to call another general meeting of the 
principal citizens to consider and resolve upon 
such farther steps as might give weight, and 
insure success to the unanimous opposition 
now formed. Accordingly a meeting was held, 
for the above purpose, at which a great num- 
ber of respectable inhabitants attended, and it 
appeared to be the unanimous opinion that the 
entry of the ship at the custom-house, or the 
landing any part of her cargo, would be at- 
tended with great danger and difficulty, and 
would directly tend to destroy that peace and 
good order which ought to be preserved. An 
addition of twelve other gentlemen was then 
made to the former committee, and the gen- 
eral meeting adjourned till the arrival of the 
tea ship. Information being given of that, the 
price of tea was suddenly advanced, though it 
was owing to a general scarcity of that article ; 
yet all the possessors of tea, in order to give 
strength to the opposition, readily agreed to 
reduce the price, and sell what remained in 
their hands at a reasonable rate. Nothing now 
remained, but to keep up a proper correspon- 
dence and connection with the other colonies, 
and to take all prudent and proper precautions 
on the arrival of the tea ship. 

It is not easy to describe the anxiety and 
suspense of the city in this interval. Sundr)' 
reports of her arrival were received, which 
proved premature. — But on Saturday evening 
the 25th ult. an express came up from Chester, 
to inform the town that the tea ship, com- 
manded by captain Ayres, with her detested 
cargo, was arrived there, having followed 
another ship up the river so far. 

The com.mittee met early the next morning, 



and being apprized of the arrival of Mr. Gilbert 
Barclay, the other consignee, who came passen- 
ger in the ship, they immediately went in a 
body to request his renunciation of the com- 
mission. Mr. Barclay politely attended the 
committee, at the first request ; and being 
made acquainted with the sentiments of the 
city, and the danger to which the public liber- 
ties of America were exposed by this measure, 
he, after expressing the particular hardship of 
his situation, also resigned the commission, in 
a manner which affected every one present. 

The committee then appointed three of their 
members to go to Chester, and two others to 
Gloucester Point, in order to have the earliest 
opportunity of meeting captain Ayres, and 
representing to him the sense of the public, 
respecting his voyage and cargo. The gentle- 
men who had set out for Chester, receiving 
intelligence that the vessel had weighed anchor 
about 12 o'clock, and proceeded to town, 
returned. About 2 o'clock she appeared in 
sight of Gloucester Point, where a number of 
inhabitants from the town had assembled with 
the gentlemen from the committee. As she 
passed along, she was hailed, and the captain 
requested not to proceed further, but to come 
on shore. This the captain complied with, and 
was handed through a lane made by the people, 
to the gentlemen appointed to confer with him. 
They represented to him the general senti- 
ments, together with the danger and difficulties 
that would attend his refusal to comply with 
the wishes of the inhabitants ; and finally 
desired him to proceed with them to town, 
where he would be more fully informed of the 
temper and resolution of the people. He was 
accordingly accompanied to town by a number 
of persons, where he was soon convinced of the 
truth and propriety of the representations 
which had been made to him — and agreed 
that, upon the desire of the inhabitants being 
publicly expressed, he would conduct himself 
accordingly. Some small rudeness being 
offered to the captain afterwards in the street, 
by some boys, several gentlemen interposed, 
and suppressed it before he received the least 
injury. Upon an hour's notice on Monday 
morning, a public meeting was called, and the 
state-house not being sufficient to hold the 
numbers assembled, they adjourned into the 
square. This meeting is allowed by all to be 
the most respectable, both in the numbers and 
rank of those who attended it, that has been 
known in this city. After a short introduction, 
the following resolutions were not only agreed 
to, but the public approbation testified in the 
warmest manner : 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



203 



1. Resolved, That the tea, on board the ship 
Polly, captain Ayres, shall not be landed. 

2. That captain Ayres shall neither enter nor 
report his vessel at the custom-house. 

3. That captain Ayres shall carry back the 
tea immediately. 

4. That captain Ayres shall immediately 
send a pilot on board his vessel, with orders to 
take charge of her, and proceed to Reedy 
island next high water. 

5. That the captain shall be allowed to stay 
in town till to-morrow, to provide necessaries 
for his voyage. 

6. That he shall then be obliged to leave the 
town and proceed to his vessel, and make the 
best of his way out of our river and bay. 

7. That a committee of four gentlemen be 
appointed to see these resolves carried into 
execution. 

The assembly were then informed of the 
spirit and resolution of New York, Charleston, 
South Carolina, and the conduct of the people 
of Boston, whereupon it was unanimously 
resolved : 

That this assembly highly approve of the 
conduct and spirit of the people of New York, 
Charleston, and Boston, and return their hearty 
thanks to the people of Boston for their resolu- 
tion in destroying the tea, rather than suffering 
it to be landed. 

The whole business was conducted with a 
decorum and order worthy the importance of 
the cause. Captain Ayres being present at 
this meeting, solemnly and publicly engaged, 
that he would literally comply with the sense 
of the city, as expressed in the above resolu- 
tions. 

A proper supply of necessaries and fresh 
provisions being then procured, in about two 
hours the tea ship weighed anchor from Glou- 
cester Point, where she lay within sight of the 
town, and has proceeded, with her whole cargo, 
on her return to the East India company. 

The public think the conduct of those gentle- 
men, whose goods are returned on board the 
tea ship, ought not to pass unnoticed, as they 
have, upon this occasion, generously sacrificed 
their private interest to the public good. 

Thus this important affair, in which there 
has been so glorious an exertion of public virtue 
and spirit, has been brought to a happy issue ; 
by which the force of a law so obstinately per- 
sisted in, to the prejudice of the national com- 
merce, for the sake of the principle on which it 
is founded, (a right of taxing the Americans 
without their consent) has been effectually 
broken — and the foundations of American 
liberty more deeply laid than ever. 



PROCEEDINGS 

Of Freeholders and freemen of the 
city and county of philadelphia, 
HELD ON Saturday June i8th, 1774, on 
THE Boston Port-bill. 

Philadelphia, Saturday, June i8, 1774. 

I. Resolved, That the act of parliament, for 
shutting up the port of Boston, is unconstitu- 
tional ; oppressive to the inhabitants of that 
town ; dangerous to the liberties of the British 
colonies ; and that therefore, we consider our 
brethren, at Boston, as suffering in the com- 
mon cause of America. 

II. That a congress of deputies from the 
several colonies, in North America, is the most 
probable and proper mode of procuring relief 
for our suffering brethren, obtaining redress of 
American grievances, securing our rights and 
liberties, and re-establishing peace and har- 
mony between Great Britain and these colonies 
on a constitutional foundation. 

III. That a large and respectable committee 
be immediately appointed for the city and 
county of Philadelphia, to correspond with their 
sister colonies and with the several counties in 
this province, in order that all may unite in 
promoting and endeavoring to attain the great 
and valuable ends, mentioned in the foregoing 
resolution. 

IV. That the committee nominated by this 
meeting shall consult together, and on mature 
deliberation determine, what is the most proper 
mode of collecting the sense of this province, 
and appointing deputies for the same, to attend 
a general congress: and having determined 
thereupon, shall take such measures, as by 
them shall be judged most expedient, for pro- 
curing this province to be represented at the 
said congress, in the best manner that can be 
devised for promoting the public welfare. 

V. That the commitee be instructed immedi- 
ately to set on foot a subscription for the 
relief of such poor inhabitants of the town of 
Boston, as may be deprived of the means ot 
subsistence by the operation of the act ot par- 
liament, commonly styled \.\ie Boslon port-bill. 
The money arising from such subscription to 
be laid out as the committee shall think will 
best answer the ends proposed. 

VI. That the committee consist of forty- 
three persons, viz. John Dickinson, Edward 
Pennington, John Nixon, Thomas Willing, 
George Clymer, Samuel Howell, Joseph Reade, 
John Roberts, (miller) Thomas Wharton, jun. 
Charles Thomson, Jacob Barge, Thomas Bar- 
clay, William Rush, Robert Smith, (carpenter,) 



204 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Thomas Fitzimons, George Roberts, Samuel 
Ervin, Thomas Mifflin, John Cox, George Gray, 
Robert Morris, Samuel Miles, John M. Nesbit, 
Peter Chevalier, William Moulder, Joseph 
Moulder, Anthony Morris, jun. John Allen, 
Jeremiah Warder, jun. rev. D. William Smith, 
Paul Engle, Thomas Penrose, James Mease, 
Benjamin Marshall, Reuben Haines, John Bay- 
ard, Jonathan B. Smith, Thomas Wharton, 
Isaac Howell, Michael Hillegas, Adam Hub- 
ley, George Schlosser, and Christopher Lud- 
wick. 

Thomas Willing, yohn Dickinson, esquires, 
chairmen. 



AN ADDRESS 
To THE Assembly by the People, 1774. 

Philadelphia, July 33, 1774. 
The committee chosen by the seiicral counties in 
Pennsylvania, having brought in a draught 
of instructions, the same were debated and 
amended, and being agreed to, were ordered 
to be signed by the chairman. The commit- 
tee in a body then waited on the assembly, 
and presented the same. 

Gentlemen — The dissensions between 
Great Britain and her colonies on this contin- 
ent, commencing about ten years ago, since 
continually increasing, and at length grown to 
such an excess as to involve the latter in deep 
distress and danger, have excited the good 
people of this province to take into their serious 
consideration, the present situation of public 
affairs. 

The inhabitants of the several counties quali- 
fied to vote at elections, being assembled on 
due notice, have appointed us their deputies ; 
and in consequence thereof, we being in pro- 
vincial committee met, esteem it our indispen- 
sable duty, in pursuance of the trust reposed in 
us, to give you such instructions as, at this im- 
portant period, appear to us to be proper. 

We, speaking in their names and our own, 
acknowledge ourselves liege subjects of his 
majesty king George the third, to whom " we 
will be faithful and bear true allegiance." 

Our judgments and affections attach us, with 
inviolable loyalty, to his majesty's person, 
family and government. 

We acknowledge the prerogatives of the so- 
vereign, among which are included the great 
powers of making peace and war, treaties, 
leagues and alliances binding us — of appoint- 



ing all officers, except in cases where other 
provision is made, by grants from the crown, 
or laws approved by the crown— of confirming 
or annulling every act of our assembly within 
the allowed time— and of hearing and deter- 
mining finally, in council, appeals from our 
courts of justice. " The prerogatives are lim- 
ited," * as a learned judge observes, '' by 
bounds so certain and notorious, that it is im- 
possible to exceed them, without the consent 
of the people on the one hand, or without, on 
the other, a violation of that original contract, 
which, in all states impliedly, and in ours most 
expressly, subsists between the prince and sub- 
ject: — For these prerogatives are vested in the 
crown for the support of society, and do not 
intrench any further on our natural liberties, 
than is expedient for the maintenance of our 
civil." 

But it is our misfortune, that we are com- 
pelled loudly to call your attention to the con- 
sideration of another power, totally different in 
kind, limited as it is alleged, by no " bounds," 
andt " wearing a most dreadful aspect " with 
regard to America. We mean the power 
claimed by parliament, of right, to bind the 
people of these colonies by statutes, " in ALL 
cases whatsoever." — A power, as we are 
not, and, from local circumstances, can not be 
represented there, utterly subversive of our 
natural and civil liberties — past events and 
reasons convincing us, that there never existed, 
and never can exist, a state thus subordinate to 
another, and yet retaining the slightest portion 
of freedom or happiness. 

The import of the words above quoted needs 
no descant ; for the wit of man, as we appre- 
hend, cannot possibly form a more clear, con- 
cise, and comprehensive definition and sentence 
of slavery, than these expressions contain. 

This power, claimed by Great Britain, and 
the late attempts to exercise it over these colo- 
nies, present to our view two events, one of 
which must inroitably take place, if she shall 
continue to insist on her pretensions. Either, 
the colonists will sink from the rank of free- 
men into the class of slaves, overwhelmed with 
all the miseries and vices, proved by the history 
of mankind to be inseparably annexed to that 
deplorable condition — or, if they have sense 
and virtue enough to exert themselves in striv- 
ing to avoid this perdition, they must be in- 
volved in an opposition, dreadful even in con- 
templation. 

Honor, justice, and humanity call upon us 
to hold, and to transmit to our posterity, that 
liberty which we received from our ancestors. 
* Blackstone, 237. + Ibid., 270. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



205 



It is not our duty to leave wealth to our chil- 
dren ; but it is our duty to leave liberty to 
them. No infamy, iniquity, or cruelty, can 
exceed our own, if we, born and educated in a 
country of freedom, entitled to its blessings, 
and knowing their value, pusillanimously de- 
serting the post assigned us by Divine Provi- 
dence, surrender succeeding generations to a 
condition of wretchedness, from which no hu- 
man efforts, in all probability, will be sufficient 
to extricate them ; the experience of all states 
mournfully demonstrating to us, that when 
arbitrary power has been established over 
them, even the wisest and bravest nations, 
that ever flourished, have, in a few years, de- 
generated into abject and wretched vassals. 

So alarming are the measures already taken 
for lading the foundation of a despotic author- 
ity of Great Britain over us, and with such art- 
ful and incessant vigilance is the plan prosecu- 
ted, that unless the present generation can in- 
terrupt the work, -while it is going foriuard, 
can it be imagined, that our children, debilita- 
ted by our impnjdence and supineness, will be 
able to overthrow it luhcn completed? populous 
and powerful as these colonies may grow, they 
will still find arbitrary domination not only 
strengthening with their strength, but exceed- 
ing, in the swiftness of its progression, as it 
ever has done, all the artless advantages that 
can accrue to the governed. These advance 
with a regularity, which the Divine Author of 
our existence has impressed on the laudable 
pursuits of his creatures : but despotism, un- 
checked and unbounded by any laws — never 
satisfied with what has been done, while any 
thing remains to be done, for the accomplish- 
ment of its purposes — confiding, and capable 
of confiding only, in the annihilation of all op- 
position—holds its course with such unabating 
and destructive rapidity, that the world has 
become its prey, and at this day. Great Britain 
and her dominions excepted, there is scarce a 
spot on the globe inhabited by civilized nations, 
where the vestiges of freedom are to be obsen-ed. 

To us, therefore, it appears, at this alarming 
period, our duty to God, to our country, to our- 
selves, and to our posterity, to exert our utmost 
abilities, in promoting and establishing har- 
mony between Great Britain and these colo- 
nies, ON .K CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATION. 

For attaining this great and desirable end, 
we request you as soon as you meet, to ap- 
point a proper number of persons to attend a 
congress of deputies from the several colonies, 
appointed, or to be appointed, by the represen- 
tatives of the people of the colonies respectively, 
in assembly or convention, or by delegates 



chosen by the counties generally in the respec- 
tive colonies, and met in provincial committee, 
at such time and place as shall be generally 
agreed on : and that the deputies from this 
province may be induced and encouraged to 
concur in such measures, as may be devised 
for the common welfare, we think it proper, 
particularly to inform you how far, we appre- 
hend, they will be supported in their conduct 
by their constituents. 

The assumed parliamentar)' power of inter- 
nal legislation, and the power of regulating 
trade, as of late exercised, and designed to be 
exercised, we are thoroughly convinced, will 
prove unfailing and plentiful sources of dissen- 
sions to our mother country and these colonies, 
unless some expedients can be adopted to 
render her secure of receiving from us every 
emolument that can, in justice and reason, be 
expected, and as secure in our lives, liberties, 
properties, and an equitable share of commerce. 

Mournfully revolving in our minds the calam- 
ities that, arising from these dissensions, will 
most probably fall on us or our children, we 
will now lay before you the particular points we 
request of you to procure, if possible, to be 
finally decided ; and the measures that appear 
to us most likely to produce such a desirable 
period of our distresses and dangers. We 
therefore desire of you — • 

First. That the deputies you appoint may 
be instructed by you strenuously to exert 
themselves at the ensuing congress, to obtain a 
renunciation, on the part of Great Britain, of 
all powers under the statute of the 35th of 
Henry the eighth, chapter the 2d — of all powers 
of internal legislation — of imposing taxes or 
duties, internal or external — and of regulating 
trade, except with respect to any new articles 
of commerce, which the colonies may hereafter 
raise, as silk, wine, etc., reserving a right to 
carr)' these from one colony to another — a re- 
peal of all statutes for quartering troops in the 
colonies, or subjecting them to any expense on 
account of such troops — of all statutes imposing 
duties to be paid in the colonies, that were 
passed at the accession of his present majesty 
or before this time : which ever period shall 
be judged most advisable — of the statutes 
giving the courts of admiralty in the colonies 
greater power than courts of admiralty have in 
England — of the statutes of the 5th of George 
the second, chapter the 22d, and of the 23d, of 
George the second, chapter the 29lh^of the 
statute for shutting up the port of Boston — and 
of every other statute particularly Affecting the 
province of Massachusetts-Bay, passed in the 
last session of parliament. 



206 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



In case of obtaining these terms, it is our 
opinion, that it will be reasonable for the colo- 
nies to engage their obedience to the acts of 
parliament, commonly called the acts of navi- 
gation, and to every other act of parliament 
declared to have force, at this time, in these 
colonies, other than those above mentioned, 
and to confirm such statutes by acts of the 
several assemblies. It is also our opinion, that, 
taking example from our mother country, in 
abolishing the " courts of wards and liveries, 
tenures in capite, and by knights service and 
purveyance," it will be reasonable for the colo- 
nies, in case of obtaining the terms before 
mentioned, to settle a certain annual revenue 
on his majesty, his heirs and successors, sub- 
ject to the control of parliament, and to sat- 
isfy all damages done to the East-India com- 
pany. 

This our idea of settling a revenue, arises 
from a sense of duty to our sovereign and es- 
teem for our mother country. We know and 
have felt the benefits of subordinate connection 
with her. We neither are so stupid as to be 
ignorant of them, nor so unjust as to deny 
them. We have also experienced the pleasures 
of gratitude and love, as well as advantages 
from that connection. The impressions are 
not yet erased. We consider her circumstan- 
ces with tender concern. We have not been 
wanting, when constitutionally called upon, to 
assist her to the utmost of our abilities ; inso- 
much that she has judged it reasonable to 
make us recompenses for our overstrained 
exertions : and we now think we ought to con- 
tribute more than we do, to the alleviation of 
her burthens. 

Whatever may be said of these proposals on 
either side of the Atlantic, this is not a time, 
either for timidity or rashness. We perfectly 
know that, the great cause now agitated, is to 
be conducted to a happy conclusion, only by 
that well tempered composition of councils, 
with firmness, prudence, loyalty to our sover- 
eign, respect to our parent state, and affection 
to our native country, united, must form. 

By such a compact. Great Britain will secure 
every benefit, that the parliamentary wisdom 
of ages has thought proper to attach to her. 
From her alone we shall still continue to re- 
ceive manufactures. To her alone we shall 
continue to carry the vast nndtitude of enu- 
merated articles oi commerce, the exportation 
of which her policy has thought fit to confine to 
herself. With such parts of the world only, 
as she has appointed us to deal, we shall con- 
tinue to deal, and such commodities only, as 
she has permitted us to bring from them, we 



shall continue to bring. The executive and 
co7itroling power of the crown will retain their 
present full force and operation. We shall 
contentedly labor for her as affectionate/r/(?«^j, 
in time of tranquility : and cheerfully spend for 
her, as dutiful children, our treasure and our 
blood, in time of war. She will receive a cer- 
tain income from us, without the trouble or 
expense of collecting it — without being con- 
stantly disturbed by complaints of grievances 
which she cannot justify and will not redress. 
In case of war, or in any emergency of distress 
to her, we shall also be ready and willing to 
contribute all aids within our power : and we 
solemnly declare, that on such occasions, if we 
or our posterity shall refuse, neglect or decline 
thus to contribute, it will be a mean and mani- 
fest violation of a plain duty, and a weak and 
wicked desertion of the true interests of this 
province, which ever have been and must be 
bound up in the prosperity of our mother coun- 
try. Our union, founded on mutual compacts 
and mutual benefits, will be indissoluble, at 
least more firm, than an union perpetually dis- 
turbed by disputed right and retorted injuries. 

Secondly. If all the terms above mentioned 
cannot be obtained, it is our opinion, that the 
measures adopted by the congress for our 
relief should never be relinquished or inter- 
mitted, until those relating to the troops — 
internal legislation — imposition of taxes or 
duties hereafter — the 35th of Henry the 8th, 
chapter the 2d — the extension of admiralty 
courts, — the ports of Boston, and the provmce 
of Massachusetts Bay, are obtained. — Every 
modification or qualification of these points, in 
our judgment, shall be inadmissible. To obtain 
them, we think it may be prudent to settle a 
revenue as above mentioned, and to satisfy the 
East India company. 

Thirdly. If neither of these plans should be 
agreed to, in congress, but some other of a 
similar nature shall be framed, though on the 
terms of a revenue and satisfaction to the East 
India company, and though it shall be agreed 
by the congress to admit no modification or 
qualification in the terms they shall insist on, 
we desire your deputies may be instructed to 
concur with the other deputies in it ; and we 
will accede to, and carry it into execution as far 
as we can. 

Fourthly. As to the regulation of trade — we 
are of opinion, that by making some few amend- 
ments, the commerce of the colonies might be 
settled on a firm establishment, advantageous 
to Great Britain and them, requiring and sub- 
ject to no future alterations, without mutual 
consent. We desire to have this point con- 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



207 



sidered by the congress ; and such measures 
taken, as they may judge proper. 

In order to obtain redress of our common 
grievances, we observe a general inclination 
among the colonies of entering into agreements 
of non-importation and non-exportation. We 
are fully convinced, that such agreements would 
withhold very large supplies from Great Britain, 
and no words can describe our contempt and 
abhorrence of those colonies, if any such there 
are, who, from a sordid and ill-judged attach- 
ment to their own immediate profit, would 
pursue that, to the injury of their country, in 
this great struggle for all the blessings of 
liberty. It would appear to us a most wasteful 
frugality, that would lose every important 
possession by too strict an attention to small 
things, and lose also even these at the last. 
For our part, we will cheerfully make any 
sacrifice, when necessary, to preser\'e the free- 
dom of our country. But other considerations 
have weight with us. We wish every mark of 
respect to be paid to his majesty's administra- 
tion. We have been taught from our youth to 
entertain tender and brotherly affections for our 
fellow subjects at home. The interruption of 
our commerce must distress great numbers of 
them. This we earnestly desire to avoid. We 
therefore request, that the deputies you shall 
appoint may be instructed to exert themselves, 
at the congress, to induce the members of it to 
consent to make a full and precise statement 
of grievances, and a decent yet firm claim of 
redress, and to wait the event before any other 
step is taken. It is our opinion, that persons 
should be appointed and sent home to present this 
state and claim, at the court of Great Britain. 

If the congress shall choose to form agree- 
ments of non-importation and non-exportation 
immediately, we desire the deputies from this 
province will endeavor to have them so formed 
as to be binding upon all, and that they may 
be PERMANENT, should the public interest 
require it. They cannot be efficacious, unless 
they can be permanent, and it appears to us, 
that there will be a danger of their being 
infringed, if they are not formed with great 
caution and deliberation. We have determined 
in the present situation of public affairs to con- 
sent to a stoppage of our commerce with 
Great Britain only ; but in case any proceed- 
ings of parliament, of which notice shall be 
received on this continent, before or at the 
congress, shall render it necessary, in the 
opinion of the congress, to further steps, the 
inhabitants of this province will adopt such 
steps, and do all in their power to carry them 
into execution. 



This extensive power we commit to the con- 
gress, for the sake of preserving that unanimity 
of counsel and conduct, that alone can work 
out the salvation of these colonies, with a 
strong hope and trust, that they will not draw 
this province into any measure judged by us, 
who must be better acquainted with its state 
than strangers, highly inexpedient. Of this 
kind, we know any other stoppage of trade, but 
of that with Great Britain, will be. Even this 
step we should be extremely afflicted to see 
taken by the congress, before the other mode 
above pointed out is tried. But should it be 
taken, we apprehend that a plan of restrictions 
may be so framed, agreeably to the respective 
circumstances of the several colonies, as to 
render Great Britain sensible of the imprudence 
of her counsels, and yet leave them a necessary 
commerce. And here it may not be improper 
to take notice, that if redress of our grievances 
cannot be wholly obtained, the extent or con- 
tinuance of our restrictions may, in some sort, 
be proportioned to the rights we are contend- 
ing for, and the degree of relief afforded us. 
This mode will render our opposilion 2& per- 
petual as our oppression, and will be A con- 
tinual CLAIM and assertion OF OUR 
RIGHTS. We cannot express the anxiety, with 
which we wish the consideration of these 
points to be recommended to you. We are 
persuaded, that if these colonies fail of unani- 
mity, or prudence in forming their resolutions, 
or of fidelity in observing them, the opposition 
by non-importation and non-exportation agree- 
ments will be ineffectual ; and then we shall 
have only the alternative of a more dangerous 
contention, or of a tame submission. 

Upon the whole, we shall repose the highest 
confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the 
ensuing congress : and though we have, for the 
satisfaction of the good people of this province, 
who have chosen us for this express purpose, 
offered you such instructions, as have appeared 
expedient to us, yet it is not our meaning, that 
by these or by any you may think proper to 
give them, the deputies appointed by you should 
be restrained from agreeing to any measure 
that shall be approved by a majority of the 
deputies in congress. We should be glad the 
deputies chosen by you could, by their influ- 
ence, procure our opinions hereby communi- 
cated to you, to be as nearly adhered to, as may 
be possible : but to avoid difficulties, we desire 
that they may be instructed by you, to agree to 
any measure that shall be approved by the 
congress, in the manner before mentioned ; the 
inhabitants of this province having resolved to 
adopt and carry them into execution. Lastly — 



208 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



we desire the deputies from this province, may 
endeavor to procure an adjournment of the 
congress, to such a day as they shall judge 
proper, and the appointment of a standing com- 
mittee. 

Agreed, that John Dickinson, Joseph Reade, 
and Charles Thomson, be a committee to write 
to the neighboring colonies, and communicate 
to them these resolves and instructions. 

Agreed, that the committee for the city and 
county of Philadelphia, or any fifteen of them, 
be a committee of correspondence for the gen- 
eral committee of this province. 
Extract from the minutes, 

Charles Thomson, Secretary. 



ACTION 

Taken by citizens of Philadelphia to 
establish manufactories of woolen, 
cotton, and linen. 

Philadelphia, March 27, 1775. 

A speech delivered in Carpenter's hall, 
March \i>th, before the subscribers towards 
a fund for establishing manufactories of 
woolen, cotton and linen, in the city of Phil- 
adelphia. — Published at the request of the 
company. 

Gentlemen — When I reflect upon the ex- 
tent of the subject before me, and consider the 
small share of knowledge I possess of it, I con- 
fess I rise with timidity to speak in this assem- 
bly ; and it is only because the requests of 
fellow-citizens in every laudable undertaking 
should always operate with the force of com- 
mands, that I have prevailed upon myself to 
execute the task you have assigned me. 

My business, upon this occasion, is to lay 
before you a few thoughts upon the NECES- 
SITY, possibility and advantages of es- 
tablishing woolen, cotton, and linen manufac- 
tories among us. 

The necessity of establishing these manu- 
factories is obvious from the association of the 
congress, which puts a stop to the importation 
of British goods, of which woolens, cottons, 
and linens, always made a considerable part. 
So large has been the demand for these articles, 
and so very necessary are they in this country, 
that it is impossible for us to clothe ourselves 
without substituting some others in their room. 
I am far from thinking that the non-importa- 
tion agreement will be so transitory a thing, as 
some have supposed. The appearance of a 
change of measures in England respecting the 



colonies, does not flow from a conviction of 
their injustice. The same arbitrary ministers 
continue in office, and the same arbitrary favo- 
rites continue to abuse the confidence of our 
sovereign. Sudden conversion should be 
trusted with caution, especially, when they 
have been brought about by interest or fear. I 
shall think the liberties of America estabHshed 
at an easy price by a two or three years' non- 
importation agreement. By union and perse- 
verance in this mode of opposition to Great 
Britain, we shall afford a new phenomenon in 
the history of mankind, and furnish posterity 
with an example to teach them that peace, 
with all the rights of humanity and justice, may 
be maintained by the exertion of economical, 
as well as military virtues. We shall more- 
over, demonstrate the falsehood of those sys- 
tems of government, which exclude patriotism 
from the list of virtues ; and show, that we act 
most surely for ourselves, when we act most 
disinterestedly for the public. 

The possibility of establishing woolen, 
cotton and linen manufactories among us is 
plain, from the success which hath attended 
several attempts that have been made for that 
purpose. A great part of the inhabitants of 
several of the counties in this province, clothe 
themselves entirely with woolens and linens 
manufactured in their own families. Our wool 
is equal in quality to the wool of several Euro- 
pean countries, and if the same pains were 
bestowed in the culture of our sheep, which 
are used in England and Spain, I have no 
doubt but in a few years our wool would equal 
the wool of Segovia itself Nor will there be a 
deficiency in the quantity of wool which will be 
necessary for us, if we continue to adhere to 
the association of the congress, as strictly as 
we have done. If the city of Philadelphia con- 
sumes 20,000 sheep less this year, than it did 
last, how many 20,000 sheep may we suppose 
will be saved throughout the whole province. 
According to the ordinary increase in the breed 
of sheep, and allowing for the additional quan- 
tity of wool, which a little care of them will 
produce, I think I could make it appear that 
in five years there will be wool enough raised 
in the province to clothe the whole of its inhab- 
itants. Cotton may be imported upon such 
terms from the West Indies and southern colo- 
nies, as to enable us to manufacture thicksets, 
calicoes, etc., at a much cheaper rate than 
they can be imported from Britain. Considering 
how much these stuffs are worn by those classes 
of people who constitute the majority of the 
inhabitants of our country, the encouragement 
of the cotton manufactory appears to be an 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



209 



object of the utmost consequence. I cannot 
help suggesting in this place, although it may 
appear foreign to our subject, that the trade to 
the West Indies and southern colonies for 
cotton, would create such a commercial union, 
with the middle and northern colonies, as 
would tend greatly to strengthen that political 
union which now subsists between them. I 
need say nothing of the facility of cultivating 
fla.\, nor of the excellent quality of the linens 
which have been already manufactured among 
us. I shall only add, that this manufacture 
may be carried on without lessening the value 
of the trade which arises from the exportation 
of our flax-seed to Ireland. 

I cannot help laying a good deal of stress 
upon the public spirit of my countrymen, which 
removes the success of these manufactories 
beyond a bare possibility, and seems to render 
it in some measure certain. The resolves of 
the congress have been executed with a fidelity 
hardly known to laws in any country, and that 
too without the assistance of fire and sword, 
or even of the civil magistrate, and in some 
places, in direct opposition to them all. It 
gives me the utmost pleasure to mention here, 
that our province is among the foremost of the 
colonies in the peaceable mode of opposition 
recommended by the congress. When I 
reflect upon the temper we have discovered in 
the present controversy, and compare it with 
the habitual spirit of industry and economy for 
which we are celebrated among strangers, I 
know not how to estimate our virtue high 
enough. I am sure no objects will appear too 
difficult, nor no undertakings too expensive for 
us in the present struggle. The sum of money 
which has been already subscribed for the 
purpose of these manufactories, is a proof that 
I am not too sanguine in my expectations from 
this province. 

I come now to point out the advantages 
we shall derive from establishing the woolen, 
cotton and linen manufactories among us. 
The first advantage I shall mention is, we 
shall save a large sum of money annually in 
our province. The province of Pennsylvania 
is supposed to contain 400.000 inhabitants. 
Let us suppose, that only 50,000 of these are 
clothed with the woolens, cottons and linens 
of Great Britain, and that the price of clothing 
each of these persons, upon an average, 
amounts to ^5 sterling a year. If this com- 
putation be just, then the sum annually saved 
in our province by the manufactory of our 
clothes will amount to ^250,000 sterling. 
Secondly, Manufactories, next to agriculture, 
are the basis of the riches of every country. 

14 



Cardinal Ximenes is remembered at this day 
in Spain more for the improvement he made 
in the breed of sheep, by importing a number 
of rams from Barbary, than for any other 
services he rendered his country. King Ed- 
ward the IV. and queen Elizabeth, of Eng- 
land, are mentioned with gratitude by his- 
torians for passing acts of parliament to 
import a number of sheep from Spain ; and 
to this mixture of Spanish with English sheep, 
the wool of the latter owes its peculiar ex- 
cellence and reputation, all over the world. 
Louis the XIV. king of France, knew the 
importance of a woolen manufactory in his 
kingdom, and in order to encourage it, al- 
lowed several exclusive privileges to the com- 
pany of woolen traders in Paris. The effects 
of this royal patronage of this manufactory 
have been too sensibly felt by the English, 
who have, within these thirty or forty years 
had the mortification of seeing the trade up 
the Levant, for woolen cloths, in some mea- 
sure monopolized by the French. It is re- 
markable that the riches, and naval power 
of France have increased in proportion to this 
very lucrative trade. Thirdly, By establishing 
these manufactories among us, we shall em- 
ploy a number of poor people in our city, and 
that too in a way most agreeable to them- 
selves, and least expensive to the company ; 
for, according to our plan, the principal part 
of the business will be carried on in their own 
houses. Travellers through Spain inform us, 
that in the town of Segovia, which contains 
60,000 inhabitants, there is not a single beggar 
to be seen. This is attributed entirely to the 
woolen manufactory which is carried on in the 
most extensive manner in that place, affording 
constant employment to the v/hole of their 
poor people. Fourthly, By establishing the 
woolen, cotton and linen manufactories in 
this country, we shall invite manufacturers 
from every part of Europe, particularly from 
Britain and Ireland, to come and settle among 
us. To men who want money to purchase 
lands, and who. from habits of manufacturing, 
are disinclined to agriculture, the prospect of 
meeting with employment as soon as they 
arrive in this country', in a way they have 
been accustomed to, would lessen the diffi- 
culties of emigration, and encourage thou- 
sands to come and settle in America. If they 
increased our riches by increasing the value 
of our property, and if they added to our 
strength by adding to our numbers only, 
they would be a great acquisition to us. 
But there are higher motives which should 
lead us to invite strangers to settle in this 



2IO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION 



country. Poverty, with its other evils, has 
joined with it in every part of Europe, all 
the miseries of slavery. America is now the 
only asylum for liberty in the whole world. 
The present contest with Great Britain was 
perhaps intended by the Supreme Being, 
among other wise and benevolent purposes, 
to show the world this asylum, which, from 
its remote and unconnected situation with the 
rest of the globe, might have remained a 
secret for ages. By establishing manufac- 
tories, we stretch forth a hand from the ark 
to invite the timid manufacturers to come in. 
It might afford us pleasure to trace the new 
sources of happiness which would immedi- 
ately open to our fellow creatures from their 
settlement in this country-. Manufactories 
have been accused of being unfriendly to 
population. I believe the charge should fall 
upon slavery. By bringing manufacturers into 
this land of liberty and plenty, we recover 
them from the torpid state in which they 
existed in their own country, and place them 
in circumstances which enable them to be- 
come husbands and fathers, and thus we add 
to the general tide of human happiness. 
Fifthly, The establishment of manufactories 
in this country, by lessening our imports from 
Great Britain, will deprive European luxuries 
and vices of those vehicles in which they have 
been transported to America. The wisdom 
of the congress cannot be too much admired 
in putting a check to them both. They have 
in effect said to them — " Thus far shall ye go, 
and no further." — Sixthly, By establishing 
manufactories among us, we erect an addi- 
tional barrier against the encroachments of 
tyranny. A people, who are entirely depen- 
dent upon foreigners for food or clothes, must 
always be subject to them. I need not detain 
you in setting forth the misery of holding prop- 
erty, liberty and life upon the precarious will 
of our fellow subjects in Britain. I beg leave 
to add a thought in this place which has been 
but little attended to by the writers upon this 
subject, and that, is that poverty, confinement 
and death are trifling evils, when compared 
with that total depravity of heart which is 
connected with slavery. By becoming slaves, 
we shall lose every principle of virtue. VVe 
shall transfer unlimited obedience from our 
Maker, to a corrupted majority in the British 
house of commons, and shall esteem their 
crimes, the certificates of their divine commis- 
sion to govern us. We shall cease to look 
with horror upon the prostitution of our wives 
and daughters, by those civil and military 
harpies, who now hover around the liberties 



of our country. We shall cheerfully lay them 
both at their feet. We shall hug our chains. We 
shall cease to be men. We shall be slaves. 

I shall now consider the objections which 
have been made to the establishment of manu- 
factories in this country. 

The first, and most common objection to 
manufactories in this country is, that they will 
draw off our attention from agriculture. This 
objection derives great weight from being made 
originally by the duke of Sully, against the 
establishment of manufactories in France. But 
the history of that country shows us, that it is 
more founded in speculation than fact. France 
has become opulent and powerful in proportion 
as manufactories have flourished in her, and if 
agriculture has not kept pace with her manu- 
factories, it is owing entirely to that ill-judged 
policy which forbade the exportation of grain. 
I believe it will be found, upon inquiry, that a 
greater number of hands have been taken from 
the plough, and employed in importing, retail- 
ing and transporting British woolens, cottons 
and linens, than would be sufficient to manu- 
facture as much of them, as would clothe all 
the inhabitants of the province. There is an 
endless variety in the geniuses of men, and it 
would be to preclude the e.xertion of the facul- 
ties of the mind, to confine them entirely to 
the simple arts of agriculture. Besides, if these 
manufactories were conducted as they ought 
to be, two thirds of the labor of them will be 
carried on by those members of society who 
cannot be employed in agriculture, namely, by 
women and children. 

A second objection is, that we cannot manu- 
facture cloths so cheap here, as they can be 
imported from Britain. It has been the mis- 
fortune of most of the manufactories which 
have been set up in this country, to afford labor 
to journeymen, only for six or nine months in 
the year, by which means their wages have 
necessarily been so high as to support them in 
the intervals of their labor. It will be found, upon 
inquiry that those manufactories which occupy 
journeymen the whole year, are carried on at 
as cheap a rate as they are in Britain. The 
expense of manufacturing cloth will be lessened 
from the great share women and children will 
have in them ; and I have the pleasure of in- 
forming you that the machine lately brought 
into this city for lessening the expense of time 
and hands in spinning, is likely to meet with 
encouragement from the legislature of our 
province. In a word, the experiments which 
have been already made among us, convince 
us that woolens and linens of all kinds, may be 
made and bought as cheap as those imported 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



211 



from Britain, and I believe every one, who has 
tried the former, will acknowledge that they 
wear twice as well as the latter. 

A third objection to manufactories is, that 
they destroy health, and are hurtful to popula- 
tion. The same may be said of navigation, 
and many other arts which are essential to the 
happiness and glory of a state. I believe that 
many of the diseases to which the manufac- 
turers in Britain are subject, are brought on, 
not so much by the nature of their employment, 
but by their unwholesome diet, damp houses, 
and other bad accommodations, each of which 
may be prevented in America. 

A fourth objection to establishing manufac- 
tories in this country is a political one. The 
liberties of America have been twice, and we 
hope will be a third time preserved by a non- 
importation of British manufactures. By 
manufacturing our own cloths we deprive our- 
selves of the only weapon by which W'e can 
hereafter effectually oppose Great Britain. 
Before we answer this objection, it becomes us 
to acknowledge the obligations we owe to our 
merchants for consenting, so cheerfully, to a 
suspension to their trade with Britain. From 
the benefits we have derived from their virtue, 
it would be unjust to insinuate that ever there 
will be the least danger of trusting the defence 
of our liberties to them ; but I would wish to 
g^ard against placing one body of men only 
upon that forlorn hope to which a non-importa- 
tion agreement must always expose them. For 
this purpose, I would fill their stores with the 
manufactures of American looms, and thus 
establish their trade upon a foundation that 
cannot be shaken. Here then we derive an 
answer to the last objection that was men- 
tioned ; for, in proportion as manufactories 
flourish in America, they must decline in Bri- 
tain, and it is well known that nothing but her 
manufactories have rendered her formidable 
in all our contests with her. These are the 
foundations of all her riches and power. These 
have made her merchants nobles, and her 
nobles princes. These carried her so triumph- 
antly through the late expensive war, and these 
are the support of a power more dangerous to 
the liberties of America, than her fleets and 
armies, I mean the power of corruption. I am 
not one of those vindictive patriots who exult in 
the prospect of the decay of the manufactories 
of Britain. I can forgive her late attempts to 
enslave us, in the memory of our once mutual 
freedom and happiness. And should her 
liberty — her arts — her fleets and armies and her 
empire, ever be interred in Britain, I hope they 
will all rise in British garments only in America. I 



ENTHUSIASM 

Of the people of Penn. in support of 
THE Revolution. 

Philadelphia, June 9, 1775. 

The following paragraphs are taken from the 
Pennsylvania Mercury : 

The ladies in Bristol township have evidenced 
a laudable regard to the interest of their coun- 
try. At their own expense, they have furnished 
the regiment of that county with a suit of 
colors and drums, and are now making a col- 
lection to supply muskets to such of the men 
as are not able to supply themselves. We 
hear the lady, who was appointed to present 
the colors to the regiment, gave in charge to 
the soldiers, never to desert the colors of the 
ladies, if they ever wish that the ladies should 
list under their banners. 

The spirit of opposition to the arbitrary and 
tyrannical acts of the ministry and parliament 
of Britain, hath diff'used itself so universally 
throughout this province, that the people, 
even to its most extended frontiers, are inde- 
fatigable in training themselves to military dis- 
cipline. The aged, as well as the young, daily 
march out under the banners of liberty and dis- 
cover a determined resolution to maintain her 
cause even until death. In the town of Read- 
ing, in Berks county, there had been some 
time past three companies formed, and very 
forward in their exercise ; since, however, we 
are well informed, a fourth company have asso- 
ciated under the name of the Old Man's com- 
pany. It consists of about eighty Germans, of 
the age of forty and upwards. Many of them 
have been in the military service in Germany. 
The person who, at their first assembling, 
led them to the field, is 97 years of age, has 
been 40 years in the regular service, and in 17 
pitched battles, and the drummer is 84. In 
lieu of a cockade, they wear in their hats a 
black crape, as expressive of their sorrow for 
the mournful events which have occasioned 
them, at their late time of life, to take arms 
against our brethren, in order to preserve that 
liberty which they left their native country to 
enjoy. 



Extract OF A letter from Philadelphia, 
DATED July io, 1775, from a Gentleman 
OF consideration and fortune, 

" Travel through whatever part of this coun- 
try you will, you will see the inhabitants train- 
ing, making firelocks, casting mortars, shells 
and shot, and making saltpetre, in order to 
keep the gunpowder mills at work during the 



212 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



next autumn and winter. Nothing, indeed, is 
attended to but preparing to make a defence 
tiiat will astonish the whole world, and hurl 
destruction on those who, to preserve them- 
selves in office, have advised measures so fatal 
both to Britain and America. At least two 
hundred thousand men are now in arms, and 
well trained, ready to march whenever wanted 
for the support of American freedom and pro- 
perty. In short, a spirit of enthusiasm for war 
is gone forth, that has driven away the fear of 
death ; and magazines of provisions and ammu- 
nition, by order of the states general of Ameri- 
ca, (or the twelve United Co/oiu'es) are directed 
to be made in all proper places, against the 
next campaign." 



Patriotic Sentiments of an American 
Woman in advocacy of the Revolution. 

Frottt a Pkiladelphia paper dated June, 17S0. 

On the commencement of actual war, the 
women of America manifested a firm resolu- 
tion to contribute as much as could depend on 
them, to the deliverance of their country. 
Animated by the purest patriotism, they are 
Sensible of sorrow at this day, in not offering 
more than barren wishes for the success of so 
glorious a revolution. They aspire to render 
themselves more really useful ; and this senti- 
ment is universal from the north to the south 
of the thirteen United States. Our ambition 
is kindled by the fame of those heroines of 
antiquity, who have rendered tlieir sex illustri- 
ous, and have proved to the universe, that, if 
the weakness of our constitution, if opinion and 
manners did not forbid us to march to glory 
by the same paths as the men, we should at 
least equal, and sometimes surpass them in 
our love for the public good. I glory in all 
that which my sex has done great and com- 
mendable. I call to mind with enthusiasm 
and with admiration, all those acts of courage, 
of constancy and patriotism, which history has 
transmitted to us : The people favored by 
heaven, preserved from destruction by the 
virtue, the zeal and the resolution of Deborah, 
of Judith, of Esther ! The fortitude of the 
mother of the Maccabees, in giving up her 
sons to die before her eyes : Rome saved from 
the fury of a victorious enemy by the efforts of 
Volumnia, and other Roman ladies: So many 
famous sieges, where the women have been 
seen forgetting the weakness of their sex, 
building new walls, digging trenches with their 
feeble hands, furnishing arms to their defend- 
ers, they themselves darting the missile weap- 
ons on the enemy, resigning the ornaments of 
their apparel, and their fortune, to fill the pub- 



lic treasury, and to hasten the deliverance of 
their country : burying themselves under its 
ruins : throwing themselves into the flames 
rather than submit to the disgrace of humilia- 
tion before a proud enemy. 

Born for liberty, disdaining to bear the irons 
of a tyrannic government, we associate our- 
selves to the grandeur of those sovereigns, 
cherished and revered, who have held with so 
much splendor the sceptre of the greatest 
states. The Matildas, the Elizabeths, the 
Maries, the Catherines, who have extended the 
empire of liberty, and, contented to reign by 
sweetness and justice, have broken the chains 
of slavery, forged by tyrants in the times of 
ignorance and barbarity. The Spanish wo- 
men, do they not make, at this moment, the 
most patriotic sacrifices, to increase the means 
of victory in the hands of their sovereign } He 
is a friend to the French nation. They are 
our allies. We call to mind, doubly interested, 
that it was a French maid who kindled up 
amongst her fellow citizens, the flame of pat- 
riotism buried under long misfortunes : It was 
the maid of Orleans who drove from the king- 
dom of France the ancestors of those same 
British, whose odious yoke we have just shaken 
off, and whom it is necessary that we drive 
from this continent. 

But I must limit myself to the recollection o( 
this small number of achievements. Who 
knows if persons disposed to censure, and 
sometimes too severely with regard to us, may 
not disapprove our appearing acquainted even 
with the actions of which our sex boasts .' 
We are at least certain, that he cannot be a 
good citizen who will not applaud our efforts 
for the relief of the armies which defend our 
lives, our possessions, our liberty ? The situa- 
tion of our soldiery has been represented to 
me ; the evils inseparable from war, and the 
firm and generous spirit which has enabled 
them to support these. But it has been said, 
that they may apprehend, that, in the course of 
a long war, the view of their distresses may be 
lost, and their services forgotten. Forgotten ! 
never; I can answer in the name of all my sex. 
Brave Americans, your disinterestedness, your 
courage, and your constancy will always be 
dear to America, as long as she shall preserve 
her virtue. 

We know that, at a distance from the theatre 
ofwar, if we enjoy any tranquilrty, it is the 
fruit of your watchings, your labors, your dan- 
gers. If I live happy in the midst of my family, 
if my husband cultivates his field, and reaps 
his harvest in peace ; if, surrounded with my 
children, I myself nourish the youngest, and 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



213 



press it to my bosom, without being afraid of 
seeing myself separated from it, by a ferocious 
enemy ; if the house in which we dwell ; if our 
barns, our orchards are safe at the present 
time from the hands of those incendiaries, it is 
to you that we owe it. And shall we hesitate 
to evidence to you our gratitude.' Shall we 
hesitate to wear a clothing more simple ; hair- 
dresses less elegant, while, at the price of this 
small privation, we shall deserve your benedic- 
tions. Who amongst us, will not renounce, 
with the highest pleasure, those vain orna- 
ments, when she shall consider that the valiant 
defenders of America will be able to draw 
some advantage from the money which she 
may have laid out in these ; that they will be 
better defended from the rigors of the seasons ; 
that, after their painful toils, they will receive 
some extraordinary and une.xpected relief; 
that these presents will perhaps be valued by 
them at a greater price, when they will have it 
in their power to say : This is the offering of 
the ladies. The time is arrived to display the 
same sentiments which animated us at the be- 
ginning of the revolution, when we renounced 
the use of teas, however agreeable to our taste, 
rather than receive them from our persecutors : 
when we made it appear to them that we 
placed former necessaries in the rank of super- 
fluities, when our liberty was interested ; when 
our republican and laborious hands spun the 
flax, prepared the linen intended for the use of 
our soldiers ; when exiles and fugitives we 
supported with courage all the evils which are 
the concomitants of war. Let us not lose a 
moment ; let us be engaged to offer the hom- 
age of our gratitude at the altar of military 
valor, and you, our brave deliverers, while 
mercenary slaves combat to cause you to share 
with them, the irons with which they are loaded, 
receive with a free hand our offering, the 
purest which can be presented to your virtue 
By an AMERICAN Woman. 



A SERMON 
On the present situation of American 

AFFAIRS. 

Preached in CHRIST CHURCH, June 23, 1775, 
al the request of the officers of the third 
battalion of the city of Philadelphia, and 
district of Southwark, by Willia.m Smith, 
D. D. Provost of the college in that city. 

The Lord God of Gods— the Lord God of Gods— He 
knoweth, and Israel he shall know, if it be in rebellion, 
or in transgression against the Lord — save us not in this 
day. — Joshua., ixii. 22. 

These words, my brethren, will lead us into 



a train of reflections, wholly suitable to the 
design of our present meeting ; and I must beg 
your indulgence till I explain, as briefly as pos- 
sible, the solemn occasion on which they were 
first delivered, hoping the application I may 
afterwards make of them, may fully reward 
your attention. 

The two tribes of Reuben and of Gad, and 
the half tribe of Manasseh, had chosen their 
inheritance, on the eastern side of Jordan, 
opposite to the other tribes of Israel. And 
although they knew that this situation would 
deprive them of some privileges which remained 
with their brethren on the other side, and par- 
ticularly that great privilege of having the place 
of the altar and tabernacle of God among 
them ; yet, as the land of Canaan was judged 
too small for all the twelve tribes, they were 
contented with the possession they had chosen. 
And thus they spoke to Moses : 

" It is a land of cattle, and thy servants have 
much cattle. Wherefore, if we have found 
grace in thy sight let this land be given to us 
for a possession, and we will build sheepfolds 
here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones ; 
and we ourselves will go ready armed before 
our brethren, the children of Israel — and will 
not return into our houses, until they have 
inherited every man his inheritance." 

" And Moses said unto them — If you will do 
this thing, and will go all of you armed over 
Jordan before the Lord, until he hath driven 
out his enemies from before him ; and the land 
(of Canaan) be subdued (for your brethren) ; 
then afterwards ye shall return, and this land 
(of Gilead) shall be your possession before the 
Lord."* 

This, then, was the great original contract, 
under which these two tribes and a half were 
allowed to separate from the rest, and to dwell 
on the other side of Jordan. They were to 
assist their brethren in their necessary wars, 
and to continue under one government with 
them — even that of the great Jehovah himself — 
erecting no separate altar but coming to per- 
form their sacrifices at that one altar of Shiloh, 
where the Lord had vouchsafed to promise his 
special presence. 

Though this subjected them to inconven- 
iences, yet as uniformity of worship and the 
nature of their theocracy required it, they 
adhered faithfully to their contract. 

In the fear of God, they bov\'ed themselves at 
his altar, although not placed in their own 
land ; and, in love to their brethren, they sup- 
ported them in their wars, " till there stood not 
a man of all their enemies before them ; " and 
♦ Numb. 32. 



214 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



at last, Joshua, their great leader, having no 
farther need of their assistance, gave them this 
noble testimony — That they had, in all things 
obeyed his voice as their general, and faithfully 
performed all they had promised to Moses the 
servant of God. Wherefore he blessed them, 
and dismissed them to return to their own 
land " with much riches, and with cattle, and 
with silver, and with gold, and with much 
raiment." 

No sooner, therefore, had they entered their 
own country, than, in the fulness of gratitude, 
on the banks of Jordan, at the common passage 
over against Canaan, they built an high or 
great altar that it might remain an eternal 
monument of their being of one stock, and 
entitled to the same civil and religious priv- 
ileges, with their brethren of the other tribes. 

But this their work of piety and love was 
directly misconstrued. The cry was immedi- 
ately raised against them. The zealots of that 
day scrupled not to declare them rebels against 
the living God, violators of his sacred laws and 
theocracy, in setting up an altar against his 
holy altar, and therefore the whole congrega- 
tions of the brother tribes, that dwelt in Canaan, 
gathered themselves together, to go up to war 
against their own flesh and blood, in a blind 
transport of unrighteous zeal, purposing to 
extirpate them from the face of the earth, as 
enemies to God and the commonwealth of 
Israel ! 

In that awful and important moment (and, 
oh ! my God that the example could be copied 
among the brother tribes of our Israel, in the 
parent land) I say, in that awful and important 
moment, some milder and more benevolent 
men there were, whose zeal did not so far 
transport them, but that, before they unsheathed 
the sword to plunge it with unhallowed hand 
into the bowels of their brethren, they thought 
it justice first to enquire into the charge 
against them. And, for the glory of Israel this 
peaceable and prudent counsel prevailed. 

A most solemn embassy was prepared, at 
the head of which was a man of sacred charac- 
ter, and venerable authority, breathing the 
dictates of religion and humanity ; Phinehas, the 
son of Eleazer, the high priest, accompanied 
with ten other chiefs or princes, one from each 
of the nine tribes as well as from the remaining 
half tribe of Manasseh. 

Great was the astonishment of the Gilead- 
ites* on receiving this embassy, and hearing 
the charge against them. But the power of 

* The two tribes and a half are here briefly and generally 
denominated Gileadites, from the name of the land they 
tiad chosen. 



conscious innocence is above all fear, and the 
language of an upright heart superior to all 
eloquence. By a solemn appeal to Heaven for 
the rectitude of their intentions, unpremeditated 
and vehement, in the words of my text, they 
disarmed their brethren of every suspicion. 

"The Lord God of Gods," say they (in the 
fervency of truth, repeating the invocation) 
'■ the Lord God of Gods " — He that made the 
Heavens and the earth, who searcheth the 
hearts, and is acquainted with the most secret 
thoughts of all men — " He knoweth, and all 
Israel shall know." by our unshaken constancy^ 
in the religion of our fathers — that this charge 
against us is utterly false. 

Then turning from their brethren, with un- 
speakable dignity of soul and clearness of 
conscience, they address the Almighty Jehovah 
himself — 

Oh thou sovereign Ruler of the universe — 
our God and our Fathers' God — " if it be in 
rebellion or in transgression against thee," 
that we have raised this monument of our zeal 
for the commonwealth of Israel — " save us not 
this day ! " If the most distant thought has 
entered our hearts of erecting an independent 
altar ; if we have sought, in one instance, to 
derogate from the glory of that sacred altar 
which thou hast placed among our brethren 
beyond Jordan, as the common bond of union 
and worship among all the tribes of Israel — let 
not this day's sun descend upon us, till thou 
har.t made us a monument of thine avenging 
justice, in the sight of the surrounding world ! 
After this astonishing appeal to the great 
God of Heaven and earth, they proceed to rea- 
son with their brethren ; and tell them that, so 
far from intending a separation, either in gov- 
ernment or in religion, this altar was built with 
a direct contrary purpose — " That it might be a 
WITNESS between us and you, and our genera- 
tions after us, that your children may not say 
to our children, in time to come, ye have no 
part in the Lord." We were afraid lest, in 
some future age, when our posterity may cross 
Jordan to offer sacritices in the place appointed, 
your posterity may thrust them from the altar, 
and tell them that because they live not in the 
land where the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, they 
are none of his people, nor entitled to the Jew- 
ish privileges. 

But while this altar stands, they shall always 
have an answer ready. They will be able to 
say—" Behold the pattern of the altar of the 
Lord which our fathers made." If our fathers 
had not been of the seed of Israel, they would 
not have fondly copied your customs and 
models. You would not have beheld in Gilead 



PENNSVLVANIA. 



215 



an altar, in all things an imitation of the true 
altar of God, which is in Shiloh, except only 
that ours is an high "or great altar to see" 
from far. And this may convince you that it 
was not intended as an altar of sacrifice (for 
then it would have been but three cubits in 
height, as our law directs) but as a monumen- 
tal altar, to instruct our generations forever, 
that they are of the same pedigree with your- 
selves, and entitled to the same civil and relig- 
ious privileges. 

This noble defence brought an immediate re- 
conciliation among the discordant tribes. " The 
words, (when reported) pleased the children of 
Israel — they blessed God together " for prevent- 
ing the effusion of kindred blood, " and did not go 
up to destroy the land where their brethren, the 
children of Reuben* and Gad dwelt." 

The whole history of the bible cannot fur- 
nish a passage more instructive than this, to the 
members of a great empire, whose dreadful 
misfortune it is to have the evil demon of civil 
or religious discord gone forth among them. 
And would to God, that the application I am 
now to make of it could be delivered in accents 
louder than thunder, till they have pierced the 
ear of every Briton ; and especially their ears 
who have meditated war and destruction 
against their brother-tribes of Reuben and Gad, 
in this our American Gilead. And let 
me add — would to God too that we, who this 
day consider ourselves in the place of those 
tribes, may, like them, be still able to lay our 
hands on our hearts in a solemn appeal to the 
God of Gods, for the rectitude of our intentions 
towards the whole commonwealth of our BRIT- 
ISH Israel. For, called to this sacred place, 
on this great occasion, I know it is your wish 
that I should stand superior to all partial mo- 
tives, and be found alike unbiased by favor or 
by fear. And happy it is that the parallel, now 
to be drawn, requires not the least sacrifice 
either of truth or virtue ? 

Like the tribes of Reuben and Gad, we have 
chosen our inheritance, in a land separated 
from that of our fathers and brethren, not 
indeed by a small river, but an immense ocean. 
This inheritance we likewise hold by a plain 
original contract, entitling us to all the natural 
and improvable advantages of our situation, and 
to a community of privileges with our brethren, 
in every civil and religious respect, except in 
this, that the throne or seat of empire, that 
great altar at w'hich the men of this world bow, 
was to remain among them. 

• Though for brevity, the sacred text, in this and 
other places, only mentions Reuben and Gad, yet the 
half tribe of Manasseh is also supposed to be included. 



Regardless of this local inconvenience, un- 
cankered by jealousy, undepressed by fear, and 
cemented by mutual love and mutual benefits, 
we trod the path of glory with our brethren for 
an hundred years and more — enjoying a length 
of felicity scarce ever experienced by any other 
people. — Mindful of the hands that protected us 
in our youth, and submitting to every just reg- 
ulation for appropriating to them the benefit of 
our trade — our wealth was poured in upon 
them from ten thousand channels, widening as 
they flowed, and making their poor to sing, and 
industry to smile, through every corner of their 
land. And as often as dangers threatened, 
and the voice of the British Israel called our 
brethren to the field, we left them not alone, 
but shared their toils and fought by their side, 
" till there stood not a man of all their enemies 
before them," — Nay, tliey themselves testified 
on our behalf, that in all things we not only did 
our part, but more than our part for the com- 
mon good, and they dismissed us home loaded 
with silver and with gold,* in recompense for 
our extraordinary services. 

So far you see the parallel holds good. But 
what high altars have we built to alarm our Brit- 
ish Israel ; and why have the congregations of 
our British Israel, and why have the congrega- 
tions of our brethren gathered themselves to- 
gether against us .' why do their embattled 
hosts already cover our plains.' will they not 
e.xamine our case, and listen to our plea } 

" The Lord God of Gods — he knows," and 
the whole surrounding world shall yet know, 
that whatever American altars we have built, 
far from intending to dishonor, have been raised 
with an expressed view to perpetuate the name 
and glory of that sacred altar, and seat of 
empire and liberty, which we left behind us, 
and wish to remain eternal among our brethren 
in the parent land. 

Esteeming our relation to them our greatest 
felicity ; adoring the providence that gave us 
the same progenitors : glorying in this, that 
when the new world was to be portioned out 
among the kingdoms of the old, the most 
important part of this continent fell to the sons 
of a protestant and free nation ; desirous of 
w-orshipping forever at the same altar with 
them ; fond of their manners even to excess ; 
enthusiasts to that sacred plan of civil and re- 
ligious happiness, for the preservation of which 
they have sacrificed from age to age, maintain- 
ing, and always ready to maintain, at the risk 
of every thing that is dear to us, the most 

* The parliamentary reimbursements for our exertions 
in the late war, similar to what Joshua gave the two trit>es 
and a half on the close of his wars. 



2l6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



unshaken fidelity to our common sovereign, as 
the great centre of our union, and guardian of 
our mutual rights— I say, with these principles 
and these views, we thought it our duty, to 
build up American altars, or constitutions, as 
nearly as we could, upon the great British model. 

Having never sold our birth-right, we con- 
sidered ourselves entitled to the privileges of 
our father's house — "to enjoy peace, liberty 
and safety," to be governed, like our brethren, 
by our own laws, in all matters properly affect- 
ing ourselves, and to offer up our own sacrifices 
at the altar of British empire ; contending that 
a forced devotion is idolatry, and that no power 
on earth has a right to come in between us and 
a gracious sovereign, to measure forth our 
loyalty, or to grant our property, without our 
consent. 

These are the principles we inherited from 
Bntons themselves. Could we depart from 
them, we should be deemed bastards and not 
sons, aliens, and not brethren. 

The altars therefore, which we have built, 
are not* high or rival altars to create jealousy, 
but humble monuments of our union and love, 
intended to bring millions, yet unborn, from 
every corner of this vast continent, to bend at 
the great parent altar of British liberty ; venerat- 
ing the country from which they sprung, and 
pouring their gifts into their lap when their 
countless thousands shall far exceed hers. 

It was our wish that there should be an 
eternal "witness between our brethren and 
us," that if, at any future period, amid the 
shifting scenes of human interests and human 
affections, their children should say to our 
children — " Ye have no portion " in the birth- 
right of Britons, and to seek to push them 
from the common shrine of freedom, when they 
come to pay their hom.ige there, they might 
always have an answer ready — " Behold the 
pattern of the altar which our fathers built." 
Behold your own religious and civil institutions, 
and then examine the frames of government and 
systems of laws raised by our fathers in every 
part of America? Could these have been such 
exact copies of your own, if they had not in- 
herited the same spirit, and sprung from the 
same stock, with yourselves. 

Thus far you see the parallel yet holds good, 
and I think cannot be called a perversion of 
my text, if you will allow that the Supreme 

* In this respect, our plea is even stronger than that of 
the two tribes and a half. For, till an e.xplanation 
was given, the height of their altar, like those of the 
heathen, who loved to sacrifice on lofty places, might 
create a suspicion of their "lapsing into idolatry ; either 
intending to worship other Gods, or the God of Israel in 
an unlawful place and manner."— Bp. Patrick. 



Power of an empire, whether theocratical, mo- 
narchical, or whosoever distributed, may be 
represented under the figure of one common 
altar, at which the just devotion of all the sub- 
jects is to be paid. 

But it is said that we have of late departed 
from our former line of duty, and refused our 
homage at the great altar of British empire. 
And to this it has been replied, that the very 
refusal is the strongest evidence of our venera- 
tion for the altar itself. Nay, it is contended 
by those charged with this breach of devotion, 
that when, in the shape of unconstitutional ex- 
actions, violated rights and mutilated charters, 
they were called to worship idols, instead of 
the true divinity, it was in a transport of holy 
jealousy, that they dashed them to pieces, or 
whelmed them to the bottom of the ocean. 

This is, in brief, the state of the argument 
on each side. And hence, at this dreadful mo- 
ment, ancient friends and brethren stand pre- 
pared for events of the most tragic nature. 

Here the weight of my subject almost over- 
comes me ; but think not that I am going to 
damp that noble ardor which at this instant 
glows in every bosom present. Nevertheless, 
as from an early acquaintance with many of 
you, I know that your principles are pure, and 
your humanity only equalled by your transcend- 
ent love of your country, I am sure you will in- 
dulge the passing tear, which a preacher of the 
gospel of love must now shed over the scenes 
that lie before us — great and deep distress 
about to pervade every corner of our land ! 
millions to be called from the peaceful labors by 
" the sound of the trumpet, and the alarm of 
war! Garments rolled in blood," and even vic- 
tory itself only yielding an occasion to weep 
over friends and relatives slain ! These are 
melancholy prospects and therefore you will 
feel with me the difficulties I now labor under — 
forsaken by my text, and left to lament alone 
that, in the parent land, no Phineh.as has pre- 
vailed ; no embassy * of great or good men 
has been raised, to stay the sword of destruc- 
tion, to examine into the truth of our case, and 
save the effusion of kindred blood. I am left 
to lament that, in this sad instance, Jewish 
tenderness has put Christian benevolence to 
shame. 

" Our brethren, the house of our fathers, even 

* It is acknowledged with gratitude that many great 
and exalted characters have plead the cause of America ; 
and, previous to all coercive measures, advised an enquiry 
or hearing, similar to that for which Phinehas was ap- 
pointed. W'hat is here lamented, and will be long lamented 
is that this council could not take place. If brethren 
could come together in such a temper as this, the issue 
could not fail to be for their mutual glory and mutual 
happiness. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



217 



they have called a multitude against us. Had 
an enemy thus reproached us, then perhaps we 
might have borne it. But it was you, men 
our equals, our guides, our acquaintance, with 
whom we took sweet council and walked to- 
gether into the house of God." Or had it been 
for any essential benefit to the commonwealth 
at large, we would have laid our hands on our 
mouths, and bowed obedience with our usual 
silence. But, for dignity and supremacy ! 
What are they when set in opposition to 
common utility, common justice, and the 
whole faith and spirit of the constitution ! 
True dignity is to govern freemen, not slaves, 
and true supremacy is to e.\cel in doing 
good. 

It is time, and indeed more than time, for a 
great and enlightened people to make names 
bend to things, and ideal honor to practical 
safety? — Precedents and indefinite claims are 
surely things too nugatory to convulse a mighty 
empire. Is there no wisdom, no great and 
liberal plan of policy to re-unite its members, as 
the sole bulwark of liberty and protestanism, 
rather than by their deadly strife to increase 
the importance of those states that are foes to 
freedom, truth and humanity ? To devise such 
a plan, and to behold British colonies spread- 
ing over this immense continent, rejoicing- in 
the common rights of freemen, and imitating 
the parent state in every excellence — is more 
glory than to hold lawless dominion over all the 
nations on the face of the earth. 

But I will weary you no longer with fruitless 
lamentations concerning things that might be 
done. The question now is — since they are 
not done, must we tamely surrender any part 
of our birth-right, or of that great charter of 
privileges, which we not only claim by inheri- 
tance, but by the express terms of our coloniza- 
tion .' I say, God forbid ! For here, in par- 
ticular, I wish to speak so plain that neither 
my own principles, nor those of the church to 
which I belong, be misunderstood. 

Although, in the beginning of this great 
contest, we thought it not our duty to be for- 
ward in widening the breach, or spreading dis- 
content ; although it be our fervent desire to 
heal the wounds of the public, and to shew by 
our temper that we seek not to distress, but to 
give the parent state an opportunity of saving 
themselves and saving us before it be too late, 
nevertheless, as we know that our civil and 
religious rights are linked together in one in- 
dissoluble bond, we neither have, nor seek to 
have, any interest separate from that of our 
country, nor can we advise a desertion of its 
cause. Religion and liberty must flourish or 



fall together in America. We pray that both 
may be perpetual. 

A continued submission to violence is no 
tenet of our church. When her brightest lu- 
minaries, near a century past, were called to 
propagate the court doctrine of a dispensing 
power, above law — did they treacherously cry 
— " Peace, peace," when there was no peace.' 
Did they not magnanimously set their foot upon 
the line of the constitution, and tell majesty to 
its face that " they could not betray the public 
liberty," and that the monarch's only safety 
consisted " in governing according to the laws .' " 
Did not their example, and consequent suffer- 
ings, kindle a flame that illuminated the land, 
and introduced that noble system of public and 
personal liberty, secured by the revolution .' 
Since that period, have not the avowed princi- 
ples of our greatest divines been against raising 
the church above the state ; jealous of the na- 
tional rights, resolute for the protestant suc- 
cession, favorable to the reformed religion, and 
desirous to maintain the faith of toleration ? 
If exceptions h.ave happened, let no society of 
Christians stand answerable for the deviations, 
or corruptions, of individuals. 

The doctrine of absolute non-resistance has 
been fully exploded among every virtuous peo- 
ple. The free-born soul revolts against it, and 
must have been long debased, and have drank 
in the last dregs of corruption, before it can 
brook the idea " that a whole people injured 
may, ' in no case,' recognize their trampled 
majesty." But to draw the line, and say where 
submission ends and resistance begins, is not 
the province of the minister of Christ, who 
has given no * rule in this matter, but left it to 
the feelings and consciences of the injured. 
For, when pressures and sufferings come, when 
the weight of power grows intolerable, a peo- 
ple will fly to the constitution for shelter ; and, 
if able, will resume that power vvhich they 
never surrendered, except so far as it might be 
exercised for the common safety. Pulpit-casu- 

♦ The author, in a sermon first published twenty years 
ago, on r Pet. ii. 17, delivered his sentiments fully on this 
point — in the following words, viz. — " It w^ould be absurd 
to argue as some have done, that the Apostle here meant 
to enjoin a continued suhntission to violence — The love 
of mankind, and the fear of God, those very principles from 
which we trace the divine original of just government, will 
lead us. by all probable means, to resist every attempt to 
enslave the free-born soul, and oppose the righteous will 
of God by defeating the happiness of men. Resistance, 
however, is to be a last resource, and none but the major- 
ity of a whole people, can determine in what cases it is 
necessary. In the scriptures, therefore, obedience is 
rightly inculcated in general terms. For a people may 
sometimes imagine grievances they do not feel, but will 
never miss to feel and complain of them where they really 
are, unless their minds have been gradually prepared for 
slavery by absurd tenets." 



2l8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



istry is too feeble to direct or control here. 
God, in his own government of the world, never 
violates freedom ; and his scriptures themselves 
would be disregarded, or considered as per- 
verted, if brought to belie his voice, speaking 
in the hearts of men. 

The application of these principles, my breth- 
ren, is now easy and must be left to your own 
consciences and feelings. You are now en- 
gaged in one of the grandest struggles, to which 
freemen can be called. You are contending 
for what you conceive to be your constitutional 
rights, and for a final settlement of the terms 
upon which this country may be perpetually 
united to the parent state. 

Look back, therefore, with reverence look 
back, to the times of ancient virtue and renown. 
Look back to the mighty purposes, which your 
fathers had in view, when they traversed a vast 
ocean, and planted this land. Recall to your 
minds their labors, their toils, their persever- 
ance, and let a divine spirit animate you in all 
your actions. 

Look forward also to distant posterity. Fig- 
ure to yourselves millions and millions to spring 
from your loins, who may be born freemen or 
slaves, as Heaven shall now approve or reject 
our councils. Think that on you it may de- 
pend, whether this great countr)-, in ages hence, 
shall be filled and adorned with a virtuous and 
enlightened people, enjoying liberty and all its 
concomitant blessings, together with the re- 
ligion of Jesus, as it flows uncorrupted from his 
holy oracles, or covered with a race of men 
more contemptible than the savages that roam 
the wilderness, because they once knew the 
things which belong to their happiness and 
peace, but suffered them to be hid from their 
eyes. 

And while you thus look b.ack to the past, 
and forward to the future, fail not, I beseech 
you, to look up to " the God of Gods — the rock 
of your salvation." As the clay in the potter's 
hands, so are the nations of the earth in the 
hands of him, the everlasting Jehovah ! — he 
lifteth up, and he casteth down — He resisteth 
the proud and giveth grace to the humble — He 
will keep the feet of his saints — the wicked shall 
be silent in darkness, and by strength shall no 
man prevail. 

The bright prospects of the gospel ; a thorough 
veneration of the Saviour of the world ; a con- 
scientious obedience to his divinest laws ; faith 
in his promises, and the stedfast hope of im- 
mortal life through him, these only can support 
a man in all times of adversity as well as pros- 
perity. You might more easily " strike fire out 
of ice," than stability or magnanimity out of 



crimes. But the good man, he who is at peace 
with the God of all peace, will know no fear 
but that of offending him, whose hand can 
cover the righteous " so that he needs not fear 
the arrow that fleeth by day, nor the destruction 
that wasteth at noon-day ; for a thousand shall 
fall beside him, and ten thousand at his right 
hand, but it shall not come nigh to him ; for he 
shall give his angels charge over him to keep 
him in all his ways." 

On the omnipotent God, therefore, through 
his blessed Son, let your strong confidence be 
placed ; but do not vainly expect that every day 
will be to you a day of prosperity or triumph. 
The ways of Providence lie through mazes, too 
intricate for human penetration. Mercies may 
often be held forth to us in the shape of suffer- 
ings ; and the ncissitudes of our fortune, in 
building up the American fabric of happiness 
and glory, may be various and chequered. 

But let not this discourage you. Yea, rather 
let it animate you with a \\o\y fervor — a divine 
enthusiasm — ever persuading yourselves that 
the cause of virtue SinA freedom is the CAUSE 
of God upon earth ; and that the whole theatre 
of human nature does not exhibit a more august 
spectacle than a number of freemen, in depend- 
ence upon Heaven, mutually binding themselves 
to encounter every difficulty and danger in 
support of their native and constitutional rights 
and for transmitting them holy andunviolated to 
their posterity. 

It was this principle that inspired the heroes 
of ancient times ; that raised their names to the 
summit of renown, and filled all succeeding 
ages with their unspotted praise. It is this 
principle too that must animate your conduct, 
if you wish your names to reach future genera- 
tions, conspicuous in the roll of glory ; and so 
far as this principle leads you, be prepared to 
follow — whether to life or to death. 

While you profess yourselves contending for 
liberty, let it be with the temper and dignity of 
freemen, undaunted and firm, but without wrath 
or vengeance, so far as grace may be obtained 
to resist the weakness of nature. Consider it 
as a happy circumstance, if such a struggle 
must have happened, that God hath been 
pleased to postpone it to a period, when our 
country is adorned with men of enlightened zeal, 
when the arts and sciences are planted among 
us to secure a succession of such men, when 
our morals are not far tainted by luxury, pro- 
fusion or dissipation; when the principles that 
withstood oppression, in the brightest era of the 
English history, are ours as it were by peculiar 
inheritance ; and when we stand upon our own 
ground, with all that is dear around us, animat- 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



219 



ing us to every patriotic exertion. Under such 
circumstances and upon such principles, what 
wonders, what achievements of true glorj", have 
not been performed ? 

for my part I have long been possessed with 
a strong and even enthusiastic persuasion that 
Heaven has great and gracious purposes to- 
wards this continent, which no human power 
or human device shall be able finally to frustrate. 
Illiberal or mistaken plans of policy may dis- 
tress us for a while, and perhaps sorely check 
our growth ; but if we maintain our own virtue ; 
if we cultivate the spirit of liberty among our 
children ; if we guard against the snares of 
luxur>', venality and corruption, the GENIUS of 
America will still rise triumphant, and that 
with a power at last too mighty for opposition. 
This country will be free — nay, for ages to 
come a chosen seat of freedom, arts, and 
heavenly knowledge ; which are now either 
drooping or dead in most countries of the old 
world. 

To conclude, since the strength of all public 
bodies, under God, consists in their union, 
bear with each other's infirmities, and even 
varieties of sentiments, in things not essential to 
the main point. The tempers of men are cast 
in various moulds. Some are quick and feel- 
ingly alive in all their mental operation, espe- 
cially those which relate to their countr)'s weal, 
and are therefore ready to burst forth into 
flame upon every alarm. Others again, with 
intentions alike pure, and a clear unquenchable 
love of their country, too steadfast to be damped 
by the mists of prejudice, or worked up into 
conflagration by the rude blasts of passion, 
think it their duty to weigh consequences, and 
to deliberate fully upon the probable means of 
obtaining public ends. Both those kinds of 
men should bear with each other ; for both are 
friends to their country. 

One thing further let me add, that, without 
order and just siibordinatioti, there can be no 
union in public bodies. However much you 
may be equals on other occasions, yet all this 
must cease in an united and associated capacity ; 
and every individual is bound to keep the place 
and duty assigned him, by ties far more power- 
ful over a man of virtue and honor, than all 
the other ties which human policy can contrive. 
It had been better never to have lifted a voice 
in your country' "s cause, than to betray it by 
want of union ; or to leave worthy men, who 
have embarked their all for the common good, 
to suffer, or stand unassisted. 

Lastly, by every method in your power, and 
in every possible case, support the laws of your 
country. In a contest for liberty, think what a 



crime it would be, to suffer ox^t freeman to be 
insulted, or wantonly injured in his liberty, so 
far as by your means it may be prevented. 

Thus animated and thus acting — We may 
then SING with the prophet — 

" Fear not, O land ! be glad and rejoice, fur 
the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, 
ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the 
wilderness do spring — The tree beareth her 
fruit — the fig-tree and the vine yield their fruit." 

Thus animated and thus acting — we may 
likewise PRAY with the prophet — 

"O Lord be gracious unto us — we have 
waited for thee. Be thou our arm every morn- 
ing, our salvation also in time of trouble. 
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but 
we will remember the name of the Lord our 
God — O thou hope of Israel, the Saviour there- 
of in time of need — thou art in the midst of us 
and we are called by thy name — leave us 
NOT. Give us one heart and one way. that we 
may fear thee forever, for the good of ourselves 
and our children after us — We looked for peace 
but no good came ; and for a time of health, 
but behold we are in trouble — Yet will we trust 
in the Lord forever ; for in the Lord Jehovah 
is everlasting strength — He will yet bind up 
the broken hearted, and comfort those that 
mourn." — Even so, oh ! our God, do thou 
comfort and reheve them, that so the bones 
which thou hast broken may yet rejoice. 
Inspire us with a high and commanding sense 
of the value of our constitutional rights : may 
a spirit of wisdom and virtue be poured down 
upon us all ; and may our representatives, 
those who are delegated to devise zxvii appointed 
to execute public measures, be directed to such, 
as thou in thy sovereign goodness shall be 
pleased to render effectual for the salvation of 
a great empire, and re-uniting all its members 
in one sacred bond of harmony and public hap- 
piness ! Grant this, oh father, for thy son 
Jesus Christ's sake ; to whom, with thee and 
the holy Spirit, one God, be glory, honor and 
power now and forever ! AMEN. 



ACT OF THE ASSEMBLY 

Respecting persons scrupulous of bear- 
ing arms. 

In the assembly of Pennsylvania, 'June 29, 
1775. — The house taking into consideration, 
that many of the good people of this province 
are conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, 
do hereby earnestly recommend to the associ- 
ators for the defence of their country, and others. 



220 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



that they bear a tender and brotherly regard 
towards this class of their fellow subjects and 
countrymen ; and to these conscientious people 
it is also recommended, that they cheerfully 
assist, in proportion to their abilities, such per- 
sons as cannot spend both time and substance 
in the service of their country without great 
injury to themselves and families. 



MEMENTO TO AMERICANS. 

Philadelphia, March, 1776. 

"Remember the stamp act, by which im- 
mense sums were to be yearly extorted from 
you. 

Remember the declaratory act, by which a 
power was assumed of binding you, in all cases 
whatsoever, without your consent. 

Remember the broken promise of the minis- 
try,* never again to attempt a tax on America. 

Remember the duty act. 

Remember the massacre at Boston, by Brit- 
ish soldiers. 

Remember the ruin of that once flourishing 
city by their means. 

Remember the massacre at Lexington. 

Remember the burning of Charlestown. 

Remember general Gage's infamous breach 
of faith with the people of Boston. 

Remember the cannonading, bombarding, 
and burning of Falmouth. 

Remember the shrieks and cries of the wom- 
en and children. 

Remember the cannonading of Stonington 
and Bristol. 

Remember the burning of Jamestown, Rhode 
Island. 

Remember the frequent insults of Newport. 

Remember the broken charters. 

Remember the cannonade of Hampton. 

Remember the act for screening and encour- 
aging your murderers. 

Remember the cannonade of New-York. 

Remember the altering your established 
jury laws. 

Remember the hiring foreign troops against 
you. 

Remember the rejection of lord Chatham's, 
Mr. Hartley's and Mr. Burke's plans of concili- 
ation. 

Remember the treatment of Franklin and 
Temple. 

Remember the rejection of all your numer- 
ous humble petitions. 

Remember the contempt with which they 
spoke of you in both houses. 

♦ In lord Hillsborough's circular letter. 



Remember the cowardly endeavor to prevent 
foreign nations supplying you with arms and 
ammunition, when they themselves knew they 
intended coming to cut your throats. 

Remember their hiring savages to murder 
your farmers with their families. 

Remember the bribing negro slaves to 
assassinate their masters. 

Remember the burning of Norfolk.* 

Remember their obliging you to pay treble 
duties, when you came to trade with the 
countries you helped them to conquer.f 

Remember their depriving you of all share in 
the fisheries, you equally with them spent your 
blood and treasure to acquire. 

Remember their old restrictions on your 
woolen manufactories, your hat-making, your 
iron and steel forges and furnaces. 

Remember their arbitrary admiralty courts. 

Remember the inhuman treatment of the 
brave colonel Allen, and the irons he was sent 
in to England. 

Remember the long, habitual, base venality 
of British parliaments. 

Remember the corrupt, putrified state of that 
nation, and the virtuous, sound, healthy state 
of your own young constitution. 

Remember the tyranny of Mezentius, who 
bound living men, face to face, with dead ones, 
and the effect of it.f 

Remember the obstinacy and unforgiving 

spirit of the , evident in the treatment of his 

own b s. 

Remember that an honorable death is pre- 
ferable to an ignominious life ; and never for- 
get what you owe to yourselves, your families, 
and your posterity. 



SPEECH 

Of an honest, sensible, and spirited 
FARMER OF Philadelphia county, ad- 
dressed TO AN ASSEMBLY OF HIS NEIGH- 
BORS, ON HIS ENGAGING IN THE CON- 
TINENTAL SERVICE, May, 1776. 

My FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN — I have 

observed that some of you are a little surprised 
that I, with so many inducements as I have to 
remain at home, should have resolved to quit 
my family, and my farm for the fatigues and 

* This and all thebeforementioned, were open, defence- 
less towns, which, by the laws of war, should always be 
spared. 

+ Act of parliament, 14 George III, laying a duty of 
three pence per gallon on all spirits imported into Canada 
from Britain ; and nine-pence, if from any of the Noith 
American colonies. 

X The corruption of the one poisoned the other. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



221 



dangers oi' war. I mean you should be per- 
fectly satisfied as to my motives. I am an 
American : and am determined to be free. I 
was bom free : and have never forfeited my 
birth-right ; nor will I ever, like the infatuated 
son of Isaac, sell it for a mess of pottage. I 
will part with my life sooner than my liberty, 
for I prefer an honorable death to the miserable 
and despicable existence of a slave. 

The who would rob me of my property, 

because he thinlcs he has use for it, and is able 
to take it from me, would as soon, for the same 
reason, rob me of my life, if it stood in his 
way ; but it is God Almighty who gave me my 
life, and my property, as a necessary means 
among others of preserving and enjoying it ; 
and it is he only that hath an absolute and 
unlimited right and power to take either or 
both away. Being the Creator, the Supporter, 
the perfect ruler and judge of all the earth, he 
only can do no wrong : should therefore any 
creature whatsoever, or number of them, dare 
to usurp this sole prerogative of Heaven over 
me, I could neither answer it to my Maker, nor 
my conscience, nor my honor, if I did not resist, 
though it were to the last drop of my blood. 
It is in the free enjoyment of those blessings, 
uncontrolled by any human powers, (except so 
far as the voice of the society in general, of 
which we are members, may have resigned a 
part for the preservation of the whole), that 
that civil liberty substantially consisteth. Let 
no one therefore wcnder if, of all earthly bene- 
fits my Creator hath bestowed on me, I do most 
esteem my liberty. Anarchy, indeed, I depre- 
cate, but tyranny infinitely more. The reason 
is obvious ; the former, like a common surfeit, 
occasioned by an irregular and intemperate in- 
dulgence of the bodily appetites, if but a little 
helped by simple medicine, will almost always, 
as I may say, cure itself: whereas the latter, 
like a de^'ouring cancer, the longer it is let 
alone, without the application of violent caus- 
tics, the faster and deeper it will root itself into 
the frame, until it gnaws out the very life of the 
body. Government is neither of these : it is an 
ordinance of Heaven to restrain the usurpations 
of wicked men, to secure us the enjoyments of 
our natural rights, and to promote the highest 
political interests and happiness of society. 
The claims therefore of the British parliament 
of a power to bind us in all cases whatsoever ; 
to give away our property, in what measure 
and for what purposes they please, and to dis- 
pose of our lives as they think proper, when 
we have no voice in the legislation nor consti- 
tutional power allowed us to check their most 
violent proceedings, are not of the nature of 



government, but in the true and strict sense of 
the word tyranny. 

Of the tendency and operation of this dia- 
bolical system, our country hath already had 
too deep and affecting experience not to be 
sensible of them ; and it requires not the 
spirit of supernatural prophecy to foretell the 
end of them, should they not be seasonably 
controled ; controled, did I say .' blest be the 
spirit of American liberty, wisdom and valor ! 
they have been controled ; but, my friends, it 
is evident we can never have safety, liberty, 
and peace, until, by an unremitting and vigo- 
rous application of the axe, now laid to the 
root of the tree, we have totally overturned, 
in these colonies, the power that would de- 
molish us. Not to speak of the unwearied art 
and assiduity of the 

these twelve years past, to 
fasten on us the shackles of slavery, let me 
only remind you of the base and cruel mea- 
sures to subjugate us, since we have been 
obliged to take up arms in our defence : what 
stone have they left unturned ? what device to 
ruin us, though never so mean, barbarous and 
bloody, such as no heart, but that of a devil 
and a tyrant, can refrain shuddering at, have 
they not pursued .' have not several of the 
powers of Europe been meanly courted and 
bribed not to supply us with means of resis- 
tance ? hath not the most barbarous nation in 
it been applied to, to assist them with at least 
20,000 savages to complete their intended mas- 
sacre? have they not attempted to spirit up 
the Indian savages to ravage our frontiers, and 
murder, after their inhuman manner, our de- 
fenceless wives and children ? have not our 
negro slaves been enticed to rebel against their 
masters, and arms put into their hands to 
murder them .' have not the king of England's 
own slaves, the Hanoverians, been employed ? 
and were not the poor Canadians made slaves, 
that they might be made fit instruments, with 
other slaves and savages, to make slaves and 
more wretched beings than savages of us .' 

Now, what kind of reconciliation can be rea- 
sonably expected with a so basely, so 
cruelly, so industriously, and obstinately bent 
on our destruction ? in short, we have no al- 
ternative left us, but to fight or die ; if there be 
any medium, it is slavery: and ever cursed be 
the man who will submit to it ! I will not. 
But who \yould ever have imagined, that a 
people who, a few years ago, assisted their 
brethren of Great Britain, with their blood and 
treasure, to humble the power of France and 
Spain, and who, from their first existence as a 
people, have, by their trade and industry', been 



222 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



enriching and exalting them above all the na- 
tions of the world ; who, I say, would have 
imagined that this very people should, by these 
their very brethren, be now reduced to so 
dreadful an alternative : yet, hear, O Heavens, 
and give ear, O Earth, and bear witness, this 
is the return we have received for all our love, 
loyalty, industry, treasure and blood ! 

Had we begun this quarrel, had we de- 
manded some new privileges, unknown to the 
constitution, or some commercial licenses, 
incompatible with the general interest of the 
empire, had we presumed to legislate for 
Great Britain, or plotted with the Bourbon 
family, to reinstate the execrable race of the 
Stuarts, and fled to arms unprovoked to ac- 
complish these designs, there would then be 
some plausible apology for the severest hostile 
treatment we have received. But what have 
we done.' when alarmed, ere we had yet 
rested from the toils of the last war, by new 
unconstitutional demands of revenue, we as- 
serted our rights and petitioned for justice. 
Was this a crime ? as unconstitutional statutes 
of different forms were repeatedly enacted, we 
repeated our petitions for redress ; was this a 
crime ? we suffered ourselves to be insulted by 
the introduction of an armed force to dragoon 
us into obedience ; we suffered them to take 
possession of our towns and fortifications, still 
waiting with decent and anxious expectation 
from the wonted justice, humanity, and gener- 
osity of Britons : was this a crime .' disposed 
to try every pacific measure which might prob- 
ably procure our relief, we agreed to withhold 
our commerce from them, in hopes that, feel- 
ing the effects of their injustice, they might see 
how ruinous their proceedings were to their 
own interests, and return in time to wisdom 
and peace : was this a crime .'' nor did we once 
lift the sword even in our defence, until pro- 
voked to it by a wanton commencement of 
hostilities on their part : what then have we 
done to merit such cruel proceedings ? my 
friends, I am firmly persuaded, that no truth 
will appear in future historj-, with more glaring 
evidence, than that the whole mass of guilt 
contracted by this unnatural war lieth at the 
door of ; and so that, not only all 

future generations of men, but the Great 
Judge of all the earth, will finally condemn 
their measures as a scene of tyranny and 
murder. I therefore conceive myself as hav- 
ing taken up arms in defence of innocence, 
justice, truth, honesty, honor, liberty, property, 
and life ; and in opposition to guilt, injustice, 
falsehood, dishonesty, ignominy, slavery, pov- 
erty, and death ; not that I have any fondness 



for the bloody profession ; not that I delight 
in the carnage of my species ; or sigh for an 
occasion of proving my courage : Heaven and 
you are my witnesses, that my voice was some 
time, perhaps too long, and with too much 
earnestness, against any military preparations ; 
but the times are altered ; 'tis a dreadful ne- 
cessity that calls me, and calls everj' man who 
can be spared from his other occupations. 

I will not however fight as one who beateth 
the air. I speak plainly ; I consider this year 
as the grand and final period of British admin- 
istration in this American world ; I see no 
probability of their proffering such terms as 
we can accept of consistently with our safety, 
honor, and peace ; nay, should they grant all 
that our public councils have heretofore 
claimed, we should still be in a most danger- 
ous situation, liable to renewed encroachments 
and renewed hostilities. What else can be 
supposed from such a situation, and from 
the views, temper, and prejudices that must, 
and will, prevail in the British court and par- 
liament : besides who in that case will reim- 
burse our losses ; or how shall our public 
debts be paid .' I do solemnly declare, and 
that with respect to the best reconciliation that 
can reasonably be expected, with so corrupt, 
treacherous, and tyrannical an administration, 
that if I thought we should again revert to a 
dependence on Britain, I should, from this day, 
lay down my sword, and weep that I was born 
in America. But far other prospects are be- 
fore us : glory, empire, liberty and peace, are, 
I am persuaded, unless we are lost to our- 
selves, very near at hand. And, on every 
consideration of the present state and progress 
of our public affairs, compared with the spirit 
of Britain, and the spirit, the interest, and the 
internal advantages of America, methinks, I 
hear a voice, as if an angel from Heaven 
should proclaim, " come out from among 
them, and be ye separate from them. Come 
out of her my people, that ye be not partakers 
of her sins, and ye receive not of her plagues." 

[The preceding is copied from Almon's 
Remembrancer ; we do not presume to supply 
the blanks. Words were used — no doubt, 
which the editor of that work thought it 
dangerous to publish. The address appears 
to have been delivered in about May, 1776. 
It may be worthy of remark here, that the 
declaration of independence is published in the 
same work, with many such blanks.] 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



223 



DECLARATION 
Of the deputies of Pennsylvania, met 

IN PROVINCIAL conference, AT PHILA- 
DELPHIA, June 24, 1776. 

Whereas George the third, king of Great 
Britain, etc., in violation of the principles of the 
British constitution, and of the laws of justice 
and humanity, hath by an accumulation of op- 
pressions, unparalleled in history, excluded the 
inhabitants of this, with the other American 
colonies, from his protection ; and whereas he 
hath paid no regard to any of our numerous 
and dutiful petitions for redress of our compli- 
cated grievances, but hath lately purchased 
foreign troops to assist in enslaving us, and 
hath e.xcited the savages of this country to 
carry on a war against us, as also the negroes, 
to embrue their hands in the blood of their 
masters, in a manner unpractised by civilized 
nations ; and moreover hath lately insulted our 
calamities by declaring, that he will shew us 
no mercy, until he has subdued us ; and 
whereas, the obligations of allegiance (being 
reciprocal between a king and his subjects) 
are now dissolved, on the side of the colonists, 
by the despotism and declaration of the said 
king, insomuch that it appears that loyalty to 
him is treason against the good people of this 
country; and whereas not only the parliament, 
but there is reason to believe, too many of 
the people of Great Britain, have concurred in 
the aforesaid arbitrary and unjust proceedings 
against us ; and whereas the public virtue of 
this colony (so essential to its liberty and hap- 
piness) must be endangered by a future politi- 
cal union with, or dependence upon a crown 
and nation, so lost to justice, patriotism, and 
magnanimity : IV^, the deputies of the people 
of Pennsylvania, assembled in full provincial 
conference, for forming a plan for executing 
the resolve of congress of the 15th of May last, 
for suppressing all authority in this province, 
derived from the crown of Great Britain, and 
for establishing a government upon the author- 
ity of the people only do, in this public manner, 
in behalf of ourselves, and with the approba- 
tion, consent, and authority of our constitu- 
ents, unanimously declare our willingness to 
concur in a vote of the congress, declaring the 
United Colonies yVc^? and independent states; 
provided, the forming the government and the 
regulation of the internal police of this colony, 
be always reserved to the people of the said 
colony. And we do further call upon the 
nations of Europe, and appeal to the Great 
Arbiter and governor of the empires of the 



world, to witness for us, that this declaration 
did not originate in ambition, or in an impa- 
tience of lawful authority, but that we were 
driven to it in obedience to the first principles 
of nature, by the oppressions and cruelties of 
the aforesaid king and parliament of Great 
Britain, as the only possible measure that was 
left us to preserve and establish our liberties, 
and to transmit them inviolate to posterity. 
Signed, by order of the conference, 

Thomas M'Kean, President. 



PATRIOTIC ADDRESS 

Of the Deputies of Pennsylvania, una- 
nimously adopted June 25, 1776. 

Address to the people of Pennsylvania : 

" The only design of our meeting together 
was, to put an end to our own power, in the 
province, by fixing upon a plan for calling a 
convention, to form a government under the 
authority of the people. But the sudden and 
unexpected separation of the last assembly has 
compelled us to undertake the execution of a 
resolve of congress, for calling forth 4500 
of the militia of the province, to join the militia 
of the neighboring colonies, to form a camp for 
our immediate protection. We presume only 
to recommend what we have formed to you ; 
trusting that, in such a case of consequence, 
your love of virtue and zeal for liberty, will 
supply the want of authority delegated to us 
expressly for that purpose. 

" We need not remind you, that you are now 
furnished with new motives to animate and 
support your courage. You are not about to 
contend against power, in order to displace one 
set of villains to make room for another ; your 
arms will not be enervated in the day of battle 
with the reflection that you are to risk your 
lives, or shed your blood for a British tyrant ; 
or that your posterity will have your work to 

do over again You are about to contend 

ior permanent freedom, to be supported by a 
government, which will be derived from your- 
selves, and which will have for its object not 
the emolument of one man, or one class of 
men, but the safety, liberty, and happiness of 
every individual in the community. 

" We call upon you, therefore, by the respect 
and obedience which is due to the United Col- 
onies, to concur in this important measure. 
The present campaign will probably decide the 
fate of America. It is now in your power to 
immortalize your names by mingling your 



224 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



achievements with the events of the year 1776 — 
a year which, we hope, will be sacred in the 
annals of history, to the end of time for estab- 
lishing upon a lasting foundation, the liberties 
of one quarter of the globe. 

" Remember the honor of our colony is at 
stake. Should you desert the common cause 
at the present juncture, the glory you have ac- 
quired by your former exertions of strength 
and virtue will be tarnished ; and our friends 
and brethren, who are now acquiring laurels in 
the most remote parts of America, will reproach 
us. and blush to own themselves natives or in- 
habitants of Pennsylvania. 

" But there are other motives before you — 
your houses — your fields — the legacies of your 
ancestors, or the dear bought fruits of yourown 
industry, and your liberty, now urge you to 
the field : these cannot plead with you in vain, 
or we might point out to you further, your 
wives, your children, your aged fathers and 
mothers, who now look up to you for protec- 
tion, and hope for salvation, in this day of ca- 
lamity, from the instrumentality of your swords. 

" Remember the «(7Wi' of Pennsylvania — think 
of your ancestors and posterity." 



PROCEEDINGS 



Of the Convention of Pennsylv.\nia on 
the monopoly of salt. 

In convention for the state of Pennsylvania, 
Saturday, August 24, 1776. 

Whereas, it appears to this convention, upon 
due enquiry and information of the circumstan- 
ces, that the salt now in this city, has been 
imported at low prices, and under moderate 
insurance. And whereas, divers persons, in 
contempt of the just and wholesome regulations 
of the committee, etc., of Philadelphia, under 
directions of congress, have continued to dis- 
pose of their salt at most exorbitant prices, to 
the great grievance and distress of their fellow 
subjects of this state : it is therefore resolved. 
That the said regulations be hereby confirmed, 
and all persons whatever, are hereby strictly 
enjoined to pay due obedience thereto. And 
the said committees are authorized and di- 
rected to seize, and take into their possession the 
salt belonging to such persons as have refused, 
or shall refuse, conformity to the regulations 
so established : or shall altogether withhold, 
or refuse to sell their salt during the continuance 
of such regulations, allowing to the said per- 
sons, upon the sale thereof, the fixed and set- 



tled prices, first deducting the expenses incurred 
upon the sale. 

And whereas, it is but reasonable that every 
part of this extensive state should be accom- 
modated, as nearly as may be, with their 
proportion of this article, so justly esteemed a 
necessary of life: 

Be it resolved. That the committee of Phila- 
delphia are hereby farther directed to distribute 
the salt, that may, as aforesaid, come into their 
possession, in equal quantities in the several 
counties, having regard to the reputed num- 
ber of the inhabitants contained in the said 
counties. 

Extract from the minutes, 

John Morris, Jun. Sec. 



TREASON. 



An ordinance of the state of Pennsylvania, 
declaring what shall be treason, and for 
punishing the same, and other crimes and 
practices against the state. 

Whereas, government ought at all times, to 
take the most effectual measures for the safety 
and security of the state. Be it therefore 
ordained and declared, and it is hereby ordained 
and declared by the representatives of the free- 
men of the state of Pennsylvania, in general 
convention met. That all and every person 
and persons, (except prisoners of war) now 
inhabiting or residing within the limits of the 
state of Pennsylvania, or that shall voluntarily 
come into the same hereafter, to inhabit or 
sojourn, do, and shall owe and pay allegiance 
to the state of Pennsylvania. 

And be it further ordained, by the authority 
aforesaid, That all and every such person and 
persons, so owing allegiance to the state of 
Pennsylvania, who from and after the publica- 
tion hereof, shall le\-y war against the state. 
or be adherent to the king of Great Britain, 
or others 

or to the enemies 
of the United States of America, by giving him 
or them aid or assistance within the limits of 
this state, or elsewhere, and shall be thereof 
duly convicted in any court of oyer and terminer 
hereafter to be erected, according to law, shall 
be adjudged guilty of high treason, and forfeit 
his lands, tenements, goods and chattels, to the 
use of the state, and be imprisoned any term 
not exceeding the duration of the present war 
with Great Britain, at the discretion of the 
judge or judges. 

And be it farther ordained and declared, by 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



225 



the authority aforesaid. That any person or 
persons (except as before excepted) residing, 
inhabiting, or sojourning in this state, who shall 
hereafter know of such treason, and conceal the 
same, or that shall receive or assist such traitor, 
knowing him to be such, and shall be thereof 
duly convicted, as aforesaid, shall be adjudged 
guilty of misprision of treason, and suffer the 
forfeiture of one third of his goods and chat- 
tels, lands and tenements, to the use of the 
state, and be imprisoned any term not exceed- 
ing the duration of the present war with Great 
Britain, at the discretion of the judge or judges. 

And be it further ordained and declared. 
That in all convictions for high treason, the 
judge or judges, before whom the trial is had, 
may, out of the estate forfeited by virtue of 
this act, make such provision for the wife or 
children, if any, of the criminal, as he or they, 
in his or their discretion may deem necessary. 

And be it farther ordained and declared. 
That this ordinance shall be in force, till the 
end of the first session of the first assembly 
that shall meet under the new constitution of 
this state ; and no longer. 

Passed in convention, September 5, 1776, 
and signed by their order. 

B. Franklin, President. 
Attest, John Morris. 



REMONSTRANCE 



Of certain citizens of Philadelphia, 
arrested. and confined in the free 
Mason Lodge IN THE CITY, Sept. 4, 1777. 
to the president and council of 
Pennsylvania. 

The remonstrance of the subscribers, free- 
men, and inhabitants of the city of Phila- 
delphia, now confined in the Free Mason's 
Lodge. 

Sheweth — That the subscribers have been, 
by virtue of a warrant, signed in council by 
George Bryan, vice president, arrested in our 
houses, and on our lawful occasions, and con- 
ducted to this place, where we have been kept 
in close confinement, under a strong military 
guard, two or more days — that although divers 
of us demanded of the messengers, who 
arrested us, and insisted on having copies of 
the said warrant, yet we were not able to pro- 
cure the same, till this present time, but have 
remained here unaccused and unheard. We 
now take the earliest opportunity of laying our 
grievances before your body, from whom we 

15 



apprehend they proceed, and of claiming to our- 
selves the liberties and privileges to which we 
are entitled by the fundamental rules of justice 
by our birthright and inheritance, the laws of 
the land ; and by the express provision of the 
present constitution, under which your board 
derive their power. 

We apprehend, that no man can lawfully be 
deprived of his liberty, without a warrant from 
some persons having competent authority, 
specifying an offence against the laws of the 
land, supported by oath or affirmation of the 
accuser, and limiting the time of his imprison- 
ment, until he is heard, or legally discharged, 
unless the party be found in the actual perpe- 
tration of a crime. Natural justice, equally 
with law, declares that the party accused should 
know what he is to answer to, and have an 
opportunity of shewing his innocence — These 
principles are strongly enforced in the ninth 
and tenth sections of the declaration of rights, 
which form a fundamental and inviolable part 
of the constitution, from which you derive your 
power, wherein it is declared : 

I.X. "That, in all prosecutions for criminal 
offences, a man hath a right to be heard by 
himself and his counsel, to demand the cause 
and nature of his accusation, to be confronted 
with the witnesses, to call for evidence in his 
favor, and a speedy public trial by an impar- 
tial jury of the county ; without the unanimous 
consent of which jury, he cannot be found 
guilty. — Nor can he be compelled to give evi- 
dence against himself; nor can any man be 
justly deprived of his liberty, except by the 
laws of the land, or the judgment of his peers." 

X. " That the people have a right to hold 
themselves, their houses, papers and posses- 
sions, free from search or seizure, and there- 
fore warrants without oaths or affirmations 
first made, affording a sufficient foundation for 
them, and whereby any officer or messenger 
may be commanded or required to search 
suspected places, or to seize any person or 
persons, his or their property not particularly 
described, are contrary to that right, and ought 
not to be granted. 

How far these principles have been adhered 
to, in the course of this business, we shall go 
on to shew. 

Upon the examination of the said warrant, 
we find it is, in all respects, inadequate to these 
descriptions, altogether unprecedented in this 
or any free countr}', both in its substance 
and the latitude given to the messengers who 
were to execute it, and wholly subversive of 
the very constitution you profess to support. 
The only charge on which it is founded, is a 



226 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



recommendation of congress to apprehend and 
secure all persons who, in their general con- 
duct and conversation, have evidenced a dis- 
position inimical to the cause of America, and 
particularly naming some of us — but not sug- 
gesting the least offence to have been commit- 
ted by us. 

It authorizes the messengers to search all 
papers belonging to us, upon a bare possibility, 
that something political may be found, but 
without the least ground for a suspicion of the 
kind. 

It requires papers, relative to the sufferings 
of the people called Quakers, to be seized, 
without limiting the search to any house, or 
number of houses ; under color of which, every 
house in this city, might be broken open. 

To the persons whom the congress have 
thought proper to select, the warrant adds a 
number of the inhabitants of the city, of whom 
some of us are part ; without the least insinua- 
tion, that they are within the description given 
by the congress, in their recommendation. 

It directs all these matters to be e.\ecuted 
(though of the highest importance to the liber- 
ties of the people) at the discretion of a set of 
men, who are under no qualification for the 
due execution of the office, and are unaccus- 
tomed to the forms of executing civil process ; 
from whence, probably, have proceeded the 
excesses and irregularities committed by some 
of them, in divers instances, by refusing to give 
copies of the process to the parties arrested, by 
denying to some of us, a reasonable time to con- 
sider of answers, and prepare for confinement. 
In the absence of others, by breaking our desks, 
and other private repositories — and by ran- 
sacking and carrying off domestic papers, 
printed books, and other matters not within 
the terms of the warrant. 

It limits no time for the duration of our im- 
prisonment, nor points at any hearing, which is 
an absolute requisite to make a legal warrant ; 
but confounds in one warrant, the power to 
apprehend, and the authority to commit, with- 
out interposing a judicial officer between the 
parties and the messenger. 

Upon the whole, we conceive this warrant, 
and the proceedings thereupon, to be far more 
dangerous in its tendency, and a more flagrant 
violation of every right which is dear to free- 
men, than any that can be found in the records 
of the English constitution. 

But when we consider the use to which this 
general warrant has been applied, and the 
persons upon whom it has been executed, (who 
challenge the world to charge them with of- 
fence) il becomes of too great magnitude to be 



considered as the cause of a few. — It is the 
cause of every inhabitant, and may, if permitted 
to pass into a precedent, establish a system of 
arbitrary power unknown but in the inquisition, 
or the despotic courts of the East. 

What adds further to this alarming stretch 
of power is, that we are informed the vice pre- 
sident of the council, has declared to one of the 
magistrates of the city, who called on him to 
enquire into the cause of our confinement, that 
we were to be sent to Virginia UNHEARD. 

Scarcely could we believe such a declaration 
could have been made by a person who fills 
the second place in the government, till we 
were this day confirmed in the melancholy 
truth by three of the subscribers, whom you 
absolutely refused to hear in person, or by 
counsel, — We would remind you of the com- 
plaints urged by numbers of yourselves against 
the parliament of Great Britain, for condemn- 
ing the town of Boston UNHEARD, and we call 
upon you to reconcile your present conduct 
with your THEN professions, or your repeated 
declarations in favor of general liberty. 

In the name, therefore, of the whole body of 
the freemen of Pennsylvania, whose liberties 
are radically struck at in this arbitrary impris- 
onment of us ; their unoffending {fi^^ow-cwXiax^ 
— we demand an audience, that so our inno- 
cence may appear, and persecution give place 
to justice. — But if, regardless of every sacred 
obligation by which men are bound to each 
other in society, and of that constitution by 
which you profess to govern, which you have 
so loudly magnified for the free spirit it breathes, 
you are still determined to proceed, be the ap- 
peal to the Righteous Judge of all the earth 
for the integrity of our hearts, and the unparal- 
leled tyranny of your measures 

James Pemberton, Thomas Wharton, Thos. 
Coombe, Edward Pennington, Henry Drinker, 
Phineas Bond, Thomas Gilpin, John Pember- 
ton, Thomas Pike, Owen Jones, jun., Thomas 
Affleck. Charles Jervis, William Smith, broker, 
William Drewet Smith, Thomas Fisher, Miers 
Fisher, Charles Eddy, Israel Pemberton, John 
Hunt, Samuel Pleasants. 

Mason's Lodge, Philadelphia, Sept. 4, 1777. 

N. B. The three last subscribers were first 
attended by some of those, who executed the 
general warrant ; but after their remonstrance 
to the president and council, were arrested by 
Lewis Nicola, and conducted to the Lodge, 
by a special order to him. 

The foregoing remonstrance was delivered 
to Thomas Wharton, jun. president, etc., last 
evening, who promised to lay it before council, 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



227 



and send an answer to one of the gentlemen, 
who deUvered it to him this morning ; but no 
answer has yet been received. 

September 5th, half past two o'clock, P. M. 



INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE 

Of Brig. Gen. Lacey with Gen. Wash- 
ington AND OTHERS, I778. 

A much valued friend placed in the hands of 
the editor a large volume of papers, contain- 
ing the correspondence of brig. gen. Lacey, 
of Pennsylvania, who commanded the militia 
stationed on the east side of the Schuylkill, to 
watch the motions of the enemy and prevent 
his obtaining supplies, during the period at 
which he occupied Philadelphia. 
This volume contains a great deal of curious 
matter — though not much of it seems to 
come within the prospectus of this work. 
Such articles follow as may serve to shew 
the spirit and necessities of the times. 
Gen. Washington to Gen. Lacey — dated 
at Valley Forge, Jan. 23, 1778. [E.xtract.] 
" 1 am well informed that many persons, under 
pretence of furnishing the inhabitants of Ger- 
mantown, and near the enemy's lines, afford 
immense supplies to the Philadelphia markets 
— a conduct highly prejudicial to us and con- 
trary to every order. It is therefore become 
proper to make an example of some guilty one, 
that the rest may expect a like fate, should they 
persist. This I am determined to put in exe- 
cution ; and request you, when a suitable ob- 
ject falls into your hands, that you will send 
him herewith the witnesses ; or let me know his 
name — when you shall have power to try, and 
if proved guilty, to execute. This you will be 
pleased to make known to the people, that they 
may again have warning." 

From l/u'SAMKdaledFei. 8, 1778. [Extract.] 
" The communication between the city and 
country, in spite of every thing hitherto done, 
Still continuing, and threatening the most per- 
nicious consequences, I am induced to beg you 
will exert every possible expedient to put a stop 
to it. In order to this, to excite the zeal of the 
militia under your command, and make them 
more active in their duty, I would have you let 
every thing taken from persons going into and 
coming out of the city, redound to the benefit of 
the parties who take them. At the same time, 
it will be necessary to use great precaution to 
prevent an abuse of this privilege ; since it may 
otherwise be made a pretext for plundering the 
innocent inhabitants. One method to prevent 



this will be, to let no forfeiture take place but 
under the eye and with the concurrence of 
some commissioned officer. 

Any horses captured in this manner, fit for 
the public service, either as light or draught 
horses, must be sent to camp to the quarter- 
master general, who will be directed to pay the 
value of them to the captors." 

Gen. Lacey /o the Council of Pennsyl- 
vania — dated Warwick, Bucks, Feb 15,1778. 
[Extracts.] " My force is reduced almost to a 
cypher. Only sixty remain fit for duty in camp. 
With this number, you must of course suppose 
that we are in no wise capable of guarding so 
extensive a country as this, nor even safe in 
our camp." [Gen. Lacey's force continually 
fluctuated — sometimes it amounted to several 
hundred ; at other times it was wholly in- 
efficient, and hardly exceeded fifty in all. At 
one moment he had several times more men 
than arms ; at another, many times more arms 
than men. The militia were called out for 
short tours, and his command was a most per- 
plexing one. The officers and men hardly 
knew each other before they separated.] 

On the 2\st of Feb. 177S, Gen. WASHING- 
TON orders the destruction or revurz'al of cer- 
tain quantities of hay, in place accessible to the 
enemy. 

Gen. Washington to Gen. Lacey, dated 
at Valley Forge, March 2, 1778. [Extracts.] 
" I don't well know what to do with the great 
numbers of people taken going to Philadelphia. 
I have punished several severely, fined others 
heavily, and some are sentenced to be im- 
prisoned during the war." He then expresses 
a wish that the state will take charge of them, 
punish them as criminals, or hold them to 
exchange " for those inhabitants lately taken 
from their families." But in a postscript adds, 
" If either or any of the persons now in your 
custody are such that you think are proper to 
make examples of, and you have sufficient 
evidence to convict them, send them over to 
me, with the witnesses, and 1 will have them 
immediately tried by a court martial." 

Gen. Lacey to the Council, dated Camp, 
near White Marsh, March 11, 1778. [Extracts.] 
" As soon as I approach within eight or ten 
miles of the enemy's lines, the inhabitants, hav- 
ing their horses concealed in bye places, mount 
them, and taking their way through the fields 
and private paths, repair directly to the city, 
with the intelligence that the rebels are in the 
neighborhood. Not one word of intelligence 
can we procure from them, — not even the 
direction of the roads. 

There are large sums of counterfeit money 



228 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



circulating in the lower part of Bucks and 
Philadelphia counties, which are brought out 
of the city by the market people." 

A letter from Gen. Wayne to Gen. Lacey 
by order of Gen. Washington, notifies Gen. 
L. that he is directed " to collect and drive in 
all the cattle, horses and wagons, in the coun- 
ties of Bucks and Philadelphia, likely to fall 
into the hands of the enemy, — especially the 
property oi ton'es." 

Gen. hPLCES's orders to /its scouting parties, 
Mixrch 9, 1778. [Extract.] " If your parties 
should meet with any people going to market, 
or any persons whatever going to the city, and 
they endeavor to make their escape, you will 
order your men to fire upon the villains. You 
will leave such on the roads — their bodies and 
their marketing lying together. This I wish 
you to execute on the first offenders you meet, 
that they may be a warning to others." 

Gen. Washington to Gen. Lacey, dated 
at Valley Forge, zoih March, 1778 — "Sunday 
next being the time on which the quakers hold 
one of their general meetings, a number of that 
society will probably be attempting to go into 
Philadelphia. This is an intercourse that we 
should by all means endeavor to interrupt, as 
the plans settled at these meetings are of the 
most pernicious tendency,* I would therefore 
have you dispose of your parties in such a man- 
ner as will most probably fall in with these 
people, and if they should, and any of them 
should be mounted upon horses fit for draft or 
the service of light dragoons, I desire they may 
be taken from them, and sent over to the quar- 
ter-master general. Any such are not to be con- 
sidered as the property of the parties who may 
seize them, as in other cases. Communicate 
the above orders to any of the officers who 

*I was in much doubt whether I ought to publish 01 

suppress this letter— but, on reflection, have thought it 
best to insert it. It must be admitted, that a great majority 
of the quakers in Pennsylvania, were " well inclined " to 
the British, and some of them went greatlengths out of 
the rules of their i)rofessioa to aid and comfort the enemy 
of their country ; others, by adhering to those rules and re- 
fusing to take any part in the contest, even by the payment 
of taxes, were improperly suspected of disatfection, when 
in fact they were only neutral, refusing to have anything 
to do with the war : a few, however, laid aside their testi- 
mony against fighting, and contended gallantly for free- 
dom. Persons of this religious persuasion in some other 
states, were sincerely attached to the cause of independ- 
ence, and did all that consistently they could do to assist 
the whigs. A stoppage of the intercourse with Philadel- 
phia, at the time, was indubitably necessary and proper ; 
but gen. Washington was misinformed, I apprehend, 
when he spoke of the " plans" settled at the meetings of 
the quakers— whatever they might have done as individ- 
uals, their ^^ meetings^" must have passed without the 
adoption of any plans of a political nature— for such things 
are not suffered to be mentioned in them. 

Editor. 



may command scouting parties on your side 
of the Schuylkill. 

\Gen. Lacey, in reply, says he had ordered 
out his horse to stop the quakers, with orders. 
" if they refused to stop when hailed, to fire 
into them, and leave their bodies lying in the 
road."] 

[So great was the intercourse with Philadel- 
phia, and so numerous the sufferings of the 
whigs in consequence of intelligence carried 
to the enemy, that an idea was entertained of 
removing all the people within fifteen miles of 
that city ; but Washington said " the measure 
was rather desirable than practicable," and 
preferred a rigid conduct towards " notorious 
characters," who, he again directed, should be 
tried by courts martial. But in a letter of the 
nth April, in consequence ot a resolve of con- 
gress, he says, " it will be needless to appre- 
hend any more. If found going to Philadel- 
phia with provisions, you may take that and 
their horses from them." 

Gen. Greene /o Gen. Lacey, dated at Val- 
ley Forge, April 21, 1778. The wife of maj. 
T. complains that some of your people have 
taken from her husband, one of their horses, 
which they are in want of to enable them to 
move up to Reading. I wish you to inquire into 
the matter, and if there is no capital offence, 
to order the beast to be delivered to the owner 
again. The war is a sufficient calamity under 
every possible restraint, but where people are 
influenced by avarice and private prejudice, 
they increase the distresses of the inhabitants 
beyond conception. Those evils can only be 
restrained by the generals, whose duty it is to 
protect the distressed inhabitants, as well as 
govern and regulate the affairs of the army. 
1 hope you will pay particular attention to this 
affair, as the age and distress of the com- 
plainants appear to claim it." 

[In reply, Gen. Lacey states that he finds the 
horse was taken by a person who " calls him- 
self a volunteer, and has made a practice of 
riding with my parties." He was called upon 
to answer for his conduct, and fresh instruc- 
tions given not to molest the inhabitants 
"unless found favoring the enemy."] 

Gen. Lacey surprised. In a letter to Gen. 
Washington, dated camp near Neshaminy 
bridge, York road. May 2, 1778, gen. Lacey 
gives an account of his being surprised by a 
superior force of the enemy, near the Crooked 
Billet, at day break on the preceding day, by 
the neglect of a lieut. whose duty it was to 
keep a lookout, which he neglected to do and 
was cashiered for it. Though the attack was 
wholly unexpected and very vigorous, Lacey 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



229 



made out to get his people embodied, and re- 
treated fighting for upwards of two miles, when 
he reached a wood and extricated himself. He 
lost thirty killed, and seventeen wounded. A 
number of the enemy were killed. We notice 
this affair to give the following extract from 
gen. Lacey's letter. 

" Some [of his men] were butchered in the 
most savage and cruel manner — even when 
living, some were thrown into buckwheat 
straw, and the straw set on fire. The clothes 
were burnt on others ; and scarcely one left 
without a dozen wounds, with bayonets and 
cutlasses." 

[These things are repeated, with additional 
particulars, in a letter to general Armstrong.] 

General Lacey was relieved by general Potter 
about the middle of May, 1778, but resumed 
his old station in the autumn of 1780, to collect 
troops, wagons, horses, etc., by order of the 
council of Pennsylvania. The following letter 
from president Reed may serve to shew the 
state of things, as to the subjects to which it 
relates : 

To H. W , Esq., Bucks county. — Sir : — 

Having expressed myself so fully to you and 
Mr. T. upon the necessity of procuring a 
number of horses, I am not a little surprised 
that you should have discharged those that had 
been taken under the direction of general 
Lacey ; and I cannot help considering it as 
adding to my embarrassments at a time when 
you gave me reason to expect assistance. 

It is much to be wished that gentlemen in 
public office, who, from motives of compassion, 
or a fear of offending, cannot take part in these 
necessary measures, would on such occasions 
avoid any interference ; and leave persons of 
more decision to proceed. The legislature 
having vested the power of declaring martial 
law in us, I apprehend you had not authority 
to counteract the orders given : which were to 
send such horses as were taken immediately 
down to this place, for the accommodation of 
the militia, about to march, agreeably to 
general Washington's order. It will be a great 
disappointment if they do not come down, and 
will throw us all in confusion. As Mr. T. and 
yourself, by my accounts, discharged all the 
horses, after taken, I must esteem you account- 
able for them. It is no season for such lax and 
indecisive measures, and you will probably ere 
long, if the enemy are not driven from the 
countr)', experience that though temporizing 
measures appear at first view easy and desira- 
ble, they are ruinous in the end. You have 
already done enough, and have property enough, 
to make you an object of the vengeance of the 



enemy and their tory adherents ; and if you do 
not secure yourself by your exertions, you have 
little to expect from their lenity or gratitude. 
I should not have said this much if I did not 
feel myself much hurt and the public seri'ice 
injured, by giving way to a little clamor, after 
the most odious and difficult part of the business 
was done. 
I am, sir, your obedient, humble servant, 

Jos. Reed. 
Philadelphia, Aug. II, 1 780. 

General Lacey and his corps was discharged 
by an order of the executive of Pennsylvania, 
on the I2th October, 1781, with the thanks of 
the council. 



AN EULOGIUM 



Of the brave men who have fallen in the contest 
with Great Britain : Delivered by judge 
Brackenbridge, on Monday, July 5, 1779, 
before a numerous and respectable assembly 
of citizens and foreigners, in the German 
Calvinist church, Philadelphia. 

Heroes then arose ; 



Who, scorning coward self, for others liv'd, 
Toil'd for their ease, and for their safety bled. 

Thomson. 

It is the high reward of those who have 
risked their lives in a just and necessary war, * 
that their names are sweet in the mouths of 
men, and every age shall know their actions. 
I am happy in having it in my power, before a 
polite assembly, to express what I think of 
those who have risked their lives in the war of 
America. I know my abilities rise not to a level 
with so great a subject, but I love the memory 
of the men, and it is my hope, that the affection 
which I feel, will be to me instead of genius, 
and give me warm words to advance their 
praises. 

I conceive it as the first honor of these men 
that, before they engaged in the war, they saw 
it to be just and necessary. They were not the 
vassals of a proud chieftain rousing them, in 
barbarous times, by the blind impulse of at- 
tachment to his family, or engaging them to 
espouse his quariel, by the music and enter- 
tainment of his hall. They were themselves 
the chieftains of their own cause, highly in- 
structed in the nature of it, and from the best 
principles of patriotism, resolute in defence. 
They had heard the declaration of the court 
and parliament of Great Britain, claiming the 
authority of binding them in all cases whatso- 
ever. They had examined this claim, and found 
* Tacitus. 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



it to be, as to its foundation, groundless ; as to 
its nature tyrannical, and in its consequences, 
ruinous to tbie peace and happiness of both 
countries. On this clear apprehension and de- 
cided judgment of the cause, ascertained by 
their own reason, and collected from the best 
writers, it was the noble purpose of their minds 
to stand forth and assert it, at the expense of 
fortune, and the hazard of their lives. 

These brave men were not soldiers by pro- 
fession, bred to arms, and from a habit of mili- 
tary life attached to it. They were men in the 
easy walks of life ; mechanics of the city, mer- 
chants of the counting house, youths engaged 
in the literary studies, and husbandmen, peaceful 
cultivators of the soil. Happy in the sociability 
and conversation of the town, the simplicity 
and innocence of the countrv' village, or the 
philosophic ease of academic leisure, and the 
sweets of rural life, they wished not a change 
of these scenes of pleasure, for the dangers and 
calamities of. war. It was the pure love of 
virtue and of freedom, burning bright within 
their minds, that alone could engage them to 
embark in an undertaking of so bold and 
perilous a nature. 

These brave men were not unacquainted with 
the circumstances of their situation, and their 
unprepared state of war. Not a bayonet was 
anvilled out, not a fire-arm was in their pos- 
session. No redoubt was cast up to secure the 
city, no fort was erected to resist invasion, no 
gun mounted on the batter)', and no vessel 
launched upon the stream. 

The power of Britain, on the other hand, was 
well known, and by the lightning of her orators, 
in a thousand writings and harangues, had 
been thrown, in full force, upon their minds. 
They were taught to believe her, (what indeed 
she was) old in arts and in arms, and enriched 
with the spoils of a thousand victories. Em- 
braced with the ocean as her favorite, her com- 
merce was extensive, and she sent her ships to 
every sea. Abounding in men, her armies 
were in full force, her fleets were completely 
manned, her discipline was regular, and the 
spirit of her enterprise, by sea and land, had, 
in most cases, insured her successes. 

The idea of resistance to the power of 
Britain was indeed great — but the mighty soul 
of the patriot drank it in, and, like the eagle on 
the mountain top, collected magnanimity from 
the very prospect of the height from which he 
meant to soar : Like the steed who swallows 
the distant ground with his fierceness,* he 
attempts the career, and poured himself upon 
the race. 

• Book of Job. 



The patriot quits his easy independent walk 
of life, his shop, his farm, his office and his 
counting house, and with every hope and every 
anxious thought, prepares himself for war. 
The materials of gun powder are extracted from 
the earth : the bayonet is anvilled out ; the fire- 
arm is manufactured in the shop ; the manual 
exercise is taught ; the company is formed in 
battalion ; the battalion is instructed to manoeu- 
vre on the field ; the brigade is drawn forth ; 
and the standard of defiance is planted on the 
soil. 

Shall I mention the circumstances of the day 
when the sword was drawn, and the first blood 
was shed ; and shall I trace the progress of the 
war in the course of five campaigns? The 
narration would require the space of an entire 
day : I can mention but the sum of things ; 
and only tell you, that the inroad of the foe has 
been sustained upon the plain, and the fonvard 
and impetuous bands have been driven over 
the disdaining ground which they had meas- 
ured in advance. The hill has been defended, 
and the repulsed and rallying foe has been 
taught to understand, that the valor of America 
was worthy of the cause which her freemen 
have espoused. The wilderness has been 
surmounted in the march. It has been fought, 
foot to foot, and point to point, in skirmishes, 
and night surprises, and in pitched battles, with 
alternate hope and dubious success. The 
enemy, beaten in one state has retired to a 
second, and beaten in the second, he has 
returned to the first ; beaten in every state he 
has sought the water, and like a sea monster 
rolling to the deep, has washed his wounds in 
the brine of ocean. Rising from the ocean he 
has sought the land, and advanced with a 
slow and suspicious step upon the hostile 
territory. War is again arisen, and it has been 
fought from spring to autumn, and from 
autumn to spring, through the heat of summer 
and the inclemencies of winter, with unabated 
ardor, and unshaken perseverance. What 
tract of country has not been marked with the 
vestiges of war ? What ground has not been 
cut with trenches ? — What hill has not been 
covered with redoubts ? — What plain has not 
been made the scene of the engagement ? What 
soil of our whole earth has not been sowed 
with ball ? 

These have been the toils of the heroes of 
our army ; but the brave men whom we this 
day celebrate, have added to their toils the loss 
of life. They have fallen in the contest : 
These of them in the long and laborious march : 
These by the fever of the camp : These have 
fallen when, .tdvancing on the enemy, they 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



231 



have received the bayonet in their breast : or 
high in hope, and anxious of victory, they have 
dropt by the cannon or the musket ball. 

For what cause did these brave men sacri- 
fice their lives .-' For that cause which, in all 
ages, has engaged the hopes, the wishes, and 
endeavors of the breast of men — the cause of 
liberty. Liberty! thou art indeed valuable; 
the source of all that is good and great upon 
the earth ! — For thee, the patriot of America 
has drawn his sword, and has fought and has 
fallen. 

What was in our power we have done with 
regard to the bodies of these men ; we have 
paid them militar)' honors ; we have placed 
them in their native earth ; and it is with vener- 
ation that we yet view their tombs upon the 
furzy glade, or on the distant hill. Ask me not 
the names of these. The muses shall tell you 
of them, and the bards shall woo* them to 
their sons. The verse which shall be so 
happy as to embrace the name of one of these 
shall be immortal. The names of these shall 
be read with those of Pelopidas, Epaminondas, 
and the worthies of the world. Posterity shall 
quote them for parallels, and for examples. 
When they mean to dress the hero with the 
fairest praises, they shall say he was gallant 
and distinguished in his early fall, as Warren ; 
prudent and intrepid as Montgomery, faithful 
and generous as Macpherson ; he fell in the 
bold and resolute advance, like Haslet and like 
Mercer ; he saw the honor which his valor had 
acquired, and fainted in the arms of victory, 
like Herkimer : having gallantly repulsed the 
foe, he fell covered with wounds, in his old age, 
like Wooster. 

The names of these brave men shall be read ; 
and the earth shall be sensible of praise where 
their bodies are deposited. Hill of Boston, t 
where the God of arms gave uncommon valor 
to the patriot ! Here the muses shall observe 
the night, and hymn heroic acts, and trim 
their lighted lamps to the dawn of morning : 
The little babbling mystic brook, shall bear 
the melody, and stealing with a silver foot, 
shall tell it to the ocean. Hills within pros- 
pect of the York city, where the enemy, 
rejoicing at his early strength, adventured 
and fought, or where, refusing the engage- 
ment he fled, with precipitation to his ships ! 
On you the tomb of the hero is beheld, and 
fancy walking round covers it with shades. 
Grounds in the neighborhood of this city.t 
where the foreigner shall enquire the field of 
battle, and the citizen shall say with conscious 
pride, as if the honor was his own, this is the 

* Plino. t Bunker's hill. % Philadelphia. 



tomb of Witherspoon ; that is the ground 
where Nash fell ! Plains washed by the Ash- 
ley and Cooper, and before the walls of Charles- 
town ! — Here has the hero fallen, or rather he 
has risen to eternal honor, and his birth place 
shall be immortal. His fame, like a vestal 
lamp, is lighted up : It shall burn, with the 
world for its temple — and the fair assemblies 
of the earth shall trim it with their praise. 

Having paid that respect to the memory of 
these men which the annual return of this day 
demanded, it remains that we soothe the grief 
of those who have been deprived of a father, 
bereaved of a son, or who have lost a brother, 
a husband or a lover in the contest. Fathers, 
whose heroic sons have offered up their lives 
in the contest ; it is yours to recollect, that 
their lives were given them for the service of 
their country. Fathers ! dismiss every shade 
of grief; you are happy in having been the 
progenitor of him who is written with the 
heroes of his country. 

Sons ! whose heroic fathers have early left 
you, and in the conflict ot the war, have mi.xed 
with departed heroes ; be congratulated on the 
fair inheritance of fame which you are entitled 
to possess. If it is at all lawful to array our- 
selves in borrowed honor, surely it is best 
drawn from those who have acted a distin- 
guished part in the service of their country. 
If it is at all consistent with the feelings of 
philosophy and reason to boast of lineal glory, 
surely it is most allowable in those who boast 
of it as flowing from such source. We despise 
the uninstructed mind of that man who shall 
obtrude upon our ears the ideas of a vain an- 
cestral honor ; but we love the youth, and 
transfer to him the reputation of his father, 
who, when the rich and haughty citizen shall 
frown upon him as ignobly descended, shall 
say, " I had a father who has fallen in the 
service of his country." 

When after times shall speak of those who 
have risen to renown, I will charge it to the 
golden winged and silver tongued bards, that 
they recollect and set in order every circum- 
stance ; the causes of the war ; early and just ex- 
ertions, the toils, hazardous achievements, noble 
resolution, unshaken perseverance, unabated 
ardor ; hopes in the worst of times ; triumphs 
of victory ; humanity to an enemy ; All these 
will I charge it, that they recollect and set in 
order, and give them bright and unsullied to 
the coming ages. The bards I know will hear 
me, and you my gallant countrymen, shall 
go down to posterity with exceeding honor. 
Your fame shall ascend on the current of the 
stream of time : It shall play with the breezes 



23^ 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of the morning. Men at rest, in the cool age 
of life, from the fury of a thousand wars fin- 
ished by their fathers, shall observe the spread- 
ing ensign. They shall hail it, as it weaves 
with variegated glories ; and feeling all the 
warm rapture of the heart, shall give their 
plaudit from the shores. 



BURNING OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 

In effigy by the people of Philadel- 
phia, AND description of the figures 

EXHIBITED AND PARADED THROUGH THE 
STREETS OF THAT CITY, SEPT., 1780. 

A Stage raised on the body of a cart, on 
which was an effigy of general Arnold sitting ; 
this was dressed in regimentals, had two faces, 
emblematical of his traitorous conduct, a mask 
in his lel't hand, and a letter in his right from 
Beel/.ebub, telling him that he had done all the 
mischief he could do, and now he must hang 
himself. 

At the back of the general, was a figure of 
the devil, dressed in black robes, shaking a 
purse of money at the general's left ear, and 
in his right hand a pitch-fork, ready to drive 
him into hell, as the reward due for the many 
crimes which his thirst of gold had made him 
commit. 

In the front of the stage, and before general 
Arnold, was placed a large lantern of trans- 
parent paper, with the consequences of his 
crimes thus delineated, z. e. on one part general 
Arnold on his knees before the devil, who is 
pulling him into the flames — a label from the 
general's mouth with these words, " My dear 
sir, I have served you faithfully," to which the 
devil replies, " And I'll reward you." On 
another side, two figures hanging, inscribed, 
" The Traitor's Reward," and wrote under- 
neath, " The adjutant general of the British 
army, and Joe Smith, the first hanged as a spy, 
and the other as a traitor to his countrj'." 
And on the front of the lantern was wrote the 
following : — 

" Major general Benedict Arnold, late com- 
mander of the fori Wesl Point. The crime 
0/ this man is high treason. 

" He has deserted the important post, li'^est 
Point, on Hudson's river, committed to his 
charge by his excellency the commander in 
chief, and is gone off to the enemy at New 
York. 

" His design to have given up this fortress 
to our enemies has been discovered by the 



goodness of the Omniscient Creator, who has 
not only prevented him from carrying it into 
execution, but has thrown into our hands 
Andre, the adjutant general of their army, who 
was detected in the infamous character of a 
spy. 

" The treachery of the ungrateful general is 
held up to public view, for the exposition of 
infamy ; and to proclaim, with joyful acclama- 
tion, another instance of the interposition of 
bounteous Providence. 

" The effig>' of this ingrate is therefore 
hanged (for want of his body) as a traitor to 
his native country, and a betrayer of the laws 
of honor." 

The procession began about four o'clock, 
in the following order : 

Several gentleman mounted on horseback. 

A line of continental officers. 

Sundry gentlemen in a line. 

A guard of the city infantry. 

Just before the cart, drums and fifes playing the 

Rogue's march. 

Guards on each side. 

The procession was attended with a numer- 
ous concourse of people, who, after expressing 
their abhorrence of the treason and the traitor, 
committed him to the flames, and left both the 
effig)' and the original to sink into ashes and 
oblivion. 



ADDRESS 



Delivered by M. l'Abbe Bandole to 
congress, the supreme executive 
council, and the assembly of penn- 
sylvania, etc., etc., 

IVho were invited by his excellency the min- 
ister of France, to attend in the Roman Catho- 
lic church in Philadelphia, during the celebra- 
tion of divine service, and thanksgiving for the 
capture of lord Cornwallis, November, 1781. 

Gentlemen — A numerous people assem- 
bled to render thanks to the Almighty for his 
mercies, is one of the most affecting objects, 
and worthy the attention of the Supreme Being. 
While camps resound with triumphal acclama- 
tions — while nations rejoice in victory and 
glor)-, the most honorable office a minister of 
the altar can fill, is to be the organ by which 
public gratitude is conveyed to the Omnipo- 
tent. 

Those miracles, which he once wrought for 
his chosen people, are renewed in our favor; 
and it would be equally ungrateful and impious 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



233 



not to acknowledge, that the event which 
lately confounded our enemies, and frustrated 
their designs, was the wonderful work of that 
God who guards your liberties. 

And who but he could so combine the cir- 
cumstances which led to success ? We have 
seen our enemies push forward, amid perils 
almost innumerable, amid obstacles almost in- 
surmountable, to the spot which w'as designed 
to witness their disgrace : yet they eagerly 
sought it, as their theatre of triumph ! 

Blind as they were, they bore hunger, thirst, 
and inclement skies, poured their blood in bat- 
lie against brave republicans, and crossed 
immense regions to confine themselves in 
another Jericho, whose walls were fated to fall 
before another Joshua. It is He, whose voice 
commands the winds, the seas and the seasons, 
who formed a Junction on the same day, in the 
same hour, between a formidable fleet from the 
south, and an army rushing from the north, 
like an impetuous torrent. Who but he, in 
whose hands are the hearts of men, could 
inspire the allied troops with the friendships, 
the confidence, the tenderness of brothers .' 
How is it that two nations once divided, jeal- 
ous, inimical, and nursed in reciprocal preju- 
dices, are now become so closely united, as to 
form but one.'' — Worldlings would say, it is the 
wisdom, the virtue, and moderations of their 
chiefs ; it is a great national interest which has 
performed this prodigy. They will say, that to 
the skill of the generals, to the courage of the 
troops, to the activity of the whole army, we 
must attribute this splendid success. Ah ! 
they are ignorant, that the combining of so 
many fortunate circumstances, is an emanation 
from the all perfect mind, that courage, that 
skill, that activity, bear the sacred impression 
of him who is divine. 

For how many favors have we not to thank 
him during the course of the present year? 
Your union, which was at first supported by 
justice alone, has been consolidated by your 
courage : and the knot, which ties you together, 
is become indissoluble, by the accession of all 
the states, and the unanimous voice of all the 
confederates. You present to the universe the 
noble sight of a society, which, founded in 
equality and justice, secures to the individuals 
who compose it, the utmost happiness which 
can be derived from human institutions. This 
advantage, which so many other nations have 
been unable to procure, even after ages of 
efforts and misery, is granted by Divine Provi- 
dence to the United States ; and its adorable 
decrees have marked the present moment for 
the completion of that memorable and happy 



revolution which has taken place in this exten- 
sive continent. While your counsels were thus 
acquiring new energy, rapid and multiplied 
successes have crowned your arms in the 
southern states. 

We have seen the unfortunate citizens of 
these states forced from their peaceful abodes ; 
after a long and cruel captivity, old men, 
women and children, thrown, without mercy, 
into a foreign country. Master of their lands 
and their slaves, amid his temporary affluence, 
a superb victor rejoiced in their distresses. But 
Philadelphia has witnessed their patience and 
fortitude ; they have found here another home, 
and, though driven from their native soil, they 
have blessed God, that he has delivered them 
from their enemies, and conducted them to a 
country where every just and feeling man has 
stretched out the helping hand of benevolence. 
Heaven rewards their virtues. Three large 
states are at once wrested from the foe. The 
rapacious soldier has been compelled to take 
refuge behind his ramparts ; and oppression 
has vanished like those phantoms which are 
dissipated by the morning ray. 

On this solemn occasion, we might renew 
our thanks to the God of battles, for the suc- 
cess he has granted to the arms of your allies, 
and your friends, by land and by sea, through 
the other parts of the globe. But let us not 
recall those events which too clearly prove how 
much the hearts of our enemies have been 
obdurated. Let us prostrate ourselves at the 
altar, and implore the God of mercy to suspend 
his vengeance, to spare them in his wrath, to 
inspire them with sentiments of justice and 
moderation, to terminate their obstinacy and 
error, and to ordain that your victories be fol- 
lowed by peace and tranquility. Let us beseech 
him to continue to shed on the councils of the 
king your ally, that spirit of wisdom, of justice, 
and of courage, which has rendered his reign 
so glorious. Let us intreat him to maintain in 
each of the states that intelligence by which the 
United States are inspired. Let us return him 
thanks that a faction, whose rebellion he has 
corrected, now deprived of support, is annihil- 
ated. Let us offer him pure hearts, unsoiled 
by private hatred or public dissension ; and let 
us, with one will and one voice, pour forth to 
the Lord that hymn of praise, by which Chris- 
tians celebrate their gratitude and his glory. 



234 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ADDRESS 
To THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, — 

BY Dr. Benjamin Rush, Philadelphia, 
1787. 

There is nothing more common, than to 
confound the terms of American Rei'olution 
with those of t/ie late American war. The 
American war is over : but this is far from 
being the case with the American revolution. 
On the contrarj', nothing but the first act of 
the great drama is closed. It remains yet to 
establish and perfect our new forms of govern- 
ment; and to prepare the principles, morals, 
and manners of our citizens, for these forms of 
government, after they are established and 
brought to perfection. 

The confederation, together with most of 
our state constitutions, were formed under 
very unfavorable circumstances. We had just 
emerged from a corrupted monarchy. Al- 
though we understood perfectly the principles 
of liberty, yet most of us were ignorant of the 
forms and combinations of power in republics. 
Add to this, the British army was in the heart 
of our country, spreading desolation wherever 
it went : our resentments, of course, were 
awakened. We detested the British name, 
and unfortunately refused to copy some things 
in the administration of justice and power, in 
the British government, which have made it the 
admiration and envy of the world. In our 
opposition to monarchy, we forgot that the 
temple of tyranny has two doors. We bolted 
one of them by proper restraints ; but we left 
the other open, by neglecting to guard against 
the effects of our own ignorance and licen- 
tiousness. 

Most of the present difficulties of this coun- 
try arise from the weakness and other defects 
of our governments. 

My business at present shall be only to 
suggest the defects of the confederation. 
These consist — ist. In the deficiency of co- 
ercive power. 2d. In a defect of e.\clusive 
power to issue paper money, and regulate 
commerce. 3d. In vesting the sovereign 
power of the United States in a single legis- 
lature : and, 4th. In the too frequent rotation 
of its members. 

A convention is to sit soon for the purpose 
of devising means of obviating part of the 
two first defects that have been mentioned. 
But I wish they may add to their recommen- 
dations to each state, to surrender up to con- 
gress their power of emitting money. In this 
way, a uniform currency will be produced, that 



will facilitate trade, and help to bind the states 
together. Nor will the states be deprived of 
large sums of money by this mean, when sud- 
den emergencies require it ; for they may al- 
ways borrow them, as they did during the war, 
out of the treasury of congress. Even a loan 
office may be better instituted in this way, in 
each state, than in any other. 

The two last defects that have been men- 
tioned, are not of less magnitude than the 
first. Indeed, the single legislature of con- 
gress will become more dangerous, from an 
increase of power, than ever. To remedy this, 
let the supreme federal power be divided, like 
the legislatures of most of our states, into two 
distinct, independent branches. Let one of 
them be styled the council of the states and 
the other the assembly of the states. Let the 
first consist of a single delegate — and the 
second, of two, three, or four delegates, cho- 
sen annually by each state. Let the president 
be chosen annually by the joint ballot of both 
houses ; and let him possess certain powers, 
in conjunction with a privy council, especially 
the power of appointing most of the officers of 
the United States. The officers will not only 
be better, when appointed this way, but one of 
the principal causes of faction will be thereby 
removed from congress. I apprehend this di- 
vision of the power of congress will become 
more necessary, as soon as they are invested 
with more ample powers of levying and ex- 
pending public money. 

The custom of turning men out of power 
or office, as soon as they are qualitied for it, 
has been found to be absurd in practice. Is 
it virtuous to dismiss a general — a physician — 
or even a domestic, as soon as they have ac- 
quired knowledge sufficient to be useful to us, 
for the sake of increasing the number of able 
generals, skilful physicians — and faithful ser- 
vants .' We do not. Government is a science, 
and can never be perfect in America, until we 
encourage men to devote not only three years, 
but their whole lives to it. I believe the prin- 
cipal reason why so many men of abilities 
object to serving in congress, is owing to thei: 
not thinking it worth while to spend three years 
in acquiring a profession, which their country 
immediately afterwards forbids them to follow. 

There are two errors or prejudices on the 
subject of government in America, which lead 
to the most dangerous consequences. 

It is often said, " that the sovereign and all 
other power is seated in the people." This 
idea is unhappily expressed. It should be — 
" all power is derived from the people," they 
possess it only on the days of their elections. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



235 



After this, it is the property of their rulers ; nor 
can they exercise or resume it, unless it be 
abused. It is of importance to circulate this 
idea, as it leads to order and good government. 

The people of America have mistaken the 
meaning of the word sovereignty : hence each 
state pretends to be sct'ereign. In Europe, 
it is applied only to those states which possess 
the powerof making war and peace — of forming 
treaties, and the like. As this power belongs 
only to congress, they are the only sovereign 
power in the United States. 

We commit a similar mistake in our ideas of 
the word independent. No individual state, as 
such, has any claim to independence. She is 
independent only in a union with her sister 
states in congress. 

To conform the principles, morals and man- 
ners of our citizens, to our republican forms of 
government, it is absolutely necessary, that 
knowledge of every kind should be dissemina- 
ted through every part of the United States. 

For this purpose, let congress, instead of 
laying out a half a million of dollars, in building 
a federal town, appropriate only a fourth of 
that sum, in founding a federal university. In 
this university let every thing connected with 
government, such as history — the law of nature 
and nations — the civil law — the municipal laws 
of our country— and the principles of com- 
merce — be taught by competent professors. 
Let masters be employed, likewise, to teach gun- 
nery—fortification — and every thing connected 
with defensive and offensive war. Above all, 
let a professor of, what is called in the Euro- 
pean universities, economy, be established in 
this federal seminary. His business should be 
to unfold the principles and practice of agricul- 
ture and manufactures of all kind, and to enable 
him to make his lectures more extensively use- 
ful, congress should support a travelling cor- 
respondent for him, who should visit all the 
nations of Europe, and transmit to him, from 
time to time, all the discoveries and improve- 
ments that are made in agriculture and manu- 
factures. To this seminary, young men should 
be encouraged to repair, after completing their 
academical studies in the colleges of their 
respective states. The honors and offices of 
the United States should, after a while, be con- 
fined to persons who had imbibed federal and 
republican ideas in this university. 

For the purpose of diffusing knowledge, as 
well as extending the living principle of gov- 
ernment to every part of the United States — 
every state — city — county — village — and town- 
ship in the union should be tied together by 
means of the post-office. This is the true non- 



electric wire of government. It is the only 
means of conveying heat and light to every 
individual in the federal commonwealth. 
" Sweden lost her liberties," says the abbe 
Raynal, " because her citizens were so scattered, 
that they had no means of acting in concert with 
each other." It should be a constant injunc- 
tion to the post-masters, to convey newspapers 
free of all charge for postage. They are not 
only the vehicles of knowledge and intelligence, 
but the sentinels of the liberties of our country. 

The conduct of some of those strangers, who 
have visited our country, since the peace, and 
who fill the British papers with accounts of 
our distresses, shows as great a want of good 
sense, as it does of good nature. They see 
nothing but the foundations and walls of the 
temple of liberty ; and yet they undertake to 
judge of the whole fabric. 

Our own citizens act a still more absurd 
part, when they cry out, after the e.xperience of 
three or four years, that we are not proper ma- 
terials for republican government. Remember, 
we assumed these forms of government in a 
hurry, before we were prepared for them. Let 
every man exert himself in promoting virtue 
and knowledge in our country, and we shall 
soon become good republicans. Look at the 
steps by which governments have been changed, 
or rendered stable in Europe. Read the his- 
tory of Great Britain. Her boasted govern- 
ment has risen out of wars, and rebellions, 
that lasted above six hundred years. The 
United States are travelling peaceably into or- 
der and good government. They know no 
strife — but what arises from the collision of 
opinions ; and, in three years, they have ad- 
vanced further in the road to stability and hap- 
piness, than most of the nations in Europe have 
done, in as many centuries. 

There is but one path that can lead the Uni- 
ted States to destruction ; and that is their 
extent of territory. It was probably to effect 
this, that Great Britain ceded to us so much 
waste land. But even this path may be avoided. 
Let but one new state be exposed to sale at a 
time ; and let the land office be shut up, till 
every part of this new state be settled. 

I am extremely sorry to find a passion for 
retirement so universal among the patriots and 
heroes of the war. They resemble skillful 
mariners who, after exerting themselves to pre- 
serve a ship from sinking in a storm, in the 
middle of the ocean, drop asleep, as soon as 
the waves subside, and leave the care of their 
lives and property, during the remainder of the 
voyage, to sailors, without knowledge or expe- 
rience. Every man in a republic is public prop- 



236 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



erty. His time and talents — his youth —his 
manhood — his old age — nay more, his life, his 
all, belong to his country. 

Patriots of 1774, 1775, 1776 — heroes of 1778, 
1779. 1780 ! come forward ! your country de- 
mands your services ! — Philosophers and friends 
to mankind, come forward ! your country de- 
mands your studies and speculations ! Lovers 
of peace and order, who declined taking part in 
the late war. come forward ! your countrj' for- 
gives your timidity and demands your influence 
and advice ! Hear her proclaiming, in sighs 
and groans, in her governments, in her finan- 
ces, in her trade, in her manufactures, in her 
morals, and in her manners, " THE REVOLU- 
TION IS NOT OVER ! " 



PATRIOTIC GIFTS 
Of citizens of Pennsylvania. 

FROM THE PITTSBURG STATESMAN. 

At a critical period of the revolutionary war, 
when there was great danger of the dissolution 
of the American army, for want of provisions 
to keep it together, a number of patriotic gen- 
tlemen gave their bonds to the amount of 
about two hundred and sixty thousand pounds, 
in gold and silver, for procuring them. The 
provisions were provided — the army was kept 
together, and our independence was finally 
achieved. The amount of the bonds was never 
called for, but it is well to keep in remember- 
ance the names of those who in the times that 
tried men's souls stepped forward and pledged 
their all towards the support of those who were 
contending for our liberty. The following is a 
list of some of their names, with the sums re- 
spectively subscribed by them. 

Robert Morris ^£10000 

B. M'Clennaghan 1 0000 

A. Bunner & Co 6000 

Tench Francis 55oo 

James Wilson 5000 

William Bingham 5000 

Richard Peters 500c 

Samuel Meredith 5000 

James Mease 5000 

Thomas Barclay 5000 

Samuel Morris, jr 5000 

Robert L. Hooper 5000 

Hugh Shield 5000 

Philip Moore 5000 

Matthew Irwin 5000 

Thomas Irwin 5000 



John Benzet LS'xio 

Henry Hill 5000 

John Morgan 5000 

Thomas Willing 5000 

Samuel Powel 5000 

John Nixon 5000 

Robert Bridges 5000 

John Dunlap 4000 

Michael Hillegas 4000 

William Coates 4000 

Emanuel Eyre 4000 

James Bodden 4000 

John Mease 4000 

Joseph Carson 4000 

Thomas Leiper 4000 

Kean & Nichols , 4000 

Samuel Morris 3000 

Isaac Moses 3000 

Charles Thompson 3000 

John Pringle , . . . 3000 

Samuel Miles 3000 

Cadwalader Morris , 2500 

Matthew Clarkson 2500 

Thomas M'Kean 2000 

John Donaldson 2coo 

John Steinmetz 2000 

Benj. Randolph 2000 

Abraham Bickley 2000 

Robert Bass 2000 

Owen Biddle 2000 

John Gibson 2000 

Charles Petit 2000 

John Mitchel 2000 

Robert Knox 200c 

John Bullock 2000 

Joseph Reed 2000 

Francis Gurney 2000 

George Campbell 2000 

John Wharton 2000 

Benjamin Rush 2000 

Thomas Lawrence 2000 

Joseph Bleiver 2000 

William Hall 2000 

John Patton 2000 

Benjamin Fuller 2000 

Meade & Fitzsimmons 2000 

Andrew Hodge 2000 

Henry Keppele 2000 

Francis C. Hassenclever 2000 

Isaac Melcher 2000 

John Si:haffer 2000 

Alexander Tod 2000 

John Purviance 2000 

John Wilcocks 2000 

Samuel Inglis 2000 

Jonathan Penrose . 2000 

Nathaniel Falkner 2000 

James Caldwell 200c 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



237 



Gerardus Clarkson ;r2ooo 

John Shee looo 

Samuel Caldwell 1000 

Samuel Penrose 1000 

William TurnbuU 1000 

B. Davis jr 1000 

Sharp Delany 1000 

Andrew Doz 1000 

Peter Whitesides 1000 

Andrew Robeson 1000 



PRIVATE BENEFICENCE. 

FROM THE PHILADELPHIA CENTINEL. 

The subsequent narrative is no idle fiction of 
the brain ; we vouch for its authenticity, and 
no doubt but many of our readers are already 
acquainted with the names and circumstances 
depicted. We shall ever feel pleasure in em- 
bellishing our columns with such instances of 
private beneficence, so honorable to the cause of 
humanity, and we cannot but anticipate a con- 
currence in opinion of our patrons and corre- 
spondents. 



In the year 1806, a professional gentleman 
of this city had obtained a judgment, for a few 
hundred dollars, against an old, infirm gentle- 
man, who had formerly been a commissary to 
the United States' army, during the revolution- 
ary war, and who, by repeated misfortunes, had 
become reduced from easy circumstances to 
absolute penury and distress. — An e.xecution 
had been taken out, and the advocate called 
on the sheriff of Philadelphia county, presented 
it to him, and requested that it might be exe- 
cuted immediately. " It shall be done sir," 
said the minister of justice, and the gentleman 
was about leaving the apartment, when his 
ears were saluted with an exclamation not 
unlike that which greeted corporal Trim, as the 
beneficent and philanthropic Toby swore, that 
the lieut. should not sink, but march. " This 
execution," said he " shall never be ser\'ed 
by — — ," then turning to his clerk, he contin- 
ued, "give Mr. a check for the amount." 

The greatest astonishment was excited— the 
eye ol inquiry was turned on the sheriff, but 
" the form of his visage has changed ; " in- 
stead of the stern unbecoming features of a 
minister of justice, his countenance seemed 
beaming with seraphic mildness and un- 
bounded benevolence — the warm current of 
life, which for a moment had mantled his 
cheeks with crimson, had again receded to the 



heart, but a ray of ethereal sweetness remained, 
which language is inadequate to portray. 

" I could wish," said the gentleman, when 
his astonishment had in some measure sub- 
sided, " that you would so far gratify me as to 
inform me of the motives which have excited 
your munificence in the present extraordinary 
manner." "You shall have my reasons," 
said the good Samaritan, " and then judge for 
yourself of the propriety of my conduct." " In 
the month of December, 1777, which, you will 
recollect, was just after the battle of German- 
town, and when our army had retired to Val- 
ley Forge, I obtained from general Washing- 
ton, under whom I at that time held a captain's 
commission, a furlough of absence from the 
army for one month, for the purpose of visit- 
ing my wife and three small children. It was 
at that period of the revolution, when our 
army had scarcely anything but their patriot- 
ism with which to cover themselves, and little 
else than a love of liberty to afford them sub- 
sistence. I set out on my journey to Chestnut 
Hill, on foot, consoling myself for the weari- 
ness of the way. with the endearing anticipa- 
tions of again folding to my bosom the partner 
of my life, and the tender pledges of our con- 
jugal affection. As I turned from the high- 
way into the avenue which led to the scene of 
my former domestic felicity, and beheld the 
moonbeams playing on leafless branches of 
the majestic oaks, which were wont to shadow 
my humble dwelling, how animated, how ex- 
quisite were the sensations which took posses- 
sion of my breast ! I was at that moment at 
the pinnacle of human felicity — the next pre- 
cipitated me into the abyss of despair. The 
house which I fondly anticipated as sheltering 
all that was near and dear to me, was a smoking 
heap of smoking ruins. The desolating Briton 
had been there, and had left me to contemplate, 
in speechless agony, the devastation of his sac- 
rilegious hand. An appalling silence prevailed, 
save only when interrupted by the hollow 
blasts of the evening as they swept through the 
wide and melancholy waste. The moon, 
which, at this moment, emitted her feeble rays 
from behind a cloud, enabled me to discover, 
at a short distance from this scene of misery 
and destruction, my shivering wife and chil- 
dren, and from them it was learned, that the 
enemy, after having plundered them of their 
last rag, had set fire to the house, and that one 
of the unfeeling monsters had cast my little 
infant into the flames ; with much difficulty it 
was saved by its half distracted mother. 
To proceed, however, to that part of the 
story which accounts for my conduct this 



238 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



morning ; as soon as daylight appeared, we set 
out for New Jersey, where I had some relations. 
The situation of my family was such as could 
hardly have failed to excite commiseration in a 
breast less interested for them than mine. 
Seated in a wretched cart, which was drawn 
by a decrepit old horse, without clothing sutfi- 
cient to screen them from the severity of the 
weather, they were destined to pass another 
night, with no other shelter than the canopy 
of heaven, ere they could reach their place of 
destination. While engaged in meditating in 
what manner the night could be best passed in 
our present situation, darkness began to over- 
shadow us ; the wind blew with increased vio- 
lence, and the rain poured down upon us in 
torrents. It was at this critical juncture, that 
a horseman approached, and inquired who I 
was, and whither I was going. After listening 
to a hasty recital of our misfortunes, he dis- 
mounted from his horse, unfastened the only 
blanket which he had to screen himself from 
the storm that raged, passed it around the neck 
of my wife, and threw the extremities of it 
over the heads of my shivering children. 
Having done this, he dropt a tear upon my 
hand, as he pressed it between his, gave me 
his best wishes, and vaulting into his saddle, 
was out of sight in a moment. And now, need 
I inform you, that this man was a commissary 
to the army, and the identical person against 
whom the iron hand of the law was this morn- 
ing directed ; or could you for a moment be- 
lieve, that I could seize on the palsied frame 
of my family's benefactor, and immure it within 
the cold inhospitable walls of a prison .' GoD 
FORBID ! " A gleam of exultation flashed 
across his countenance as the last sentence 
passed emphatically from his lips. The advo- 
cate bowed in silence and retired ; the remain- 
ing auditors averted their heads, and the be- 
nevolent and eloquent speaker passed from 
before them. 



REVOLUTIONARY REMINISCENCES 
Of Philadelphia. 

The people of " the good old thirteen slates," 
though they had made up their minds to suf- 
fering and endurance, did not enter on the 
contests for their rights and liberties in a hasty 
and unadvised manner ; they had counted the 
cost, and, although determined to sacrifice all 
that they held dear, rather than to crouch as 
slaves, yet they shuddered at beingforced upon 
that extremity. The intelligence of the battle 
of Lexington, the first blood that was drawn in 



the quarrel, was received with the deepest 
regret ; in Philadelphia the bells were muffled, 
and an expression of horror and gloom covered 
the countenances of all the citizens. 

Congress first sat in the building then Qall- 
ed Carpenters' hall, up the court of that name 
in Chestnut street. On the morning of tho^ay 
that they first convened, their future secretary, 
the now venerable Charles Thomson, '\\;ho 
resided at that time in the Northern Liberties, 
and who afterwards so materially assisteVto 
launch our first rate republic, had tliat morn- 
ing rode into the city, and alighted art-Shestnut 
street. He was immediately accosted by a mes- 
sage from congress, that they desired-to' speak 
with him. He followed the messenger, and, 
entering the building, has described himself as 
struck with awe, upon viewing die aspects of 
so many great and good men, impressed with 
the weight and responsibility of their situation, 
on the perilous edge of which they were then 
advancing. He walked up the aisled and bow- 
ing to the president, desired to know their 
pleasure. 

"Congress requests your services, sir, as their 
secretary." He took his seat at the desk, and 
never looked back until the vessel was securely 
anchored in the haven of independence. 

The first speaker, (I mean the first who rose 
to speak) in that congress, was Patrick Henry, 
an orator undoubtedly, but not superior to 
many who took their seats on that day, although 
his biographer has ascribed to his eloquence 
the fulminating character of Demosthenes. 
What he said on that occasion was short and 
practical. 

Peyton Randolph, first president of congress, 
died in October, 1775, at the seat of Henry 
Hill, Roxborough, near Philadelphia, where he 
had accepted an invitation to dine with other 
company. He fell from his seat in an apoplectic 
fit, and immediately expired. His corpse was 
taken to Virginia for interment. 

With respect to the notices of the still more 
remote " olden time " in Philadelphia, William 
Penn, at his first coming, brought over the 
frame of a house which was set up for him in 
town and remained in being for many years. 
I have also heard that the first mill for grind- 
ing corn was brought over in a similar manner, 
and was placed on Ridley Creek. 

Tobacco was at first cuhivated in Pennsyl- 
vania and was among her earliest exports. 
An old petition to the governor and council 
for a road to Germantown, mentions "the 
tobacco field, (in Front street) near the 
town." 

When William Penn arrived the second time 



DELAWARE. 



239 



with his family, in 1699, he brought over a 
coach. In the former part of last century, 
Isaac Norris, sen., of Fairhill, kept a coach and 
four — he lived out of town, and litce his worthy 
descendant of our time, had a large family, 
His cotemporary, Jonathan Dickinson, a gentle- 
man who had moved from Jamaica to Pennsyl- 
vania, had likewise a coach and four. A very 
respectable old gentleman, who died some 
years since, has told me that he well remem- 
bered when there were but eight four-wheeled 
carriages in the whole province : viz. the three 



above mentioned, capt. Anthony Palmer's, 
Andrew Hamihon's, James Logan's, judge 
Lloyd's of Chester, and, I think, judge Lang- 
home's of Bucks. 

The bells of Christ church were first tolled 
on account of the death of the wife of captain 
Palmer, when a fatal accident happened to 
one of the ringers. Captain Palmer was presi- 
dent of the council after James Logan, about 
the year 1740. Some of his descendants are 
still among us. 



DELAWARE. 



PROCEEDINGS 

Of the Committee of Inspection of 
Kent county, in relation to certain 

TEA. 

Dover, January 26, 1775. 

Gentlemen — At a meeting of the committee 
of inspection for Kent county, on Delaware, 
(on 26th inst.) information was given, by a 
member of the committee, of two barrels of 
tea, containing 2261b. which he had discovered 
on board J. H's sloop, at a landing place in 
said county ; that he had been obliged to put 
the tea into his own store, to secure it from 
the populace, as there was great reason to 
believe that it had been unduly imported, since 
the 1st of December last, in a brig late from 
Jamaica, belonging to J. H. who is now in this 
county, and coHfesses himself to be the owner 
of the tea. ,^, 

Mr. H. being 'tailed upon by the committee, 
acknowledged the tea to be his property, and 
said it was a part of a large chest he had 
bought of Duflfield and Hempburn, wt. 3. o, 23, 
tare 7olb, of which he produced a bill dated 
January nth, 1775. He declared he believed 
the tea to be duly imported, and had taken the 
above parcel which the committee had taken into 
custody, out of the chest, and packed it in 
barrels, for no other reason than because it 
was more conveniently hoisted in and out of 
the vessel ; but gave no reason for the immod- 
erate quantity, though very unfit for the place 
where he alleged it was to be sold. 

Mr. H. then took his leave and the com- 
mittee for this county unanimously resolved, that 
the tea should be kept in store, until the above 
state of the case was communicated to the com- 
mittee of inspection for the city of Philadel- 
phia, and that said committee be requested to 



enquire into the matter, and detect the remain- 
der of the said chest of tea, if duly imported 
and if otherwise, that by a speedy answer they 
will enable the committee to return an innocent 
man's property. 

Signed by order of the committee. 



LETTER FROM DR. JAMES TILTON 

To Dr. Elmer, upon the Condition of 
AFFAIRS IN Delaware, 1775. 

I have little more than time to enquire of you 
whether you ever received the answer I sent to 
your letter, received soon after I saw you at 
Philadelphia. I am unwilling to think you 
either negligent or forgetful of me, but I am 
much disposed to abuse our intermediate 
friend, Mr. D. — He kept your letter from me 
I don't know how long, and I take it for 
granted has lost mine altogether — thus you 
have been deceived and I have been abused 
and injured. 

It would be impertinent to trouble you with 
medical nonsense now. The important con- 
cerns of our countrv' engage every mind. It 
will be unnecessary for me to comment or 
enlarge upon the arguments offered on either 
or both sides. I will only mention the conclu- 
sion which I have drawn from them, and the 
principle upon which I act. I consider the 
imposition offered us by Great Britain as unrea- 
sonable, unjust and affronted ; I am, therefore, 
determined to resist to the uttermost, trusting 
the event to Providence. 

I am informed by the reverend father who 
brings you this, that you have taken an active 
part in this time of trouble ; that physic itself 



240 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



does not hinder you from heading a light infan- 
try company. That I may give you some evi- 
dence of my zeal for the good of my country, I 
must inform you that 1 am first lieut. of a light 
infantry company — and that the hon. committee 
of safety at their late meeting in Dover, hon- 
ored me with the appointment of surgeon to 
the first battalion in our country. I am pleased 
with the public transactions of your province. 
Does the conduct of the people at large, cor- 
respond with the transactions of your public 
assemblies? Our militia is now completely 
formed throughout the government, and it 
completely disgraces a man not to enroll. — Of 
the company I belong to, above sixty are in 
genteel regimentals, with light infantry caps, and 
will soon be fully accoutered. In short, I was 
never so completely new modelled in so short 
a time ; instead of the careless and secure ap- 
pearance we made six months ago, you will 
now find most of us in a regimental dress with 
swords upon our thighs. 

But I must conclude with wishing to hear 
from you, and assuring you that I remain, 

Your affectionate humble servant, 

James Tilton. 



PETITION 



Of the inh.\bitants of Kent County 
to establish a militia. 

To the honorable the representathies of the 
counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex, in 
general assembly met, \i^h March, 1775. 

The petition of the inhabitants, freemen of 
Kent county, most humbly sheweth ; 

That we conceive a well regulated militia, 
composed of the gentlemen freeholders and 
other freemen, to be not only a constitutional 
right, but the natural strength and most stable 
security of a free government, from the e.\- 
ercise of which a wise people will not excuse 
themselves even in time of peace. 

That happily secure in the affectionate pro- 
tection of our mother country, we have for 
some time past been carelessly negligent of 
military art and discipline, and are therefore 
the more exposed to the insult and ravages of 
our natural enemies at this unhappy time, 
when we have lost our interest in the esteem 
and affection of our parent state. 

We therefore pray your honors to take our 
case into your most serious consideration, and, 
by passing an act of assembly establishing a 
militia throughout this government, grant us 
relief in the premises, and your petitioners, as 
in duty bound, will ever pray. 



RECANTATION 

Of an article reflecting upon the 
PATRIOTS OF Kent county, and the 

action OF THE RESPECTIVE COMMITTEES 
THEREON. 

I acknowledge to hav? wrote a piece, and 
did not sign it, since said to be an extract of a 
letter from Kent county, on Delaware, pub- 
lished in Humphrey's Ledger, No. 3. It was 
not dated from any place, and is some altered 
from the original. I folded it up and directed 
the same to J. F. and Sons. I had no intention 
to have it published ; and further, I let them 
know the author thought best it should not be 
published ; nor did I think they would — I am 
sincerely sorry I ever wrote it, as also for its 
being published, and hope I shall be excused 
for this, my first breach in this way, and I 
intend it shall be the last. R. H. 

To the committee of correspondence 
for Kent county, on Delaware, May 2, 1775- 



Reply of Committee 

Sir, — The president of the committee of 
correspondence, by and with the advice of such 
other of the rrrembers of that committee as he 
was able to collect and consult, this day laid 
before the committee of inspection for this 
county, your letter wherein you confess your- 
self to be the author of the Kentish letter 
(commonly so called) published in 3d No. of 
Humphrey's Ledger. 

The committee took the same into considera- 
tion, and have unanimously resolved that it is 
unsatisfactory, and you are requested to attend 
the committee at their next meeting on Tuesday 
the 9th inst. at French Battell's, in Dover, and 
render such satisfaction to the committee, as 
will enable them to clear the good people of 
this county from the aspersions of that letter, 
and justify them in the eyes of the public. 
Signed by order of the committee. 
To R. H, May 3, 1775. 



To the Committee of Inspection for 
Kent county, on Delaware. 

Gentlemen, — With sorrow and contrition 
for my weakness and folly, I confess myself the 
author of the letter, from which an extract was 
published in the 3d No. of Humphrey's Ledger, 
said to be from Kent county, on Delaware : but 
at the same time to declare it was published 



DELAWARE. 



241 



without my consent, and not without some 
alterations. 

I am now convinced that the political senti- 
ments therein contained, were founded on the 
grossest error; more especially that malignant 
insinuation, that " if the king's standard were 
now erected, nine out often would repair to it," 
could not have been suggested, but from the 
deepest infatuation. True indeed it is, the 
people of this county have ever shewn a zealous 
attachment to his majesty's person and govern- 
ment, and whenever he raised his standard in a 
just cause, were ready to flock to it : but let 
the severe account I now render to an injured 
people, witness to the world, that none are 
more ready to oppose tyranny or to be first in 
the cause of liberty, than the inhabitants of 
Kent county. 

Conscious that I can render no satisfaction 
adequate to the injury I have done to my 
country, I can only beg the forgiveness of my 
countrymen, upon those principles of humanity, 
which may induce them to consider the frailty 
of human nature — and I do profess and promise 
that I will never again oppose those laudable 
measures, necessarily adopted by my country- 
men, for the preservation of American free- 
dom : but will co-operate with them to the 
utmost of my abilities, in their virtuous struggle 
for liberty (so far as is consistent with my 
religious principles). R. H. 

A/oy 5. 1775- 



Satisfaction tendered. 

Gentlemen. — Whatever the public opinion 
may be of what I have heretofore said respect- 
ing the contest between Great Britain and the 
colonies, I do solemnly assure you that I have 
never had anything in view but a reconciliation 
between them, upon the full establishment of 
all the constitutional rights and privileges of 
America. Which rights and privileges I am 
determined to defend with my life and property 
against all invasions whatsoever. This you 
will please to make known to my brethren in 
this county. 

I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your 
humble servant, R. H. 

To the committee of observation 

for Kent county, on Delaware, May 5, 1775. 



Committee satisfied. 

Resolved unanimously, that the committee 
think the above recantation fully satisfactory. 
Thomas Nixon, Jr. Clerk. 
May 9, 1775. 
16 



LETTER 

To Committee of Inspection of Kent 
County, assigning reasons for re- 
lease FROM Military Service. 

Seventh month, 27, 1775. 
To the Committee 7ioui sitting at Don.'er. 

Whereas I understand you have been pleased 
to advertise without any distinction of age or 
religion, all those who refuse to take up arms 
to appear at Dover this day, in order to give 
reasons why they don't enrol, and I expect I 
am one of these transgressors ; and I not being 
willing to give any offence, but to follow after 
peace with all men — for without which, no 
man shall see the Lord. And looking on it as 
a duty on all Christians to be subject to every 
law and ordinance of man, for conscience sake, 
where such laws and ordinances are not repug- 
nant to the law of God and their religious prin- 
ciples, so I, as one who hath received favor 
from God, and one under the obligation of 
keeping his law, will let you know my several 
reasons why I am thus delinquent — the chief 
of which is as follows : Whereas the Lord my 
God hath been pleased by his Almighty power, 
to deliver my soul from the bondage of sin and 
death, and hath set up his law in my heart, 
with his strict command to obey the same at 
the risk of the loss of his holy favor, which is 
of more value to me than all the transitory 
things of this world, and even my life, which, 
if required, I am ready to offer up a sacrifice 
for his sake — now, this I do not refuse to do 
out of any obstinacy or opposition to my 
countrymen, but because I verily believe God 
to have a hand in these affairs, and dare not 
join to fight against him ; neither do anything 
to encourage others. Second reason is. I am 
now going in my fifty-sixth year, and am very 
fat and not fit for action. Third reason is, I 
have a giddiness in my head, that is so bad on 
me at times, that I have dropt in the road as 
though I was shot with a bullet. The fourth 
reason why, about two years ago I had the flux 
for seven months very bad, and now, to this 
day, when I overheat myself, I catch cold, and 
it returns upon me again, and will many times 
lay me up for seven or eight days together ; so 
I think that these reasons with the first and 
principal one, would be enough for any reason- 
able men, which I take you all to be, to have 
me excused. But if you are not satisfied with 
these reasons, I am ready and willing to come 
on the least notice, only please to let me know- 
by a line or two, and I will wait on you any 
time whenever you will please to call on me at. 



242 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



any other time — I should have come to-day, 
only I was engaged another way before I heard 
of the advertisement, for I never saw it. 

This from your friend and well wisher to you 
all and all your honest undertakings ; and may 
the God of peace instruct you all, and give you 
grace, is the sincere prayer of me. 

Z. G. 



CORRESPONDENCE 

Upon the subject of Toryism in Suf- 
folk County. Letter from Samuel 
M'Masters to Dr. James Tilton. 

LEWES, NOVEMBER I4, I775, 

Sir — This informs you, that an indictment 
was found by the grand jury of Susse.x county, 
against a number of zealous friends to their 
country, for, as is said, insulting a certain J. C. 
The particulars are as follows : J. C, some 
time in the month of September, came to 
Lewes, and in an open, profane manner, cursed 
the honorable continental congress, and all 
those that would not curse it ; calling upon 
the supreme Being in a most solemn manner 
to d — n the congress, and all that would not 
d — n it ; that d — d set would ruin the country. 
For which expressions and such like, it was 
thought proper he should be had up before the 
committee of inspection, as guilty of treason 
against the liberties of America, and also the 
congress ; for the congress acting suitable to 
the power delegated, that body ought to be 
esteemed as king, and therefore whatever is 
said against that body should be deemed 
treason. C. being had up before the com- 
mittee, and the facts before mentioned suffi- 
ciently proved, one of the audience said " it 
sounded like a death warrant." C. in an 
insulting, swearing way. said, " put it in execu- 
tion." However, upon mature consideration 
of the committee, some of which was no bet- 
ter than C. a sort of recantation was drawn up 
and signed by C. but by no means satisfacton,' 
to the people. LTpon which, some concluded 
we should proceed in the new mode of making 
converts, by bestowing upon C. a coat of tar 
and feathers ; but after some hesitation, and 
much persuasion, were prevented from using 
any violent measures, unless beating the drum 
a few rods, and two boys throwing an egg a 
piece unknown to the men — which, as soon as 
they were observed, was immediately stopped. 
No threatening or abusive language was made 
use of to intimidate or affright him. This is 
as near the state of the matter as I can recol- 



lect — this they have made a riot of, and J. M, 
esquire, as king's attorney, has acted in this 
matter. 

Now, if such offenders as C. are permitted to 
bring us under the cognizance of the civil 
law, — all the friends to liberty here in Sussex, 
may as well give up as contend any longer : 
for, we are too weak to oppose ministerial 
tools. 

This from yours to serve, 

Samuel M'Masters. 



Dr. Tilton's reply. 

DOVER, NOVEMBER, 177$. 

Sir — Yours of the 14th inst. came safe to 
hand. I am not a little surprised at the contents 
of it. I have heard a great deal of Sussex tory- 
ism, but imagine, if you had really such among 
you, they would have acted more ingeniously 
than by playing off the civil law, as an engine 
against the sons of liberty. The recent success 
of Mr. H. I should have thought would have 
taught them better. Your grand jury must 
certainly have been infatuated with very undue 
prejudices, or they never could have counte- 
nanced such an indictment as you mention. 

I wish I was able to give you such advice as 
would be profitable to your deluded country- 
men ; but when I consider that I am wTiting to 
a man younger than myself, and who has per- 
haps as little influence in Sussex as I have in 
Kent, I conceive I cannot testify my esteem, 
for a lover of liberty, better, than by communi- 
cating my sentiments, on our present troubles, 
in as short and plain a manner as I can. 

I lay it down as a maxim, that the claim ot 
England on America " to tax her in all cases 
whatsoever," is affrontive to common sense, 
not to be tolerated, but spurned at by freemen, 
and to be resisted to the last extremity when- 
ever attempted to be put in execution. It is 
found equally true, by our experience, that the 
civil or municipal laws of the provinces, are 
not sufficient to defend us against the unjust 
and cruel means used to bring us under unjust 
and arbitrary taxation. What resource then 
had America left her? Why — she appealed to 
the law of nature, which having a like respect 
to all, is founded only in justice and truth. In 
doing this however, the Americans have not 
violated the constitution of England (as their 
enemies have suggested,) for that being founded 
in liberty cannot be repugnant to the eternal 
and immutable laws of truth and justice. By 
the law of nature then, and the constitution 
of England, we are perfectly right in defending 
our rights and liberties. The law of nature is 



DELAWARE. 



243 



above all others, and constantly governs in the 
last exigency of affairs. In our present struggle 
is it not equally necessary to guard against 
intestine enemies as foreign foes .' But by 
what law of the land can we do it ? — by none, 
and therefore we appeal to the law of nature. 
By this law the representatives of a people in 
committee, publish an enemy and make him 
infamous forever ; and by this law, the people 
at large tar and feather tories and traitors. 
The sole object of natural law is justice ; and 
agreeable to it, in Mr. C's case, the only ques- 
tion should be, has his punishment been more 
than adequate to his crimes.'' If he has dis- 
covered himself unfriendly to his country, and 
especially to America, his light escape could be 
owing to nothing but great partiality or uncom- 
mon humanity in his countrymen. And as to 
those men, who would now take advantage of 
the civil law, against those who were the in- 
struments of justice on C. in behalf of their 
country, I take it for granted they have a 
plentiful stock of ignorance or an uncommon 
share of boldness and wickedness ; and I will 
venture to add, that were they in any part of 
the United Colonies, beside Susse.x, they would 
in the one case meet with proper instruction, 
and in the other suitable correction. 



Letter from Dr. Tilton, to his brother 
j. w. on the same subject. 

DOVER, 36M NOVEMBER, 1775. 

Dear brother — It is not common for me to 
trouble you with political letters. Mrs. M. 
however, informs me of a late transaction, in 
Lewes, in which I think you so nearly inter- 
ested, that I am constrained to communicate a 
few thoughts of mine on the subject ; not from 
a vain pride ol differing in opinion with my 
elder brother, but from a sincere wish that you 
may improve any hints of mine that are right, 
to your own advantage and the public good. 
I am told you sat with a number of others and 
advised among the rest, that some young men 
should be indicted for mobbing J. C. a noted 
enemy to his country ; that you being the first 
who left the room, was as good as mobbed 
yourself, by the inhabitants of Lewes, who re- 
sented such treatment from their magistrates. 
This being a true state of the case, I am obli- 
ged to think you have been guilty of an error. 
I know you wish well to your country, but men 
of the best designs may sometimes be wrong 
in the means of accomplishing them. You 
cannot be ignorant that the law of the land is 
insufficient to protect us against the violence of 



Great Britain, and that therefore America has 
long since recurred to the law of nature, by 
virtue of which she has strengthened her hands 
— As we have no law of the land by which we 
can punish tories and traitors, the natural law 
of necessity takes place. — Natural law has jus- 
tice alone for its object, and in Mr. C's case, 
the sole question ought to be, has he received 
more than he deserved ? I am sure you will 
say he deser\ed ten times as much. Why 
then would you take advantage of the civil law 
in his behalf.' If you should answer in the 
language of the most unfriendly to this coun- 
try, "lest the civil authority should be brought 
into contempt," a moment's reflection will 
shew you the absurdity of such reasoning. 
Can the dignity of civil authority be supported 
by acting' in concert with villains.' and would 
you wish to be accounted the avenger of jus- 
tice ? But I need not enlarge, as no instance 
can be adduced where the Americans have 
punished an innocent person for crimes like 
C's. Mr. H's fate will ser\'e to show you the 
sense of the Philadelphians, respecting your 
conduct. His crime is nothing more than an 
exertion of civil power in opposition to the 
rights of nature. He was carted. — I don't 
mention this to reproach you with folly, but as 
a basis to that advice I wish you to take, viz : 
that you may use your utmost influence if pos- 
sible, to quash the indictments. I am per- 
suaded the reputation of your county and 
your own personal safety, are concerned in the 
event of this matter. For though Sussex should 
approve or submit to such conduct, I am con- 
fident every other part of the United Colonies 
will condemn and despise. For my own part, 
I have heard many bad reports of Sussex, but 
I assure you this fills me with more displeasure 
than any public trans.action of your county, I 
have ever attended to. 



ARREST OF A MEMBER 

Of THE Delaware Legislature by the 
Light Infantry Company of Dover, 
March, 1776. 

The petition and remonstrance of the light 
infantry company of Dover, to the honorable 
house of representatives, for the government 
of the counties of New Castle, Kent, and 
Sussex, on Delaware, now sitting at New 
Castle, humbly sheweth: 
That T. R. of Sussex county, esq. having for 

a long time past been of ill fame, and published 



244 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



by diverse committees in several newspapers 
as an enemy to his country, and the said T. R. 
presuming to pass through our county, and 
at a critical conjuncture to sit in your honorable 
house, as one of our representatives, we thought 
ourselves bound in duty, as we regarded the 
honor of your honorable house, and the true 
interest and safety of the public, to take said 
T. R. into custody until your honorable house 
could take order in the matter. Whereupon 
an attempt being made to arrest Mr. R. col. 
M. of Sussex county also, drew his sword, and 
the' he was made well acquainted with the rea- 
sons and principles upon which it was thought 
necessary to arrest Mr. R. he swore he would 
defend him at the risk of his life. Upon this, 
he was immediately disarmed, and his violent 
conduct, together with the well known con- 
nection between the two men, inducing the 
company to consider Mr. M. as in the same 
predicament with Mr. R. they after mature 
deliberation, resolved to give them both a like 
treatment, by keeping them in safe custody 
until your advice and pleasure should be known. 
They were accordingly detained under guard 
for one night and next day, by advice of a num- 
ber of gentlemen in whom we could confide, 
they were set at liberty, on their giving bond 
with security that they would submit their con- 
duct to a strict enquiry before your honorable 
house, and not presume to sit or do any one 
act as members, until honorably acquitted of 
all charges and every degree of suspicion, by 
you. In all this we apprehend, we have acted 
consistent with the first principle of nature and 
humanity. And as we flatter ourselves with 
your approbation, we hope and expect that a 
scrutiny will be made into the conduct of these 
suspicious persons, and that in wisdom you 
will judge of them, and relieve your petitioners 
and the public in general of their apprehen- 
sions concerning them. 

We cannot omit the present opportunity, 
with humility and confidence, to make known 
to your honors many grievances of our own 
.and neighboring county, by which the cause 
of virtue and liberty has, and will greatly suffer 
— and may be ruined ; unless by the intreaties 
of your petitioners and other good men, we 
can prevail on your honors to look diligently 
and carefully into the ways and conduct of a 
number of designing and interested men, who, 
like the parliament of Great Britain, under the 
pretext of law, rule or order, most assiduously 
oppose and hinder, to the utmost of their 
power, the strenuous endeavors of the good 
and virtuous in all their public measures, on 
behalf of our threatened liberty. When under 



covert of authority or the specious garb of 
moderation, the first laws of nature and justice 
are violated, if we do but murmur, we are 
reprobated as violent incendiaries, and loaded 
with opprobrious epithets. By the dint of 
influence, a number of persons, the most noto- 
riously opposed to the cause of liberty, and 
who have made public concessions for the 
most daring offences, are made officers in our 
militia, and thus have influence among the 
people. But this reproach is not the most 
intolerable to complain of Men of the most 
dangerous characters have crept into our very 
councils, and, if it were possible, would con- 
taminate the very source and fountain of all 
our hopes and expectations. 

We pray your honors, that, after diligent 
enquiry and being well satisfied of the truth of 
these our allegations, j'ou will take the means 
of our redress into your serious consideration, 
and that you will give that aid to public virtue 
and liberty which your known wisdom and 
patriotism will naturally suggest. 

And your petitioners as in duty bound shall 
pray. 



REPLY OF THE MEMBERS 

Of the Assembly to the above peti- 
tion. 

CROSS ROADS, MARCH 3, 1776. 

Gentlemen — We, the members of assem- 
bly for Kent county, taking into consideration 
the confinement of Messrs. R. and M.,now in 
your custody, take the liberty to inform you 
that the continuing these supposed offienders 
any longer under a restraint of their liberty, 
may give interruption to the business of legis- 
lation in this government, which may be injur- 
ious, especially at this time ; we are therefore 
of opinion that you should release them from 
their imprisonment, and permit them to pursue 
their journey to New Castle, upon their giving 
bond with security to submit the enquiry into 
their respective offences to the house of assem- 
bly, and abide by, and perform whatsoevei 
shall be enjoined them by the house. 

We are, gentlemen, etc. 

Cesar Rodney, 
Wills Killen, 
John Haslett, 
Thomas Rodney, 
Vincent Lockerman. 

To the gentlemen 

of the light infantry company. 



DELAWARE. 



245 



Account of the arrest of the parties above 
referred to, as published in 1788, in a pamphlet, 
entitled " The Biographical history of Diony- 
sius, tyrant of Delaware, by Timoleon." 

"But to explain the attachment and connec- 
tion oi Dionysius with R. and the other repre- 
sentatives from Sussex, it will be necessary' to 
give some account of this county, and their 
election at Lewes, in October, 1775. This R. 
was a man of property, and had been a leader 
in the proprietarj' faction for some years. Per- 
fectly unprincipled, and subservient to direc- 
tion, he of course at this time, became a leader 
in opposition to independence. With all the 
industry of interested tools, he, and his asso- 
ciates of the same connection, prejudiced a 
majority of the people of Sussex against inde- 
pendence. Upon this principle it was, that R. 
and others of the same political creed, were 
elected representatives of the people. 

The whigs bore all this with a degree of 
patience peculiar to Delaware. R. rendered 
fearless by his success, and the forbearance of 
the whigs, proceeded boldly in his villanies. 
By every means in his power, he seduced the 
people to break through the non-importation 
agreement. In particular, he purchased a large 
quantity of tea, and dealt it out to all whom he 
could persuade to use it. Having by this time 
a degree of contempt for all opposition, there 
was so little reserve in these transactions, that 
the committee of observation of the county, 
could not avoid taking notice of them. After 
a mature hearing and judgment of his conduct, 
the committee published him in the newspapers, 
as an enemy to his country. It was upon this 
ground, the light infantry company of Dover 
seized upon R. on his way to take his seat in 
the house of representadves, at New Castle ; 
and demanded of the legislature, that he should 
not be permitted to sit as a representative of 
the people, while covered with charges of so 
malignant a dye. Instead of regarding the 
iniquities of this culprit, Dionysiits talked in a 
high strain of the breach of privilege of the 
house. An order issued, summoning the 
infantry to attend the house, which they 
instantly obeyed. Mention was even made of 
imprisoning them for so daring an offence. 
But the spirit of New Castle county did not at 
that time, favor this measure. It was suggested, 
they must find means of confining a regiment 
or more of their militia, or they would not 
detain the infantry long. For many days after 
the examination of the witnesses, which went 
chiefly to an enquiry into the offence of the 
infantry, there was no open discussion as usual 
in the house. At the ringing of the bell, a 



minority of patriotic members met regularly ; 
but Dioiiysius, in secret cabal, threatened some 
members, and allured others with promises, 
until he brought his measures to bear. Finally 
it was resolved, that R. and his associate (who 
had also been arrested for standing in his 
defence) should take their seats ; and the light 
infantry were dismissed." 



SELECTIONS 



From the papers of C^sar and Thomas 
Rodney. 

[The editor's friend, Cssar A. Rodney, of 
Delaware, well known as a member of con- 
gress from that state, attorney general of the 
United States, etc. favored him with an opportu- 
nity of examining a great mass of papers left by 
his uncle. General Cassar, and his father, Capt. 
Thomas Rodney, men celebrated for their 
devotion to the cause of liberty. Out of this 
extensive collection, the following articles have 
been gleaned, in the belief that each of them 
may go to establish some point interesting to 
those who seek to ascertain the " principles and 
acts of the revolution." 

Editor.] 



The Stamp Act Congress. 

Extract of a letter from C^SAR Rodney, to 
his brother THOMAS, dated New York, Oct. 
20, 1765. 

When I wrote to you last, I expected that 
congress would have ended in eight or ten days 
from that time ; but. contrary to expectation, 
we have not yet finished. You and many others 
are surprised, perhaps, to think we should sit 
so long, when the business of our meeting 
seemed only to be the petitioning the king, and 
remonstrating to both houses of parliament ; 
but when you consider that we are petitioning 
and addressing that august body, the great 
legislature of the empire, for redress of griev- 
ances, — that, in order to point out those griev- 
ances, it was likewise necessary to set forth 
the liberty w^e have and ought to enjoy (as free- 
born Englishmen) according to the British 
constitution. This we are about to do by way 
of declaration, in the nature of resolve, as a 
foundation to the petition and address ; and 
was one of the most difficult tasks I ever yet 
saw undertaken, as we had carefully to avoid 
any infringement of the prerogative of the crown 
and the power of parliament — and yet in duty 
bound fully to assert the rights and privileges 



246 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of the colonies. However, after arguing and 
debating two weeks, on liberty, privileges, pre- 
rogative, etc. in an assembly of great abilities, 
we happily finished them, and now have the 
petitions and addresses before us, and expect 
to finish in three or four days. 



C. Rodney to Thomas Rodney. 

PHILADELPHtA, SATURDAY, Sept. I7, I774. 

Sir — By express, which arrived here yester- 
day from the committee of the town of Boston, 
to the continental congress, we are informed 
the county of Suffolk, of which the town of 
Boston is the capital, had entered into certain 
resolutions, a copy of which was enclosed us, 
generally to the purport of not suffering the 
commander in chief to execute the act of par- 
liament, changing their government, by per- 
suading, protecting and compelling officers 
under the new regulation to resign, and by a 
refusal in jurymen to serve, etc. That they 
have ordered all those able to bear arms to 
keep in readiness to defend their inherent 
rights, even with loss of blood and treasure ; 
that they are determined not to injure the gen- 
eral or any of the king's troops, unless compelled 
thereto by an attack made by the troops on 
them. They complain of the general seizing of 
the powder at Cambridge, which they say was 
private property ; and also that he is now forti- 
fying the only pass that leads from the town of 
Boston into the country, from whence the in- 
habitants of the town are daily supplied : this 
pass is a narrow neck of land about 120 yards 
wide, at which he has placed a number of 
troops and 28 cannon ; that the country people 
passing and repassing this place are suffered 
to be insulted by the soldiery — and that the 
inhabitants feared, (from those movements of 
the general), he had designs of apprehending 
and sending to England those persons who 
have stood foremost in the great cause of liberty 
— that in consequence of his conduct, and those 
their suspicions, the inhabitants of Suffolk sent 
(by a committee appointed for that purpose) an 
address to the general, enquiring the cause of 
his stopping up and fortifying the pass, seizing 
and securing the magazines, etc. and their 
disapprobation of his conduct — and that they 
had no intention to assault either him or his 
soldiers ; — but that, if he continued to block 
up the pass, and thereby prevent them of the 
only means of supplying the town with necessa- 
ries, they should look upon it as a commence- 
ment of hostilities : Upon the whole, they sent 
an express to the general congress here for 



their instructions as to their future conduct 
The congress met on that business this day, and 
have resolved thereon — which you will see in 
the " Packet " of Monday, being ordered imme- 
diately to be printed, as well that the general 
as the people might know what they thought 
of the matter. 

I am yours, etc., 



Capt. Thomas Rodney. 



Cjesar Rodney. 



C. Rodney to Thomas Rodney. 

Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 19, 1774. 

Sir — Some time ago, I do not doubt but you 
were all much alarmed, on a report that the 
king's ships were firing on the town of Boston. 
When that news came to this city, the bells 
were muffled, and kept ringing all that day : 
howe\er, in a few days after that news was 
contradicted here, and hope by this time it is 
so with you. By some very late authentic ac- 
counts from Boston government, to the gentle- 
men of that place now at the congress, we are 
informed that there was about three days be- 
tween this report's passing through the Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut governments, and its 
being contradicted : that when the expresses 
went to contradict this false report, they found, 
in those two governments, in different parties, 
upwards of fifty thousand men, well armed, 
actually on their march to Boston, for the relief 
of the inhabitants; and that every farmer who 
had a cart or wagon, (and not able to bear 
arms), was with them, loaded with provisions, 
ammunition, etc., all headed by experienced 
officers, who had served in the late American 
war : and that vast numbers more were pre- 
paring to march. Upon the news being con- 
tradicted, they returned peaceably to their 
several places of abode — but not till they had 
sent some of their officers, from the difterent 
parties, to Boston, to know the real situation 
of affairs there, and to direct them what princi- 
pal officers in the different parts of the country 
they should hereafter send expresses to, in case 
they should stand in need of their assistance. 
It is supposed by some of the friends of lib- 
erty, at Boston, that the alarm was set on foot 
by some of the friends to the ministerial plan, in 
order to try whether there was that true valor in 
the people. If this was the case, I suppose you 
will think with me, that, by this time, they can 
have no doubts remaining. Indeed, I think it 
is proved by the general's own conduct ; for 
ever since that, he has been fortifying himself. 



DELAWARE. 



247 



which I imagine is more for his own security 
than to attack the inhabitants. 

I am yours, etc. 

C^SAR Rodney. 
Mr. Thomas Rodney, Dover. 



C. Rodney to Thomas Rodney. 

[extract.] 
Philadelphia, Sept. 34, 1774. 

Sir — Mr. R. Penn is a great friend of liberty, 
and has treated the gentleman delegates with 
the greatest respect. More or less of them 
dine with him every day — and his brother 
wishes his station would admit of his acting 
the same part ; all these matters are for your 
own private speculation, and not for public 
view. By this you may see that some people 
with you are mistaken in their politics, and you 
may also take for granted every body here is 
not well pleased with the coalition of the two 
brothers. 

I am, as usual, your friend and humble ser- 
vant, C^SAR Rodney. 
Mr. Thomas Rodney. 



C. Rodney to Thomas Rodney. 

Philadelphia, Monday^ Oct. 1775. 

Sir — On Friday, about eleven o'clock at 
night. Dr. K. of this city was seized by order 
of the committee of observation, for having 
wrote letters to England, injurious and de- 
structive to us in the American contest, and 
wicked with respect to this city, and is now 
confined in jail, together with one B. who came 
here with governor Skeen, Mr. C. an apothe- 
cary, who was in partnership with S. and one 
Mr. S. all of whom were aiding the doctor in 
his plan. You must know K. has been a con- 
siderable time since marked out as a thorough 
paced tory ; for which, together with his having 
insulted the people, he was (since I came to 
town last) carted through the streets. But 
the offence for which he is now confined, is 
thus circumstanced : On Wednesday last a 
ship sailed out of this port for London, in 
which Mr. C. was going passenger. A few 
days before she sailed, young Dewees, son of 
the sheriff, went to pay Dr. K. some money, 
and coming suddenly into his room, found him 
and C. together, with a bundle of papers before 
them, which they hustled up in seeming con- 
fusion. This, with K's tory character, gave 
Dewees suspicion, and he accordingly informed 
a few of the committee, who kept the matter 



secret, let the ship sail and the passengers go 
down to Chester by land, to go on board. On 
Thursday evening, which was the day the pas- 
sengers went, a small party was sent down to 
Chester ; they stayed there that night incog, and 
saw the passengers go on board, next morning. 
They then immediately pushed on board, seized 
and examined Mr. C. who, in a little time, told 
them that there were several letters from Dr. 
K. and Mr. B. and one from Mr. S. that he had 
the charge of them, and was concerned with 
them in the plan they had concerted, but that 
the letters were then in thecustody of a woman 
down in the cabin, and that she had them con- 
cealed in a pocket sewed to the inside of her 
s — ft tail, where in fact they soon after found 
them, and came back to town, (leaving C. as 
they had promised, upon his making a discovery 
of the whole matter, on oath, before Mr, 
Graham, at Chester), and then seized the 
authors. The letters were to lord Dartmouth 
and other ministers of state, but under cover 
to Messrs. M'CawIey. The substance and 
design was pressing their sending to Philadel- 
phia five thousand regulars, on which condition 
they would engage five thousand more here to 
join them, provided the royal standard should 
be also sent in, and K. appointed to bear it ; 
for that great numbers of those who now wear 
cockades and uniform were hearty in the min- 
isterial cause — that the rest were a pack of 
cowards — for that he (K.) had made above five 
thousand of them run, by snapping a single 
pistol at them, etc. They had with them, for 
the use of the ministry, one of J. F.'s plans of 
Delaware bay river, whereon they had described 
the place where the chevaux-de-frises were 
fixed. Besides these and many more villainous 
contrivances, they were taking home the out- 
lines for a print, to be struck off in London, 
shewing K.'s late exhibition in the cart, going 
through the streets of Philadelphia with the 
mob, some of whom he undertakes particularly 
to describe, to wit: Bradford, etc., etc., many 
of whom were actually not there, and how he 
every now and then, by snapping his pistol, 
made them run, etc. His abuse of the con- 
gress, committees, etc., (in his letters,) is in- 
tolerable — such as rebels, etc. After the com- 
mittee of safety had examined them and the 
contents of the letters, they sent a pilot boat 
down the river to overtake the ship, to bring 
up C. and to search the box of letters, and to 
bring all of them that they supposed to be from 
or to suspicious persons. This boat returned 
Sunday afternoon, brought C. and put him in 
jail, and also brought a number of letters 
belonging to and wrote by other persons. The 



248 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



committee of safety has been sitting on these 
affairs all this day, but I have been so closely 
confined to congress to-day, that I don't yet 
know what they have done, or what others are 

accused. 

Yours, etc. 

CiESAR Rodney. 
Mr. TJiomas Rodney. 



Thomas Rodney to C. Rodney. 

Dover, August 30, 1776. 

Sir — I received your letters by last post, and 
the one preceding and one mentioned in that. 
I am pleased with your resolution mentioned 
in your last, as I should be sorry to hear that 
the unsteady passions which govern the people, 
should at any time give the least shock to that 
virtue which hath so long and necessarily sup- 
ported American liberty. Though the people 
in a popular government often put away good 
men for bad ones, and though such a change 
could not be more dangerous at any time than 
the present, yet I look on the present change 
with us as an example which favors liberty. If 
the people will not continually support those 
men, who have served them faithfully at all 
hazards, it cannot be supposed that they will 
long support those men who, in opposition to 
the public weal, have pursued their own private 
interest only. These men by a violent exer- 
tion of the influence of the magistracy, and 
descending to assert the most base, low and 
infamous falsehoods, have succeeded for once, 
because the people were blinded that they 
could not see their true interest. But be assured, 
that they that set them up will pull them down 
again. 

After devoting ten years to the service of 
your country and public business, to the great 
prejudice of your own private interest, you 
certainly deserve to enjoy the sweets of retire- 
ment, which is the happiest life in this state : 
and you will have this reflection, that after the 
time you mention, that you have accomplished 
the establishment of American liberty ; and 
that you could not do anything that would add 
to the honor already acquired : but I believe 
the people will not let you execute this design 
— they will soon be tired of those who they 
have now set up — and will begin to call again 
upon those men w^hose virtue hath been proved 
to the utmost. When the great matters which 
you mention are completed, I shall be content 
— nor shall desire to have any hand in politics, 
unless at any time liberty be encroached upon. 
Nothing but the great cause of liberty, which 
we have been embarked in, could have induced 



me, (who have an increasing family and so little 
for them,) to have spent so much of my time 
and money in public services. 

Thomas Rodney. 

Hon. Casar Rodney, in congress. 



Extract of a letter from COL. John Has- 
LETT,* to general C^SAR RODNEY, dated 
camp near Mount Washington, ^th Oct., 1776. 

Sir — I know you have already sacrificed a 
large share of private property to the evil and 
unthankful ; in this you resemble the Supreme 
Manager, who makes his sun to shine on the 
evil and the good, and, bad as times are, you 
have a few friends still of the latter character. 
And, my dear sir, who can better afford it? 
Providence has blessed you with a fortune to 
your prudence inexhaustible, by which you are 
enabled to live where you please, and to keep 
the first company where you do live, and all 
this with few drawbacks upon it. How then, 
can you lay out a part of it to more noble pur- 
poses, than in serving your country, guarding 
her rights and privileges, and forcing wretches 
to be happy against their will .' In this you 
will act as an agent of the Sovereign Goodness, 
and co-operate with Heaven to save a wretched 
race ; and though you may not effect the 
righteous purpose, the testimony of an approv- 
ing conscience, the applause of conscious virtue, 
and the approbation of all good beings, will 
more than balance the sacrifice. A thousand 
things might be urged to the same purpose. 
But a word to the wise. 



Thomas Rodney to C. Rodney. 

Allen's Town, in Jersey, 12 miles from 
Princeton, 20 do. from Brunswick, Dec. 30, 
1776. 

Sir — I wrote you a long letter on the 24th, 
wTiich I had no opportunity of sending, and 
left it in my trunk at Mr. Coxe's, two miles 
from Bristol ; it contains the news to that 
time, which I cannot repeat here. On the 25th 
inst. in the evening, we received orders to be 
at Shamony ferry as soon as possible. We 
were there according to orders in two hours, 
and met the rifle-men, who were the first from 
Bristol ; we were ordered from thence to 
Dunk's ferry, on the Delaware, and the whole 
army of about 2000 men followed, as soon as 
the artillery got up. The three companies of 
Philadelphia infantry and mine were formed 
into a body, under the command of captain 

• Killed at Princeton. 



DELAWARE. 



249 



Henry, (myself second in command) which 
were embarked immediately to cover the land- 
ing of the other troops. We landed with great 
difficulty through the ice, and formed on the 
ferry shore, about 200 yards from the river. 
It was as severe a night as ever I saw, and 
after two battalions were landed, the storm in- 
creased so much, and the river was so full of 
ice, that it was impossible to get the artillery 
over; for we had to walk 100 yards on the ice 
to get on shore. Gen. Cadwallader therefore 
ordered the whole to retreat again, and we had 
to stand at least six hours under arms— first to 
cover the landing and till all the rest had 
retreated again — and, by this time, the storm 
of wind, hail, rain and snow, with the ice, was 
so bad, that some of the infantry could not get 
back till next day. This design was to have 
surprised the enemy at Black Horse and 
Mount HoUey, at the same time that Washing- 
ton surprised them at Trenton ; and had we 
succeeded in getting over, we should have 
finished all our troubles. Washington took 
910 prisoners, with 6 pieces of fine artillery, 
and all their baggage in Trenton. The next 
night I received orders to be in Bristol before 
day ; we were there accordingly, and about 
9 o'clock began to embark one mile above 
Bristol, and about 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
got all our troops and artillery over, consisting 
of about 3000 men, and began our march to 
Burlington — the infantp,', flanked by the rifle- 
men, making the advanced guard. We got 
there about 9 o'clock and took possession of 
the town, but found the enemy had made pre- 
cipitate retreat the day before, bad as the 
weather was, in a great panic. The whole 
infantry and rifle-men were then ordered to 
set out that night and make a forced march to 
Bordentown, (which was about 1 1 miles), 
which they did, and took possession of the town 
about 9 o'clock, with a large quantity of the 
enemy's stores, which they had not time to 
carry off. We stayed there till the army came 
up ; and the general finding the enemy were 
but a few miles ahead, ordered the infantry to 
proceed to a town called Croswick's four miles 
from Bordentown, and they were followed by 
one of the Philadelphia and one of the New 
England battalions. We got there about 8 
o'clock, and at about 10, (after we were all in 
quarters), were informed that the enemy's 
baggage was about 16 miles from us, under a 
guard of 300 men. Some of the militia colo- 
nels applied to the infantry to make a forced 
march that night and overhaul them. We had 
then been on duty four nighti and days, mak- 
ing forced marches, without six hours sleep in 



the whole time; whereupon the infantry offi- 
cers of all the companies unanimously declared 
it was madness to attempt, for that it would 
knock up all our brave men, not one of whom 
had yet gave out, but every one will suppose 
were much fatigued. They then sent off a 
party who were fresh, but they knocked up 
before they got up with them, and came back 
and met us at this town next morning. They 
surrounded a house where there was six tories 
— took three of them — one got off — and one 
who ran and would not stop, was shot dead. 
They gave him warning first by calling, and at 
last shot two bullets over his head, but he still 
persisted, and the next two shot ; one bullet 
went through his arm and one through his heart. 
The enemy have fled before us in the greatest 
panic that ever was known ; we heard this 
moment that they have fled from Princeton, 
and that they were hard pressed by Washing- 
ton. Never were men in higher spirits than 
our whole army is ; none are sick, and all are 
determined to extirpate them from the Jersey, 
but I believe the enemy's fears will do it before 
we get up with them. The Hessians, from the 
general to the common soldier, curse and im- 
precate the war, and swear they were sent 
here to be slaughtered ; that they never will 
leave New- York again, till they sail for Europe. 
Jersey will be the most whiggish colony on the 
continent : the very Quakers declare for taking 
up arms. You cannot imagine the distress of 
this country. They have stripped every body 
almost without distinction — even of all their 
clothes, and have beat and abused men, women 
and children, in the most cruel manner ever 
heard of. We have taken a number of pri- 
soners, in our route, Hessians and British, to 
the amount of about twenty. It seems likely 
through the blessing of Providence, that we 
shall retake Jersey again without the loss of a 
man, except one gen. Washington lost at 
Trenton. The enemy seem to be bending 
their way to Amboy with all speed, but I hope 
we shall come up with the Princeton baggage 
yet, and also get a share of their large stores 
at Brunswick. I hope if I live, to see the con- 
quest of Jersey, and set off home again in two 
weeks. Some of my men have complained a 
little, but not to say sick ; they are all now 
well here. 

Thomas Rodney. 

Brig. gen. Ccesar Rodney, esq. 



250 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Letters from General Washington to 
C^SAR Rodney* 

Camp, four miles from potts* grove, 

September 24, 1777. 

Dear Sir— I last night read your favor of 
the 2ist, and am much obliged to you for the 
book. This, and the one taken in the action at 
Chadsford, complete general Howe's orders 
from April to the loth inst. I am sorry for the 
captivity of Mr. Berry, whom you mention to be 
a young man of merit, but no proposition for 
his exchange can be made at this time, nor can 
he be exchanged but in due course, which is 
the only rule by which equal justice can take 
place. The conduct of the militia is much to 
be regretted. In many instances, they are not 
to be roused, and in others they come into the 
field with all possible indifference, and, to all 
appearance, entirely unimpressed with the im- 
portance of the cause in which we are engaged. 
Hence proceeds a total inattention to order and 
to discipline, and too often a disgraceful depart- 
ure from the army at the instant their aid is 
most wanted. I am inclined to think, the com- 
plaints and objections offered to the militia laws 
are but too well founded. The interest of the 
community has not been well consulted in 
their formation, and, generally speaking, those 
I have seen are unequal. 

I wish I could inform you that our affairs 
were in a happier train than they now are. 
After various manoeuvres and e.xtending his 
army high up the Schuylkill, as if he meant to 
turn our right flank, general Howe made a 
sudden countermarch on Monday night, and in 
the course of it and yesterday morning, crossed 
the river, which is fordable in almost every 
part several miles below us ; he will possess him- 
self of Philadelphia in all probability— but 1 think, 
he will not be able to hold it. No exertions shall 
be wanting on my part to dispossess him. 

I am, in haste, dear sir, your most obedient 
servant, 

George Washington. 
Brig. gen. Rodney. 



Gen. Washington to C. Rodney. 

West point, August 26, 1779. 

Sir— In a letter which I had the honor of 
addressing your excellency on the 22d May, I 
took the liberty of mentioning the inconve- 

• Cf^sar Rodney was a member of the *' Stamp act con- 
gress," held in the city of New York in 1765, and of the 
Continental congress, and one of the signers to the declara- 
tion of independence ; was repeatedly chosen governor 
of the State of Delaware, and performed several terms of 
duty as a Brigadier General. 



niences which had prevailed for want of system 
in the clothing department, and the necessity 
there was for an early appointment of state or 
sub-clothiers, agreeably to the ordinance estab- 
lished by congress, by their act of the 23d 
March, with which I presumed your excellency 
had been made acquainted. I am now under 
the necessity of troubling you with a further 
address on the subject of clothing itself. From 
the best information I have been able to obtain, 
both from returns and particular enquiries, I 
fear that there is but too much reason to appre- 
hend, that unless the respective states interfere 
with their exertions, our supplies of this essen- 
tial article will be very deficient, and that the 
troops may again experience on this account a 
part of those distresses which were so severely 
and injuriously felt in past stages of the war, 
and which a regard to the interests of the 
states, as well as to the duties of humanity, 
should prevent if it be practicable. I do not 
know exactly how matters will turn out with 
woolen clothing. I should hope tolerably well ; 
but if the attention of the state should ever go 
to this, there will be little probability of our 
having an over-supply. But the articles to 
which I would take the liberty to solicit your 
excellency's more particular attention, are 
blankets, shirts, shoes and hats — more espe- 
cially the two first, as our prospects of them are 
by no means pleasing, and such indeed as 
decides that the supply from the continental 
clothiers and agents will fall far short, or at 
least stand upon too critical and precarious a 
footing. The importance and advantages of 
good supplies of clothing are evident — and they 
have been most remarkably and happily 
demonstrated in the health of the troops, since 
they have been pretty comfortably provided for 
in this instance — a circumstance of all others 
the most interesting. 

While I am on the subject of clothing, I 
would also beg leave to add, that the condition 
of the officers in this respect, appears to me to 
require the attention of their states. It is really 
in many instances painfully distressing. The 
want of necessaries and the means of procur- 
ing them, at the present exorbitant prices, have 
compelled a great many officers of good repu- 
tation and merit to resign their commissions ; 
— and, if they are not relieved, it must be the 
case with many others, as they will have no 
alternative. 

I have the honor to be, with the greatest 
respect and esteem, your excellency's most 
obedient ser\'ant, 

George Washington. 
His excellency Ccesar Rodney, esq. 



DELAWARE. 



25 1 



Gen. Washington to C. Rodney. 

Head quarters, West point, Au^st 26, 1779. 

Sir — I have the honor to enclose your 
excellency a list of sundry officers belonging to 
your state who have been in captivity and are 
reported by the commissary of prisoners, as 
violators of parole. A conduct of this kind, so 
ignominious to the individuals themselves, so 
dishonorable to their country, and to the service 
in which they have been engaged, and so 
injurious to those gentlemen who were associ- 
ated with them in misfortune, but preserved 
their honor — demands that every measure 
should be taken to deprive them of the benefit 
of their delinquency and to compel their return. 
We have pledged ourselves to the enemy to do 
everything in our power for this purpose, and 
in consequence I directed Mr. Beatty, com- 
missary of prisoners, to issue the summons 
which you will probably have seen in the public 
papers. But as it is likely to have a very 
partial operation, I find it necessary in aid of it 
to request the interposition of the executive 
powers of the different states to enforce a com- 
pliance. Most of these persons never having 
been and none of them now being in continental 
service, military authority will hardly be suffi- 
cient to oblige them to leave their places of 
residence and return to captivity, against their 
inclination : Neither will it be difficult for them 
to elude a military search and keep themselves 
in concealment. I must therefore entreat that 
your excellency will be pleased to take such 
measures as shall appear to you proper and 
effectual to produce their immediate return. 
This will be rendering an essential service to 
our officers in general, in captivity, will tend 
much to remove the difficulties which now lie 
in the way of exchanges, and to discourage the 
practice of violating paroles in future. 

I have the honor to be, with the greatest 
respect and esteem, your excellency's most 
obedient, humble senant, 

Geo. Washington. 
His excellency Governor Rodney. 

[Only one person of Delaware was charged in 
the schedule with having violated his parole.] 



Gen. Washington to C. Rodney. 

Head-Quarters, Morristown, — 16 Dectmbery 1779. 

Sir — The situation of the army with respect 
to supplies, is beyond description alarming. 
It has been five or six weeks past on half 
allowance, and we have not more than three 
days' bread, at a third allowance, on hand, nor 
any where within reach. When this is ex- 



hausted, we must depend on the precarious 
gleanings of the neighboring country. Our 
magazines are absolutely empty everywhere, 
and our commissaries entirely destitute of 
money or credit to replenish them. We have 
never experienced a like extremity at any pe- 
riod of the war. We have often felt temporary 
want from an accidental delay in forwarding 
supplies, but we always had something in our 
magazines and the means of procuring more. 
Neither one nor the other is at present the 
case. 

This representation is the result of a minute 
examination of our resources. Unless some 
extraordinary and immediate exertions be 
made by the states from which we draw our 
supplies, there is every appearance that the 
army will infallibly disband in a fortnight. I 
think it my duty to lay this candid view of our 
situation before your excellency, and to entreat 
the vigorous interposition of the state to rescue 
us from the danger of an event, which, if it did 
not prove the total ruin of our affairs, would at 
least give them a shock they would not easily 
recover, and plunge us into a train of new and 
still more perplexing embarrassments than any 
we have hitherto felt. 

I have the honor to be, with g^eat respect, 
your excellency's most obedient servant, 

G. Washington. 
His excellency Governor Rodney. 



Gen. Washington to C. Rodney. 

Head-quarters, near the Liberty Pole, 

Bergen county, 37 .Au^st. 1780. 

Sir — The honorable the committee of co- 
operation havmg returned to congress, I am 
under the disagreeable necessity of informing 
your excellency that the army is again reduced 
to an extremity of distress for want of provis- 
ion. The greater part of it has been without 
meat from the 21st to the 26th. To endeavor 
to obtain some relief, I moved down to this 
place, with a view of stripping the lower parts 
of the country of the remainder of its cattle, 
which, after a most rigorous exaction, is found 
to afford between two and three days' supply 
only, and those consisting of milch cows, and 
calves of one or two years old. When this 
scanty pittance is consumed, I know not what 
will be our next resource, as the commissary 
can give me no certain information of more 
than 120 head of cattle expected from Penn- 
sylvania, and about 150 from Massachu- 
setts — I mean in time to supply our immediate 
wants. 



252 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Military coercion is no longer of any avail, 
as nothing further can possibly be collected 
from the country' in which we are obliged to 
take a position, without depriving the inhabi- 
tants of the last morsel. This mode of subsist- 
ing, supposing the desired end could be 
answered by it, besides being in the highest 
degree distressing to individuals, is attended 
with ruin to the morals and discipline of the 
army. During the few days which we have 
been obliged to send out small parties to pro- 
cure provisions for themselves, the most enor- 
mous excesses have been committed. 

It has been no inconsiderable support of our 
cause, to have had it in our power to contrast 
the conduct of our army with that of the 
enemy, and to convince the inhabitants that, 
while their rights were wantonly violated by 
the British troops, by ours they were respected. 
This distinction must, unhappily, now cease, 
and we must assume the odious character of the 
plunderers instead of the protectors of the peo- 
ple ; the direct consequence of which must be, 
to alienate their minds from the army and in- 
sensibly from the cause. 

We have not yet been absolutely without 
flour, but we have this day, but one day's sup- 
ply in camp, and I am not certain that there is 
a single barrel between this place and Trenton. 
I shall be obliged therefore to draw down one 
or two hundred barrels from a small magazine, 
which I had endeavored to establish at West 
Point, for the security of the garrison, in case 
of a sudden investiture. 

From the above state of facts, it may be 
foreseen that this army cannot possibly remain 
much longer together, unless very vigorous and 
immediate measures are taken by the states to 
comply with the requisitions made upon them. 
The commissary general has neither the means 
nor the power of procuring supplies — he is 
only to receive them from the several agents. 
Without a speedy change of circumstances, 
this dilemma will be involved '. either the army 
must disband, or what is, if possible, worse, 
subsist upon the plunder of the people. I 
would fain flatter myself that a knowledge of 
our situation will produce the desired relief: 
not a relief of a few days, as has generally 
heretofore been the case, but a supply equal to 
the establishment of magazines for the winter. 
If these are not formed before the roads are 
broken up by the weather, we shall certainly 
experience the same difficulties and distresses 
the ensuing winter which we did the last. 
Although the troops have, upon every occasion 
hitherto, borne their wants with unparalleled 
patience, it will be dangerous to trust too 



often to a repetition of the cause of discon- 
tent. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
your excellency's most obedient, 

G. Washington. 



Thomas Rodney to C. Rodney. 

Dover, July so, 1779- 
Dear Sir — You will readily grant that it is 
evident from the low credit of our money, that 
the state of our finances is bad enough ; yet I 
think congress is too much alarmed on this 
head, and is thereby urged into measures that 
still tend to depress the credit of the money. 
'Tis well enough that they should alarm the 
people, that every exertion may be made by 
them to support congress in their measures for 
raising the value of the money — but if congress 
be too much alarmed themselves, they will not 
be so likely to direct these exertions in the best 
manner to answer effectually the purpose 
intended. Congress, in my humble opinion, 
ought to be cool, uniform and firm, in what 
they do on this head. Taxation, if not impeded 
by other means, will restore the money much 
sooner perhaps than congress apprehend ; for, 
by this means, without destroying one bill, one 
half the money, at least, will be taken out of 
circulation, and the people will soon be amazed 
to see the money disappear, without hearing 
that any of it is destroyed. This position will 
appear evident to you when you consider, that, 
from the moment the present tax is collected, 
(if the plan is pursued), there will always be at 
least sixty millions of dollars locked up in the 
treasuries — -and as fast as any part of this sum 
is dealt out to supply the exigencies of the war, 
it ought to be supplied by the taxes coming in. 
I think there can be no doubt but a sum, equal 
to what I have mentioned, will always remain 
in the treasury ; that is, betweem the hands of 
the first collectors and those that pay it out to 
the people again : and while it is there, it will 
be out of sight and out of circulation. 

But if taxation has been too long neglected, 
and is now too slow to supply your present 
demand, it is better to borrow, than emit any 
more money — but not upon unusual interest ; — 
a higher interest than usual, holds out that the 
people are not ready and willing to support the 
public credit, and that the security is doubtful. 
An accumulating interest, to be in proportion 
to the increase of the quantity of money, holds 
out that you intend to emit more — that is, that 
you will make the monster yet more terrible, 
that has frightened every body almost out of 
their wits already. 



DELAWARE. 



253 



Borrowing is a measure I never would 
advise, if the necessity of our circumstances 
did not drive us into it, by being past the 
opportunity of better means ; but as we are 
now circumstanced, borrowing may have an 
extraordinary good effect, if the measure is 
wisely conducted — that is, if the friends to 
America would form themselves into bodies, or 
small societies, and every man subscribe ac- 
cording to his abilities to lend the public at 
usual interest, and each society to appoint one or 
more of their members to take a certificate for 
the gross sum they all subscribe, in trust to 
receive and pay each member his interest 
annually, and his principal according to the 
terms of lending. 

This is the mode the friends of the cause are en- 
deavoring to promote here, that all persons what- 
ever may have an opportunity of subscribing. 

When I see large societies formed in your 
city to promote their own particular sentiment 
about the constitution of government, I cannot 
think they would be backward in a measure of 
this sort, which possibly may be the means of 
saving the very existence of that government. 

The mode that I would advise in your city 
would be this : Let each class of people, ac- 
cording to their calling, associate together — 
and let the merchants, who we may suppose 
the monied men, begin — their example will 
soon be followed by the rest. 

This would convince both our friends and 
enemies, as well abroad as at home, that the 
people are determined to support the public 
credit, and the only hope that Britain now has 
would vanish in a moment. 

Once this example is set, he that is able, and 
does not follow it, will give the strongest proof 
of his disaffection, and ought to be regarded 
accordingly. 

There are few evils but what have benefits 
proportionate attendant on them. War cannot 
be carried on without supplies, and the high 
prices given for them for twelve months past, 
has encouraged the merchant and the farmer 
in such a degree, that we see industry, enter- 
prise and plenty abound every where — so that, 
in my private view, (notwithstanding the state 
of our finances), our circumstances are the 
most flourishing that they have been since the 
war began. Thomas Rodney. 

Ccesar Rodney, esq. 



John Dickinson, of Penn. to Thomas 
Rodney. 

Philadelphia, July 22, 1779. 

Dear Sir — I have received your favor of 



the 17th, for which and the enclosure I am 
much obliged, as I shall always be for a com- 
munication of your sentiments on public affairs. 

I so much agreed with you concerning the 
expediency of acceding to the confederation, 
though, as you justly observe, in several par- 
ticulars exceptionable, that I used what little 
influence I had to forward its ratification by our 
state ; advising, at the same time, a strong de- 
claration upon the parts objected to addressed 
to congress, and pointedly expressing our ex- 
pectation of a revision and alteration thereof at 
a more convenient season. 

Your reflections on our loan, and on some 
other proceedings, I fear, are too well founded. 
— Our difficulties are prodigious. We see the 
wisdom of your proposal to stop the presses — 
we perceive taxation to be of as much impor- 
tance as you mention — we are desirous of bor- 
rowing on the lowest terms — but, while we 
have so many thousands to supply with neces- 
saries, and while the demands upon us for the 
articles we must purchase are daily and hourly 
rising upon us, with such a boundless stretch 
— to what purpose are loans and taxes .' 

I have esteemed it my duty since I have been 
in congress, to keep my eyes constantly fixed on 
the preventing further emissions — and several 
steps have been taken towards that point, that 
are known but by very few to lead towards it : 
some others are now under consideration — and 
I am impatiently waiting for the moment, when 
a prospect of carrying on aftairs without further 
emissions, and a likelihood of succeeding in 
the attempt, will permit me to move for stop- 
ping the presses. 

Mrs. Dickinson and Sally, with myself, desire 
to be very affectionately remembered to your 
family. 

I am, sir, your sincerely affectionate and very 
humble servant, 

John Dickinson. 
To Thomas Rodney, esq. Dover. 

Thos. Rodney to C. Rodney. 

Philadelphia, June 14, 1761. 

Sir — You will find by the contents of this, 
that it is a confidential letter, conveying you 
very important and pleasing intelligence. 

Congress has received a letter from the king 
of France, and also otherwise officially informed 
by his minister here, that the empress of Russia 
threw out an invitation for the belligerent 
powers to apply for her mediation, at which 
the court of London eagerly caught, and men- 
tioned the emperor of Germany as another 
mediator — and a congress was proposed to be 



254 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



opened at Vienna, for the purpose of settling a 
general peace. The answer ot the court of 
France was, that they could send no plenipo- 
tentiaries to said congress, till they had con- 
sulted their allies ; but, in the mediators are 
such respectable powers, and may be so fully 
relied on for justice, the king presses the United 
States to submit to the mediation — and that 
the first preliminary he will insist on, previous 
to any other negotiation, shall be, the indepen- 
dence of the United States, in full — and upon 
obtaining this, request that the states may be 
■as moderate in all other demands as possible, 
that the mediating powers, may thereby re- 
ceive favorably impressions of our equity and 
justice. The same mediating application was 
made to the court of Spain, and their answer 
was, that they could not do any thing but in 
conjunction with their ally, the king of France 
— so that the congress of mediation is likely 
to be delayed till our despatches reach France. 
However, the king says that, if he is so pressed 
that he cannot decently del.ay sending a pleni- 
potentiary till that time, he shall insist on the 
preliminary before mentioned, and then only 
proceed in the negotiation so as to have it in 
such forwardness as will not injure America 
against their plenipotentiaries and instructions 
arrived. The king of France thinks that very 
equitable terms of peace may be obtained 
through this mediation, but urges us strongly 
to exert ourselves this campaign — as the wrest- 
ing the southern states out of the hands of the 
British, will contribute greatly to lessen their 
demands and make them more readily incline 
to equitable terms of peace ; and that our ex- 
ertions ought to be quick and vigorous, lest a 
truce should take place: and to ensure the 
success of this mediation we ought to make 
the most ample and vigorous preparations for 
carrying on the war. Britain made an attempt, 
through a Mr. Cumberland, to negotiate a 
separate treaty with Spain ; but this has failed, 
though Mr. Cumberland is still at Madrid. 
Spain would not treat but in conjunction with 
France, and France cannot treat but in conjunc- 
tion with America. Thus are we linked togeth- 
er, so that the independence of America now 
stands on prosperous ground, and no further 
doubt need to remain about it : for this much is 
certain — all the powers of Europe, (Britain e.\- 
ceptedl, wish us to be independent. Thus far 
in confidence, with this addition, that congress 
have appointed Dr. Franklin, J. Adams, J. Jay, 
H. Laurens and governor Jefferson, plenipo- 
tentiaries for settling the peace. They first 
agreed to appoint but one, and Adams was 
appointed before I came up ; they then agreed 



to add two more, then Jay was appointed — then 
Jefferson had five votes, Franklin four, and 
Laurens one. The states voted the same way 
three times. Then I proposed to the members 
of Virginia and Pennsylvania that we should 
appoint them both, which being generally 
agreed to, this day was appointed for the pur- 
pose, and then Laurens was included — so the 
appointment now consists of five. New Hamp- 
shire, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, 
were for Franklin, South Carolina for Laurens, 
and Massachusetts, Connecticut, Jersey, Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina for Jefferson, Rhode 
Island and New York unrepresented ; Georgia 
absent. Mr. M'Kean wanted to alter in favor 
of Jefferson and leave Franklin out, which, 
upon Georgia's coming in, would have carried 
him ; but I would not give up Franklin, and 
by the manner of proposing to appoint them 
both, got him appointed — though this was ex- 
ceedingly against the grain of several members. 
He will now be put at the head of the commis- 
sion. His abilities, character and influence 
are what will be of most use to us in Europe. 
I am, your most obedient, 

Thomas Rodney. 
CcEsar Rodney, esq., Dover. 



American and French soldiers. 

■Williamsburg, Dec. 16, 1781. 

Dear Sir — After the departure of gen. 
Washington, the French quartered themselves 
upon the people, of this and some other towns, 
a la mode militaire, and gave no small offence ; 
but they are now dancing them into good 
humor again by a ball every week. I had my- 
self a petit guerre with a French officer, by 
which I was turned out of my quarters, and, 
consequently, came off but second best. 
Bemg summoned before count Rochambeau 
to answer for my rebellious conduct, I received 
a long lecture on the subject of politeness to 
friends and allies, with intimations of his power 
to punish obstinacy. Although I was put into 
quarters equally good with those I was com- 
pelled to leave, I must confess, I did not per- 
fectly understand the French politeness, in the 
mode of exchange. The old count, I believe, 
has either forgotten or forgiven me, as a day or 
two ago he gave me an invitation to dine with 
him. 

It must be mortifying to our poor dt-ziils to 
observe the comfortable and happy life of 
French soldiers. They appear on parade every 
day like fine gentlemen, as neat as their offi- 
cers, and hardly to be distinguished from them. 



MARYLAND. 



2S5 



They are paid once a week, and, by their happy 
countenance, appear to want nothing. A sen- 
tinel is not allowed to stand upon duty without 
a warm watch-coat in addition to his other 
clothing. The officers treat the soldiers with 
attention, humanity and respect, and appear to 
employ all the means necessary to inspire them 
with sentiments of honor. E.xcept some horse- 
jockeying and plundering, at the reduction of 



York, I have heard of no stealing among them. 
— Theft is said to be a crime held in universal 
abhorrence among them. I have not seen or 
heard of any instance, yet, of a French soldier 
being whipped. Their desertions, I believe, 
have been rare, and their sickness but little. 
When will our army bear the comparison ? 

James Tilton, 
Thomas Rodney, esq. 



\ 



MARYLAND, 



PROCEEDINGS 

Of the people assembled at Annapolis, 
respecting the importation of brit- 
ish goods. 

Annapolis, Junt 39, 1769. 
Several of the counties hain'ng entered into 
resolutions of non-importation of British su- 
perfluities, and the proxn'nce, in general, being 

invited by the gentlemen of Anne Arundel 
county, to request some people from each 
county, to tneet at this place, on the 20th 
instant, in order that a general resolution 
of non-importation might be forjned 

There was accordingly a very full meet- 
ing, at which the following RESOLU- 
TIONS were entered into ; and it was 
agreed, that twelve copies should be printed 
and transmitted to each county, to be signed 
by the people, which, it is expected, will be 
done with great readiness throughout the 
province. 

We, the subscribers, his majesty's loyal and 
dutiful subjects, the merchants, traders, free- 
holders, mechanics, and other inhabitants of 
the province of Maryland, seriously consider- 
ing the present state and condition of the 
province, and being sensible that there is a ne- 
cessity to agree upon such measures, as may 
tend to discourage, and as much as may be, 
prevent the use of foreign luxuries and super- 
fluities, in the consumption of which we have 
heretofore too much indulged ourselves, to the 
great detriment of our private fortunes, and, in 
some instances, to the ruin of our families ; 
and, to this end, to practise ourselves, and as 
much as possible, to promote, countenance, 
and encourage in others, a habit of temper- 
ance, frugality, economy, and industry, and 
considering also, that measures of this nature 
are more particularly necessary at this time, as 



the parliament of Great Britain, by imposing 
taxes upon many articles imported hither from 
thence, and from other parts beyond sea, has 
left it less in our power, than in time past, to 
purchase and pay for the manufactures of the 
mother-country ; which taxes, especially those 
imposed by a late act of parliament, laying 
duties on tea, paper, glass, etc., we are clearly 
convinced have been imposed contrary to the 
spirit of our constitution, and have a direct and 
manifest tendency to deprive us, in the end, of 
all political freedom, and reduce us to a state 
of dependence, inconsistent with that liberty 
we have rightfully enjoyed under the govern- 
ment of his present most sacred majesty, (to 
whom we owe, acknowledge, and will always 
joyfully pay all due obedience and allegiance) 
and of his royal predecessors, ever since the 
first settlement of the province, until of 
very late time — have thought it necessary to 
unite, as nearly as our circumstances will 
admit, with our sister colonies, in resolutions 
for the purpose aforesaid ; and, therefore, do 
hereby agree, and bind ourselves, to and with 
each other, by all the ties and obligations ot 
honor and reputation, that we will strictly and 
faithfully observe, and conform to the follow- 
ing resolutions: 

First, That we will not, at any time here- 
after, directly or indirectly, import, or cause to 
be imported, any manner of goods, merchan- 
dise, or manufactures, which are, or shall here- 
after be, taxed by act of parliament, for the 
purpose of raising a revenue in America (except 
paper not exceeding six shillings per ream, and 
except such articles only as orders have been 
already sent for) but, that we will always con- 
sider such taxation, in every respect, as an ab- 
solute prohibition to the articles that are, or 
may be taxed. 

Secondly, That we will not hereafter, 



256 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



directly or indirectly, during the continuance of 
the aforesaid act of parliament, import, or 
cause to be imported, from Great Britain, or 
any other part of Europe, (except such articles 
of the produce or manufacture of Ireland, as 
may be immediately and legally brought from 
thence, and also, except all such goods as 
orders have been already sent for) any of the 
goods herein after enumerated, to wit, horses, 
spirits, wine, cider, perry, beer, ale, malt, bar- 
ley, peas, beef, pork, fish, butter, cheese, tal- 
low, candles, oil, except Salad-oil, fruit, pickles, 
confectionery, British refined sugar, mustard, 
coffee, pewter, tin-ware of all kinds, whether 
plain or painted, waiters, and all kinds of japan- 
ware, wrought copper, wrought and cast brass, 
and bell-metal, watches, clocks, plate, and all 
other gold and silversmiths' work, trinkets, and 
jewelry of all kinds, gold and silver lace, join- 
ers' and cabinet work of all sorts, looking- 
glasses, upholstery of all kinds, carriages of all 
kinds, ribbons and millinery of all V\x\As, except 
■wig-ribbon, lace, cambric, lawn, muslin, kent- 
ing, gauze of all kinds, except Boulting-clotlis, 
silks of all kinds, except raw and seguing silk, 
atid wig cauls, velvets, chintzes, and calicoes 
of all sorts, of more than twenty-pence per 
yard, East-India goods of every kind, except 
salt-petre, black pepper, and spices, printed 
linens, and printed cottons, striped linens, and 
cottons, check linens, and cotton checks of all 
kinds, handkerchiefs of all kinds, at more than 
ten shillings per dozen ; cotton velvets, and all 
kinds of cotton, or cotton and linen stuffs, bed- 
bunts, and bed-ticking of all sorts, cotton 
counterpanes and coverlids, British manufac- 
tured linens of all kinds, except sail-cloth, Irish 
and all foreign linens, above one shilling and 
six pence per yard ; woolen cloth, above five 
quarters wide, of more than five shillings per 
yard ; narrow cloths of all sorts, of more than 
three shillings per yard ; worsted stuffs of all 
sorts, above thirteen pence per yard ; silk and 
worsted, silk and cotton, silk and hair, and 
hair and worsted stuffs of all kinds, worsted 
and hair shags, mourning of all and every kind, 
stockings, caps, waistcoat and breeches pat- 
terns of all kinds, rugs of all sorts, above eight 
shillings; blankets, above five shillings, per 
blanket ; men's and women's ready made clothes 
and wearing apparel of all kinds, hats of all 
kinds, of more than two shillings per hat ; 
wigs, gloves, and mits of all kinds, stays and 
bodices of all sorts, boots, saddles, and all man- 
ufactures of leather, and skins of all kinds, 
except men's and women's shoes, of not more 
than four shillings per pair, whips, brushes, 
and brooms of all sorts, gilt, and hair trunks. 



paintings, carpets of all sorts, snuff-boxes, 
snuff, and other manufactured tobacco, soap, 
starch, playing cards, dice, English china, Eng- 
lish ware, in imitation of China, delph and 
stone ware, of all sorts, except milk-pans, stone 
bottles, jugs, pitchers, and chamber pots, mar- 
ble and wrought stone of any kind, except 
scythe-stones ; mill-stones, and grind-stones, 
iron castings, ironmongery of all sorts, except 
nails ; hoes, steel, handicraft and manufactur- 
ers' tools, locks, frying-pans, scythes and sick- 
les, cutlery of all sorts, except knives and forks, 
not exceeding three shillings per dozen ; knives, 
scissors, sheep shears, needles, pins and thim- 
bles, razors, chirurgical instruments and spec- 
tacles, cordage, or tarred rope of all sorts, 
seines, ships' colors ready made, ivory, horn 
and bone ware of all sorts, except combs. 

Thirdly, That we will not, during the time 
aforesaid, import any wines, of any kind what- 
ever, or purchase the same from any person 
whatever, except such wines as are already 
imported, or for which orders are already 
sent. 

Fourthly, That we will not kill or suffer to 
be killed, or sell, or dispose to any person, 
whom we have reason to believe intends to kill, 
any ewe-lamb that shall be yeaned before the 
first day of May in any year, during the time 
aforesaid. 

Fifthly, That we will not, directly or indi- 
rectly, during the time aforesaid, purchase, take 
up, or receive, on any terms, or conditions 
whatever, any of the goods enumerated in the 
second resolution, that shall, or may be im- 
ported into this province, contrary to the 
intent and design of these resolutions, by any 
person whatever, or consigned to any factor, 
agent, manager, or storekeeper here, by any 
person residing in Great Britain, or elsewhere ; 
and if any such goods shall be imported, we 
will not, upon any consideration whatever, rent 
or sell to, or permit any way to be made use of 
by any such importer, his agent, factor, man- 
ager, or store-keeper, or any person, on his, or 
their behalf, any store-house, or other house, or 
any kind of place whatever, belonging to us, 
respectively, for exposing to sale, or even secur- 
ing any such goods, nor will we suffer any such 
to be put on shore on our respective proper- 
ties. 

Sixthly, That if any person shall import, 
or endeavor to import, from Great Britain or 
any part of Europe, any goods whatever, con- 
trary to the spirit and design of the foregoing 
resolutions, or shall sell any goods which he 
has now, or may hereafter have on hand, or 
may import, on any other terms than are herein 



MARYLAND. 



257 



expressed, we will not, at any time hereafter, 
deal with any such person, his agent, manager, 
factor, or storekeeper, for any commodity what- 
ever ; and that such of us as are, or may be 
sellers of goods, will not take any advantage 
of the scarcity of goods, that this agreement 
may occasion, but will sell such as we have 
now on hand, or may hereafter import, or have 
for sale, at the respective usual and accustomed 
rates for three years last past. 

Seventhly, That we will not, during the 
time aforesaid, import into this province, any 
of the goods above enumerated for non-impor- 
tation in the second resolution, which have 
been, or shall be imported from Great Britain, 
or some part of Europe, from any colony, or 
province, which hath not entered, or shall not, 
within two months from the date hereof, enter 
into resolutions of non-importation, nor will we 
purchase, take up, or receive, on any terms, or 
conditions whatever, any such goods, from any 
person or persons, that may import the same ; 
nor will we purchase, take up, or receive, on 
any terms, or conditions, any of the said goods, 
which may be imported from any province, or 
colony, which has entered, or may enter into such 
resolutions, unless a certificate shall accompany 
such goods, under the hands of a committee of 
merchants (if any) of the place from whence 
such goods shall come or if no such committee, 
then under the hands of at least three of the 
principal merchants there, who have entered 
into resolutions of non-importation, that such 
goods were imported before such resolution 
was entered into in such place. And that we 
will not purchase, take up, or receive, on any 
terms, or conditions whatever, after the expira- 
tion of six months, from the date hereof, from 
any colony, or province aforesaid, any of the 
said enumerated articles, which have been, or 
shall be imported from Great Britain. 

Eighthly, We, the tradesmen and manu- 
facturers, do likewise promise, and agree, that 
we will not avail ourselves of the scarcity of 
European goods, proceeding from the resolu- 
tions for non-importation, to raise or enhance 
the prices of the different articles, or commodi- 
ties, by us wrought up, or manufactured ; but 
that we will sell and dispose of the same, at 
the usual and accustomed rates we have done 
for these three years past. 

Lastly, That, if any person, or persons, 
whatever, shall oppose, or contravene the above 
resolutions, or act in opposition to the true 
spirit and design thereof, we will consider him, 
or them, as enemies to the liberties of America, 
and treat them on all occasions, with the con- 
tempt they deserve ; provided that these resolu- 

17 



tions shall be binding on us, for and during the 
continuance of the before mentioned act of par- 
liament, unless a general meeting of such per- 
sons at Annapolis, as may, at any time here- 
after, be requested by the people of the several 
counties in this province to meet, for the pur- 
pose of considering the expediency of dispens- 
ing with the said resolutions, or any of them, 
not exceeding four from each county, or a 
majority of such of them as shall attend, shall 
determine otherwise. 



PROCEEDINGS 



Of Merchants and others of Balti- 
more COUNTY, relative TO IMPORTA- 
TION OF European goods. 

At a meeting of the merchants, and others, 
inhabitants of Baltimore county, associators 
for non-importation of European goods, held, 
at Mr. Little's, Ncniemher 14, 1769, 

John Smith, chairman — 

The committee of enquiry having reported, 
that IVilh'am Moore, jun.hdiA imported a cargo 
of goods in the Lord Cambden, captain John 
Johnston, from London, of the value of ;£90O 
sterling, which they were in doubt were not 
within the terms of the association. The fol- 
lowing question was put, whether William 
Afoore, juit. has imported the said cargo within 
the terms mentioned in the agreement of the 
30th of March last, to which he was a signer.' 
Upon which question, the gentlemen present 
were unanimously of opinion, that the said 
cargo was imported contrary to that agree- 
ment. Of which determination William 
Moore being informed, he alleged, as a justifi- 
cation of his conduct, that at the time he signed 
the agreement, he objected to Mr. 'John Merry- 
>nan, who then had the carriage thereof, (and 
who is now absent in London) that he would 
not sign, unless he had liberty to send off his 
orders for fall goods, and to import the same : 
That some few days afterwards Mr. Merryman 
informed him, that the merchants of the town 
would give leave to send off the orders, and 
receive the fall goods ; and that, in conse- 
quence of this information, he signed the 
agreement, without any such condition, written 
or expressed, in the same opposite to his name. 
After which the question was put, whether 
Mr. Moore should have liberty to land and 
vend his whole cargo? Which was deter- 
mined in the affirmative. 



258 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE. 



Thomas Ewing, 
Alexander M'Machen, 
Benjamin Rogers, 
Jonathan Hudson, 
Murdock Kennedy, 
Henry Brown, 
WiMiam Hammond, 
Andrew Buchanan, 
John Deaver, 



H. D. Gough, 
Jonathan Plowman, 
Richard Moale, 
Archibald Buchanan, 
Hercules Courtenay, 
John Macnabb, 
Charles Rogers, 
John A. Smith, 
Thomas Place. 



FOR THE NEGATIVE. 



John Moale, 
Henry Thompson, 
William Lux, E. R. 
Robert Christie, 
Robert Alexander, 



John Smith, 

William Smith, 
Alexander Lawson, 
Ebenezer Mackie, 
William Lux. 



The committee of enquiry having also re- 
ported that Benjamin Howard had imported a 
cargo of goods, of the value of /1700 sterling, 
in the Lord Cambdcn, captain John Johnston, 
London, which they were in doubt were not 
within the terms of the association of 30th 
March. Upon which the Ibllowing question 
was put, whether Benjamin Haivard be per- 
mitted to land and vend the said cargo, he 
having alleged that he never signed the associa- 
tion of the 30th March, being then an inhabi- 
tant of Anne-Arundel county, and that he 
apprehended he was entitled to import within 
the terms of the general association of the 
22d June, to which he was a subscriber, his 
orders for the said cargo having been trans- 
mitted the 1st of May. Resolved in the affir- 
mative, 

FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE. 



Thomas Ewing, 
Alexander M'Machen, 
Benjamin Rogers, 
Jonathan Hudson, 
Thomas Place, 
Henry Thompson, 
Henry Brown, 
William Hammond, 
Andrew Buchanan, 
John Deaver, 



H. D. Gough. 
Jonathan Plowman, 
Richard Moale, 
Archibald Buchanan, 
Murdock Kennedy, 
John Moale, 
John Macnabb, 
Charles Rogers, 
John A. Smith, 
Hercules Courtenay. 



FOR THE NEGATIVE. 



John Smith, 
Robert Christie, 
William Smith, 



Ebenezer Mackie, 
Alexander Lawson, 
William Lux. 



ACTION 

Of THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND UPON THB 

subject of the boston port-bill. 

Queen Anne's County, May 30, 1774. 

At a meeting of a considerable number of the 
magistrates, and other the most respectable 
inhabitants of Queen-Anne's county, at 
Queen's town, on the thirtieth day of May, 
1774, in order to deliberate upon the ten- 
dency and effect of the act of parliament 
for blocking up the port and harbor of 
Boston. 

Duly considering and deeply affected with 
the prospect of the unhappy situation of Great 
Britain and British America, under any kind of 
disunion, this meeting think themselves obliged, 
by all the ties which ever ought to preserve a 
firm union among Americans, as speedily as 
possible to make known their sentiments to 
their distressed brethren of Boston ; and there- 
fore publish to the world. 

That they look upon the cause of Boston in 
its consequences to be the common cause of 
America. 

That the act of parliament for blocking up 
the port and harbor of Boston, appears to 
them a cruel and oppressive invasion of their 
natural rights, as men, and constitutional rights 
as English subjects, and if not repealed, will 
be a foundation for the utter destruction of 
American freedom. 

That all legal and constitutional means ought 
to be used by all America, for procuring a 
repeal of the said act of parliament. 

That the only effectual means of obtaining 
such repeal, they are at present of opinion, is 
an association, under the strongest ties, for 
breaking off all commercial connections with 
Great Britain, until the said act of parliament 
be repealed, and the right assumed by parlia- 
ment for taxing America, in all cases whatso- 
ever, be given up, and American freedom as- 
certained and settled upon a permanent consti- 
tutional foundation. 

That the most practicable mode of forming 
such an effectual association, they conceive to 
be a general meeting of the gentlemen, who 
are already or shall be appointed committees, 
to form an American intercourse and corre- 
spondence upon this most interesting occasion. 

That in the mean time they will form such 
particular associations as to them shall seem 
effectual ; yet professing themselves ready to 
join in any reasonable general one tha'. may be 
devised as aforesaid. 

That these sentiments be immediately for- 



MARYLAND. 



259 



warded to be printed in the Maryland and 
Pennsylvania Gazettes. 

That Edward Tilghman, Solomon Wright, 
Turbut Wright, John Browne, Richard Tilgh- 
man Earle, James HoUyday, Thomas Wright, 
William Hemsley, Adam Gray, Clement Sewell, 
Richard Tilghman, James Kent, John Kerr, 
James Bordley, and William Bruff, be a com- 
mittee of correspondence and intercourse, until 
some alteration is made in this appointment 
by a more general meeting. 
Attested by^ 

James Earle, dk. com. 



Baltimore County, May 31, 1774. 

At a general meeting of the freeholders, gentle- 
men, merchants, tradesmen, and other inha- 
bitants of Baltimore county, held at the 
court house of the said county, on Tuesday 
the 31st of May 1774, Captain Charles 
RiDGELY, Chairman — 

I. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this 
meeting, that the town of Boston is now suffer- 
ing in the common cause of America, and that 
it is the duty of every colony in America to 
unite in the most effectual means to obtain a 
repeal of the late act of parliament for blocking 
up the harbor of Boston. — Dissentient three. 

II. That it is the opinion of this meeting, that 
if the colonies come into a joint resolution to 
stop importations from, and exportations to 
Great Britain and the West-Indies, until the 
act for blocking up the harbor of Boston be 
repealed, the same may be the means of pre- 
ser\-ing North America in her liberties. Dis- 
sentient three. 

III. That therefore the inhabitants of this 
county will join in an association with the 
several counties in this province and the prin- 
cipal colonies in America, to put a stop to 
exports to Great Britain and the West-Indies, 
after the first day of October next, or such 
other day as may be agreed on, and to put a 
stop to the imports from Great Britain after the 
first day of December next, or such other day 
as may be agreed upon, until the said act shall 
be repealed, and that such association shall be 
upon oath. — Dissentient nine. 

IV. Unanimously. — That it is the opinion of 
this meeting, that as the most effectual means 
of uniting all parts of this province in such as- 
sociation, as proposed, a general congress of 
deputies from each county be held at Annapolis 
at such times as may be agreed upon and that 
if agreeable to the sense of our sister colonies, 
delegates shall be appointed fromi this province 



to attend a general congress of delegates from 
the other colonies, at such time and place as 
shall be agreed on, in order to settle and estab- 
lish a general plan of conduct for the important 
purposes aforementioned. 

V. Unanimously, — That the inhabitants of 
this county will, and it is the opinion of this 
meeting, that this province ought to break off 
all trade and dealings with that colony, pro- 
vince or town, which shall decline or refuse to 
come into similar resolutions with a majority 
of the colonies. 

VI. That Capt. Charles Ridgely, Charles 
Ridgely, son of John, Walter Tolley, jun. 
Thomas Cockey Dye, William Lux, Robert 
Ale.xander, Samuel Purviance, jun. John MoalCi 
Andrew Buchanan, and George Risteau, be a 
committee to attend a general meeting at An- 
napolis. And that the same gentlemen, to- 
gether with John Smith, Thomas Harrison, 
William Buchanan, Benjamin Nicholson, Tho- 
mas Sollars, William Smith, James Gittings, 
Richard Moale, Jonathan Plowman, and Wil- 
liam Spear, be a committee of correspondence 
to receive and answer all letters, and on any 
emergency, to call a general meeting, and that 
any six of the number have power to act. 

VII. That a copy of the proceedings be 
transmitted to the several counties of this pro- 
vince, directed to their committee of corre- 
spondence, and be also published in the Mary- 
land Gazette, to e\ince to all the world the 
sense they entertain of the invasion of their 
constitutional rights and liberties. 

VIII. That the chairman be desired to 
return the thanks of this meeting to the gentle- 
men of the committee of correspondence from 
Annapolis, for their polite personal attend- 
ance in consequence of an invitation by the 
committee of corresporKlence for Baltimore 
town. 

Signed per order, 

William Lux, Clerk. 



Anne Arundel County, June 4, 1774. 

At a meeting of a very considerable and re- 
spectable body of the inhabitants of Anne 
Arundel county, inclusive of those of the 
city of Annapolis, on Saturday the 4th day 
of June, 1774, Mr. Brice Thomas Beale Wor- 
thington, moderator. 

I. Resolved, unanimously. That it is the 
opinion of this meeting, that the town of Bos- 
ton is now suffering in the common cause of 
America, and that it is incumbent on every, 
colony in America to unite in effectual means 



26o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



to obtain a repeal of the late act of parliament, 
for blocking up the harbor of Boston. 

II. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this 
meeting, that if the colonies come into a joint 
resolution to stop all importations from, and 
exportations to Great Britain, and the West- 
Indies, till the said act be repealed, the same 
will be the most effectual means to obtain 
a repeal of the said act, and preserve North 
America and her liberties. 

III. Resolved therefore, unanimously, That 
the inhabitants of this county will join in an 
association with the several counties in this 
province, and the principal colonies in America, 
to put a stop to exports to Great Britain, and 
the West-Indies, after the gth day of October 
next, or such other day as may be agreed on 
and to put a stop to the imports of goods, not 
already ordered, and of those ordered that shall 
not be shipped from Great Britain by the 2oth 
day of July next, or such other day as may be 
agreed on, until the said act shall be repealed, 
and that such association be on oath. 

IV. Resolved, That as remittances can be 
'made only from exports, after stopping the 
exports to Great Britain and the West-Indies, 
it will be impossible for very many of the peo- 
ple of this province who are possessed of valu- 
able property, immediately to pay off their debts, 
and therefore it is the opinion of this meeting, 
the gentlemen of the law ought to bring no 
suit for the recovery of any debt due from any 
inhabitants of this province, t*any inhabitant 
of Great Britain, until that said act be re- 
pealed ; and further, that they ought not to 
bring suit for recovery of any debt, due to any 
inhabitant of this province, except in such cases 
where the debtor is guilty of a wilful delay in 
payment, having ability to pay, or is about to 
abscond or remove his effects, or is wasting his 
substance, or shall refuse to settle his account. 

V. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this 
meeting, that a congress of deputies from the 
several counties, to be held at Annapolis as soon 
as conveniently may be, will be the most speedy 
and effectual means of uniting all the parts 
of this province in such association as proposed ; 
and that, if agreeable to the sense of our sister 
colonies, delegates ought to be appointed from 
this province to attend a general congress of 
deputies from the other colonies, at such time 
and place as may be agreed on, to effect unity 
in a wise and prudent plan for the forementioned 
purpose. 

VI. Resolved, unanimously. That the inhabi- 
tants of this county will, and it is the opinion 
of this meeting, that the province ought to 
break off all trade and dealings with that col- 



ony, province, or town, which shall decline or 
refuse to come into similar resolutions with a 
majority of the colonies. 

VII. Resolved, That Brice Thomas Beale Wor- 
thington, Charles Carroll, barrister, John HalL 
William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Johnson, 
jun. Matthias Hammond, Thomas Sprigg, 
Samuel Chew, John Weems, Thomas Dorsey, 
Rezin Hammond, John Hood, jun. be a com- 
mittee to attend a general meeting at Anna- 
polis, and of correspondence, to receive and 
answer all letters, and on any emergency to 
call a general meeting, and that any six of the 
number have power to act. 

Ordered, That a copy of these resolves be 
transmitted to the committee of the several 
counties of this province, and be also published 
in the Maryland Gazette. 

By order, John Duckett, elk. com. 



PATRIOTIC RECOMMENDATION. 

Full meeting of Deputies respecting 
manufactures, and home industry. 

Annapolis, December 15, 1774. 

At a meeting of the deputies appointed by the 
several counties of the province of Maryland, 
at the city of Annapolis, by adjournment, on 
the 8th day of December, 1774, and con- 
tinued till the 1 2th day of the same month, 
were present, eighty-five members. 

Mr. John Hall in the chair, and 

Mr. John Duckett, clerk. 

The proceedings of the continental congress 
were read, considered, and unanimously ap- 
proved. Resolved That every member of this 
convention will, and every person in the pro- 
vince ought strictly and inviolably to observe 
and carry into execution the association agreed 
on by the said continental congress. 

On motion, unanimously resolved. That the 
thanks of this convention be given, by the 
chairman, to the gentlemen who represented 
this province as deputies in the late continental 
congress for their faithful discharge of that im- 
portant trust : And the same was done accor- 
dingly. 

To increase our flocks of sheep, and there- 
by promote the woolen manufacture in this 
province, Resolved, That no person ought to 
kill any lamb, dropt before the first day of 
May yearly, or other sheep, after the first day 
of January next, under four years of age. 

To increase the manufacture of linen and 
cotton. Resolved, That every planter and far- 
mer ought to raise as much flax, hemp, and 



MARYLAND. 



261 



cotton, as he conveniently can ; and the culti- 
vation thereof is particularly recommended to 
such inhabitants of this province, whose lands 
are best adapted to that purpose — And re- 
solved, That no flax-seed, of the growth of the 
present year, ought to be purchased for expor- 
tation, after the twelfth day of this month. 

It being represented to this convention, that 
many merchants and traders of this province, 
from a scarcity of cash to make their remit- 
tances, and other causes, had sold their goods, 
within twelve months next before the twenti- 
eth day of October last, at, and sometimes 
even below, the prime cost ; and that, in many 
different parts of this province, merchants had 
vended their goods at a very different advance 
on the prime cost ; and it appearing to this 
convention to be unjust to compel such mer- 
chants to sell their goods at prime cost, and 
that one general rule, allowing a reasonable 
profit to the trader, and preventing him from 
takmg advantage of the scarcity of goods 
which may be occasioned by the non-importa- 
tion, would give great satisfaction to the mer- 
chants and people of this province, resolved 
unanimously. That no merchant ought to sell 
his goods, at wholesale, for more than iisjj 
per cent. — at retail, for cash, for more than 
13 per cent, — on credit, for more than 150 per 
cent, advance on the prime cost ; and that no 
merchant, or other person, ought to engross 
any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever. 
— And in case any question should arise, re- 
specting the prime cost of goods, every mer- 
chant or factor possessing or owning such 
goods, ought to ascertain the same on oath, if 
requested to do it by the committee. 

As a further regulation to enforce an observ- 
ance of the late continental association — Re- 
solved unanimously. That in all cases, where 
breaches of the continental association, or the 
resolves of this convention, shall happen and 
be declared such by any committee of a 
county, no gentleman of the law ought to 
bring or prosecute any suit whatever for such 
offender. And if any factor shall commit any 
breach of the said association or resolves, that 
no gentleman of the law ought to bring or 
prosecute any suit for any debt due to the 
store of which the said factor has the manage- 
ment, after notice as aforesaid. 

Resolved, That it is earnestly recommended, 
by this convention, to the people of this prov- 
ince, that the determinations of the several 
county committees be observed and acquiesced 
in. That no persons, except members of the 
committees, undertake to meddle with or deter- 
mine any question respecting the construction 



of the association entered into by the continen- 
tal congress. And that peace and good order 
be inviolably maintained throughout this con- 
gress. 

Resolved unanimously. That if the late acts of 
parliament, relative to the Massachusetts-Bay, 
shall be attempted to be carried into execution 
by force in that colony, or if the assumed power 
of parliament to tax the colonies shall be at- 
tempted to be carried into execution by force, 
in that colony or any other colony, that in such 
case, this province will support such colony to 
the utmost of their power. 

Resolved unanimously. That a well regulated 
militia, composed of the gentlemen, freeholders, 
and other freemen, is the natural strength and 
only stable security of a free government, and 
that such militia will relieve our mother country 
from any expense in our protection and de- 
fence ; will obviate the pretence of a necessity 
for taxing us on that account, and render it 
unnecessary to keep any standing army (ever 
dangerous to liberty) in this province. And 
therefore, it is recommended to such of the 
said inhabitants of this province as are from 
sixteen to fifty years of age, to form themselves 
into companies of si.xty-eight men ; to choose a 
captain, two lieutenants, an ensign, four ser- 
geants, four corporals, and one drummer, for 
each company ; and use their utmost endeavors 
to make themselves masters of the military ex- 
ercise. That each man be provided with a 
good firelock and bayonet fitted thereon, half a 
pound of powder, two pounds of lead, and a 
cartouch-box, or powder-horn and bag for ball, 
and be in readiness to act on any emergency. 

Resolved unanimously. That it is recom- 
mended to the committees of each county to 
raise by subscription, or in such other voluntary 
manner as they may think proper, and will be 
most agreeable to their respective counties, 
such sums of money as, with any monies al- 
ready raised, will amount to the following sums 
in the respective counties, to wit : 

In St. Mary's county ^£6°° 

Charles 800 

Calvert 366 

Prince George's 833 

Anne Arundel 866 

Frederick 1333 

Baltimore 933 

Harford 466 

Worcester 533 

Somerset 533 

Dorchester 480 

Caroline 3S8 

Talbot 400 



262 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Queen Anne's £$33 

Kent 566 

CcEcil 400 

^10,000 

And that the committees of the respective 
counties lay out the same in the purchase of 
arms and ammunition for the use of such 
county, to be secured and kept in proper and 
convenient places, under the direction of the 
said committees. 

Resolved tinanimously , That it will be neces- 
sary that a provincial meeting of deputies, 
chosen by the several counties of this province, 
should be held in the city of Annapolis, on 
Monday, the 24th day of April next, unless 
American grievances be redressed before that 
time; and therefore we recommend that the 
several counties of this province choose depu- 
ties, as soon as conveniently may be, to attend 
such meeting. And the committee of corre- 
spondence for this province are impowered to 
call a meeting of the said deputies, before the 
said 24th day of April, if they shall esteem it 
necessary. 

Resolved unanimously. That contributions 
from the several counties of this province, for 
supplying the necessities, and alleviating the 
distresses of our brethren at Boston, ought to 
be continued in such mannerand so long as their 
occasions may require ; and that it is the duty 
of the committees of each county to collect and 
transmit the same as soon as possible. 

Resolved unanimously, That the hon. Mat- 
thew Tilghman, and John Hall, Samuel Chase, 
Thomas Johnson, Jun. Charles Carroll, of Car- 
rolkon, Charles Carroll, barrister, and William 
Paca, esquires, or any three or more of them, 
be a committee of correspondence for this 
province. 

Resohied unanimously, That the hon. Mat- 
thew Tilghman, and Thomas Johnson, Jun., 
Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Samuel 
Chase, John Hall, and Thomas Stone, esquires, 
or any three or more of them, be delegates to 
represent this province in the next continental 
congress, and that they, or any three or more 
of them, have full and ample power to consent 
and agree to all measures which such congress 
shall deem necessary and effectual to obtain a 
redress of American grievances ; and this 
province bind themselves to execute, to the 
utmost of their power, all resolutions which the 
said congress may adopt. And further, if the 
said congress shall think necessary to adjourn, 
we do authorise our said delegates to represent 
and act for this province, in any one congress 
to be held by virtue of such adjournment. 



Resolved unanimously, That it is recom- 
mended to the several colonies and provinces, 
to enter into such or the like resolutions, for 
mutual defence and protection, as are entered 
into by this province. 

As our opposition to the settled plan of the 
British administration to enslave America, will 
be strengthened by an union of all ranks of 
men in this province, we do most earnestly 
recommend, that all former differences about 
religion or politics, and all private animosities 
and quarrels of every kind, from henceforth 
cease and be forever buried in oblivion ; and 
we intreat, we conjure every man by his duty 
to God, his country, and his posterity, cordially 
to unite in defence of our common rights and 
liberties. 

Ordered, That copies of these resolutions be 
transmitted by the committee of correspondence 
for this province, to the committees of corre- 
spondence for the several colonies, and be also 
published in the Maryland Gazette. 

By order, John Duckett, Clerk. 



MEMORIAL OF JAMES CHRISTIE. 

Annapolis, 1775. 
In provincial convention, August 7, 1775, the 
following memorial of] AWES CHRISTIE,ya«. 
of Baltimore to^wn, merchant, was read— 

To the honorable the delegates of the freemen 
of the province of Maryland, in convention 
now assembled. The memorial of James 
Christie, jun., of Baltimore county — 

Sheweth — That your memorialist did, on the 
22d day of February last, write the letter, a 
copy of which is hereunto annexed, to his friend 
and cousin-german. lieutenant colonel Christie, 
in the island of Antigua : That, at the time of 
writing the said letter, your memorialist unfor- 
tunately could not approve of the measures 
then pursued in this province, as a petition 
from the hon. continental congress was then 
lying at the foot of the throne of Great Britain, 
the result of which was not at that time known 
in America. 

That the said letter, having been intercepted 
by means, to your memorialist altogether 
unknown, was, on the 13th of July instant, laid 
before the committee of Baltimore county, who 
came to such resolutions on the same as will 
appear to this convention, by a copy of the pro- 
ceedings hereunto annexed. That in pur- 
suance of the said resolutions, your memorialist 
has already suffered a painful imprisonment, 
and hath paid to the guard appointed by the 



MARYLAND. 



263 



committee, the sum of thirty-one pounds, 
seventeen shillings and six pence current 
money, as will appear by the receipt for the 
same, ready to be produced. 

That, by a subsequent resolution of the said 
committee on the 24th instant, the said guard 
was discharged, on the application of your 
memorialist for that purpose, upon your memo- 
rialist's giving an obligation, with live securities, 
not to depart the province without leave of the 
said committee or this convention. And your 
memorialist presumes, with all deference, to 
say, that the letter in question, the contents of 
which has excited so much uneasiness in the 
minds of the good people of this province, could 
not be productive of any ill effect, being wrote 
by a private individual to his friend and rela- 
tion, a person who had not the power, if he had 
the inclination, and who, from regard to his 
own private interest, and from the ties of 
blood (his wife, family and fortune being in this 
country) cannot be supposed to be active in 
devising measures to crush the liberties there- 
of; and in the most solemn manner your 
memorialist avers, that he never harbored a 
wish to introduce a military force into this 
province for the purpose of enslaving the 
inhabitants thereof. And your memorialist 
begs leave to add, that he is extremely sorry 
that his private opinion should have given any 
offence ; he was far from intending any ; he 
considered himself as writing to a friend in con- 
fidence, and had no expectation or wish, that 
such private opinions would ever appear in 
public, or be productive of any public measures 
whatever. 

That the said committee having referred all 
further proceedings on your memorialist's case 
to the gentlemen delegated by this province to 
the continental congress, and they having 
referred the same to the consideration of this 
convention, obliges your memorialist to make 
this application, humbly to request that this 
honorable convention will consider your me- 
morialists's case, and discharge your memorial- 
ist and his securities from the said obligation, 
and also grant permission to your memorialist to 
depart the province with all convenience, with- 
out molestation in person or property. 

Your memorialist, relying on the wisdom and 
humanity of this honorable convention, most 
cheerfully submits his case to their decision, 
humbly praying. 

That the blessings of peace and tranquility 
may be restored to every part of the British 
empire ; that the rights and privileges of Ameri- 
ca may be established on a firm and lasting 
basis, and a speedy and honorable reconciliation 



take place between the parent state and her 
colonies, is the sincere wish of your memo- 
rialist. 

James Christie, jun. 

Baltimore, July 27, 1775. 

And upon reading the letter of the said 
James Christie therein referred to, dated the 
22d of February, 1775, to Gabriel Christie, 
lieut. colonel of the 60th regiment, in which the 
said Christie represented the inhabitants of that 
town as concerned in measures, in his opinion, 
treasonable and rebellious, and that a number 
of soldiers would keep them very quiet, the 
same was considered by this convention, and 
thereupon it is resolved, that the said James 
Christie, by the said letter, hath manifested a 
spirit and principle altogether inimical to the 
rights and liberties of America ; That the said 
James Christie, by insinuating the necessity of 
introducing a military force into this province, 
has manifested an inveterate enmity to the lib- 
erty of this province in particular, and of 
British America in general. 

Therefore, resolved. That the said James 
Christie is and ought to be considered as an 
enemy to America, and that no person trade, 
deal, or barter with him hereafter, unless for 
necessaries and provisions, or for the sale or 
purchase of any part of his real or personal 
estate, of which he may be at this time seized 
or possessed. 

Resolved. That the said James Christie be 
expelled and banished this province forever, 
and that he depart the province before the first 
day of September next. 

Resolved, That the said James Christie 
deposite in the hands of this convention, or 
into the hands of such person or persons as 
they shall appoint, the sum of five hundred 
pounds sterling, to be expended occasionally 
towards his proportion of all charges and ex- 
penses incurred or to be incurred for the defence 
of America, during the present contest with 
Great Britain ; the overplus, if any, after a 
reconciliation shall happily be effected, to be 
restored to the said James Christie. 

Resolved, That no punishment be inflicted on 
the said James Christie, other than what is 
now directed by this convention. 

Resolved, That the five hundred pounds ster- 
ling is to be paid in steriing, or other money 
at par. 

Resolved, That the resolutions of the com- 
mittee of Baltimore county are, by the deter- 
minations of this convention superseded, and 
that therefore the said James Christie may 
negotiate his bills of exchange ; and that he 



264 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



may assign, or he, or any person for him, may 
collect the debts due to him, in the same man- 
ner as other persons may negotiate their bills 
of exchange, assign or collect their debts. 
Signed by order of the convention, 

G. DuvALL, Clerk. 



PATRIOTIC LETTER 

From a minister of the Church of 
England, to the Earl of Dart- 
mouth. 

Maryland, Decetttber 30, 1775. 

My lord — If constitutional allegiance to my 
king, a warm attachment to my country,* and 
the most sanguine emotions for peace and per- 
manent union between the parent state and her 
colonies, will sufficiently expiate for epistolary 
freedom, permit a minister of the king of kings 
to address a minister of the king of Great Brit- 
ain, France, Ireland, and North America : for 
it is the language of my soul, that the precious 
American jewel may speedily and immovably be 
set in the most effulgent diadem. 

Your lordship sustains a two-fold character : 
a soldier of the lord of lords, and secretary of 
state for the northern department, under our 
rightful sovereign. High and honorable offices 
indeed ! but every soldier is not an intrepid 
warrior, or as a noble lord once expressed it, 
" There are many professors, but few posses- 
sors ; " nor is every sen'ant of the crown infalli- 
ble ; in both these, every man at best is but a 
fallible being. This doctrine your lordship once 
lozied, being then a real follower of the Lamb : 
for I well remember several opporluiiities, and 
the happy andjirecioiis moments of each, when 
we bowed together at the sacred altar :\ at 
which, when I beheld the right honorable com- 
municant, with his livery servants on his right 
hand and left, my soul was raised almost to 
the third Heaven, and my spirits filled with 
evangelical love ! For not many mighty, not 
many noble, are truly godly. As your lord- 
ship's condescension was so laudable, honor- 
able, and scriptural, as to appear a professor of 
Christianity, a witness for God, and the truly 
humble soul, I trust, and firmly believe, that 
" the most fine gold is not yet become dim." 
To whom then shall I write, or speak in behalf 
of the miserable convulsed empire ; for your 
lordship hath (/ trust) eternal life at heart, and 
everlasting felicity, by faith, in full view. 

The parliament of Great Britain say, they 
have a right to tax or bind the American in all 

• Born in the city of Oxford, 
t Of the locli Chapel. 



cases whatsoever, to which they answer, " As 
they were born free, free they will be, or die," 
and upon many of their hats there is this 
motto, "freedom or death." Upon others, 
" God and our rights." 

Since the battle of Lexington, I have been 
twice in eight of the thirteen united colonies, 
namely, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, New-Castle, etc* and Maryland, all 
which, except New- York, are almost unani- 
mous in the voice of liberty. Indeed none 
(save a few officers under the crown) are will- 
ing to be bound by the British parliament, in 
all cases whatsoever. The Americans declare 
a master can lay no greater burden on a slave 
than to bind him in all cases whatsoever. — 
These things the united colonies have imbibed, 
and before this can reach your lordship, Can- 
ada will, in all human probability, be added to 
the thirteen, for St. John's and Montreal have, 
upon capitulation, surrendered, and the rest of 
the province, in every other respect, bids fair 
for a general surrender, or subjection to the 
American side. In New-York city and prov- 
ince, although there are, I verily believe, more 
friends to government (as they call themselves) 
than all the rest of the colonies together can 
produce, yet in the city and province there is, 
on the other side of the question, a majority 
large enough to subdue them at any time : for 
instance, a few weeks ago some of these friends 
appeared in the province in opposition to the 
American voice ; whereon a small party went 
out immediately, who subdued and disarmed 
them. These friends, my lord are not worthy 
of the appellation ; they are only sycophants ; 
they flatter with their lips and pens, and deceive 
(I fear) your lordship and others in administra- 
tion, from packet to packet. They have 
repeatedly insinuated, that the New England 
governments have nothing else in view but in- 
dependence. It is totally repugnant to truth. 
Before the sword was drawn, there could not 
possibly be greater loyalists. In the year 1769, 
I arrived first in America, and they daily man- 
ifested what loving subjects they were : and 
the dissenting clergy also, in every opportunity, 
were particularly anxious to invoke the Great' 
Jehovah in behalf of their dread sovereign, of 
whom they spake in terms the most pathetic ; 
also for all his governors and officers, as well 
as for others, that peace and happiness, truth 
and justice, religion and piety, jnight still be 

* Although New Castle, etc. belong to Pennsylvania, 
yet as they in assembly are distinctly represented, and 
also in the congress, these counties therefore are viewed 
as, and called one ofthe united colonies. 



MARYLAND. 



265 



and flourish under his sceptre. Add to this, I 
justly may, the several conversations I have had 
with, and the private prayers I have heard by 
those gentlemen concerning his majesty, his 
crown and dignity ; with all which every loyal- 
ist could but be perfectly well pleased. To 
these facts, my lord, I have not only been an 
eye witness in one colony, but in many, nay 
even in Massachusetts-Bay. and her capital. 

Now, my lord, for Christ's sake, attend faith- 
fully. 

About two months ago I viewed the camps, 
Roxbury and Cambridge. The lines of both 
are impregnable ; with forts (many of which 
are bomb proot") and redoubts, supposing them 
to be all in a direction, are about 20 miles ; the 
breastworks of a proper height, and in many 
places 17 feet in thickness, the trenches wide 
and deep in proportion, before which lay forked 
impediments, and many of the forts, in every 
respect, are perfectly ready for battle ; the 
whole, in a word, an admiration to every spec- 
tator ; for verily their fortifications appear to 
be the works of seven years, instead of about 
as many months. At these camps are about 
20,000 men. well disciplined. The generals 
and other officers, in all their military under- 
takings, solid, discreet, and courageous, the 
men daily raving for action, and seemingly void 
of fear. There are many floating batteries, 
and also batteaus in abundance ; besides this 
strength, 10,000 militia are ordered in that 
government to appear on the first summons. 
Provisions and money there are very plenty, 
and the soldiers faithfully paid. The army in 
great order, and very healthy, and about six 
weeks ago lodged in comfortable barracks. — 
Chaplains constantly attend the camps, morn- 
ing and night. Prayers are often offered up for 
peace and reconciliation, and the soldiers very 
attentive. The roads, at the time I viewed the 
camps, were almost lined with spectators, and 
thousands with me can declare the above, re- 
specting the camps, to be a just description ; 
but, my lord, I have more facts to mention. 

Continential and provincial currencies, to 
facilitate this great undertaking, are emitted, 
which circulate freely, and are daily exchanged 
for silver and gold. Their harbors, by spring, 
will swarm with privateers ; an admiral is ap- 
pointed, a court established, and on the yi in- 
stant the continental flag, on board the Black 
Prince, opposite Philadelphia, was hoisted. 
Many of the captains of those vessels, in the 
last war, proved their intrepidity to the world 
by their prizes, and some of them have already 
taken many valuable prizes which government 
had ordered to Boston, and thereby must have 



much distressed the troop ; all which the prints 
will particularize. 

The appointment of the continental and pro- 
vincial congresses and committees, your lord- 
ship, without doubt, before now, must be fully 
acquainted with. These sets of gentlemen, by 
virtue of the great privileges with which the 
colonies have entrusted them, claim now the 
following prerogatives over the united colonies. 
The continental congress is over all, under 
the king ; the provincials over the committees, 
and the committees over the counties. The 
congresses and committees have so raised and 
regulated the militia and minutemen, whom 
they have raised almost in every county, that 
they make, in every city and town, the most 
warlike appearance. Salt-petre is made in 
abundance, and powder-mills constantly em- 
ployed in many provinces ; and many believe 
that there is now in the possession of the 
Americans, powder enough for three years. 
This to me is very obvious. Soon after Gene- 
ral Gage collected the troops from the several 
provinces into one body at Boston, the con- 
gresses ordered all the shop-keepers not to sell 
their powder to fowlers and hunters, but to 
keep the same for the use of the colonies, 
which in general was faithfully observed. Be- 
fore this, a person might get a large quantity 
of powder almost at every large store, or mer- 
chant's shop, in every city, town, and county 
on the continent. Now all this collected to- 
gether, and what the mills have made, to- 
gether with the great quantities taken at St. 
John's, Montreal, other forts, and on the seas, 
must make an immense quantity : add to this, 
the constant employment of the mills, and a 
great number of privateers faithfully looking 
out for yours. And, my lord, how is it possi- 
ble for all store ships to escape a fleet so large, 
which, at this time, I firmly believe, is com- 
posed of 50 sail, and by next spring I shall not 
marvel if their fleet be doubled. 

Iron guns of the best quality have been 
made in America, and as they have plenty of 
iron and lead mines, they can make what 
quantity of cannon, shot, and bullets they 
please ; but administration have lately supplied 
them with a very valuable assortment of such 
stores.* Rifles, infinitely better than those im- 
ported, are daily made in many places in Penn- 
sylvania, and all the gun-smiths everywhere 
constantly employed. In this country, my 
lord, the boys, as soon as they can discharge a 
gun, frequently exercise themselves therewith, 
some a fowling, and others a hunting. The 

• Store vessels bound to Boston, taken by the conti- 
nental captains. 



266 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



great quantities of game, the many kinds and 
the great privileges of killing, making the 
Americans the best marksmen in the world, 
and thousands support their families princi- 
pally by the same, particularly riflemen on the 
frontiers, whose objects are deer and turkeys. 
In marching through woods, one thousand of 
these riflemen would cut to pieces ten thou- 
sand of your best troops. I don't, my lord, 
speak at random, or write partially ; I have 
travelled too much among these men to be in- 
sensible of their abilitfes. — Oh, my lord ! if 
your lordship knew but one half what I 
know of America, your lordship would not 
persist, but be instantly for peace, or resign. 
But, my lord, construe this epistle as you 
please, nevertheless, my meaning is, that it 
should not in the least convey, or even hint, 
anything about the legality or illegality of the 
unhappy dispute. Many great and celebrated 
writers have moved every ner%'e, but hitherto 
in vain. What then can I do, who am but a 
babe ? Not much truly ; but when a house is 
in flames, all run, without distinction, some 
with buckets, some with grapplings, and others 
with engines, wishing they providentially may 
e.xtinguish the fire. Now my lord the British 
empire is really in flames. I cannot therefore be 
inactive. Suffer then the insignificant with the 
most significant, to help forward with some- 
thing. I present therefore for your lordship's 
acceptance, an engine of facts ; the car\'ed 
works are but homely, but the essential parts 
are sound, and substantial : try them lawfully 
and faithfully, and I (by God's permission) will 
pledge my life they will stand the test; facts 
are at all times proof against the most invete- 
rate foes. By way of appurtenances, I must 
add — up the North river, in the province of 
New-York, there is erected an impregnable 
fort, against which vessels cannot possibly 
many minutes survive. In the New England 
governments, batteries are already made before 
most of their sea-ports. The minute-men, be- 
fore mentioned, like firemen, have all things 
proper and ready to attend on the first alarm. 
The American coast, long as it is, both by 
land and sea, is faithfully watched, and posts 
are everywhere established. Whether, there- 
fore, administration have in view the east 
or west of the continent, it matters not ; set 
but a foot ashore to execute their plan, and the 
same will instantly find enemies ; nay, let thou- 
sands be landed, and they will immediately 
find swarms of foes ; for the electrical posts 
riding day and night will soon make them sen- 
sible thereof. My lord, administration have 
not one friend they can call theirs, in every 



respect, that is a resident among the Ameri- 
cans ; they have several, it is true, who, for 
sordid gain, act under the rose, but woe to 
them if they should be discovered. — Many ex- 
amples have been already made, and this may 
be relied on, that in a few months (as ways 
and means are now under consideration) ad- 
ministration will in every respect in America 
be friendless. The destroying of Falmouth, 
and Lord Dunmore's proclamation, proclaim- 
ing a jubilee to the slaves and convicts in Vir- 
ginia, provided they repair to the royal stand- 
ard in due time, have e.xasperated the Ameri- 
cans beyond description, and made the breach 
infinitely wider. — A few days ago his lordship's 
party was repulsed with great loss. His lord- 
ship, my lord, can do nothing but cause the men 
and treasure now under his command to be sac- 
rificed and expended in vain ; for he is surround- 
ed by hundreds of the best riflemen, who have 
driven his troops out of their intrenchments, etc. 
Most, if not all, by this time, of his majesty's 
governors are afloat, and rendered incapable 
of fulfilling your lordship's commands.* 

The most celebrated military authors are re- 
printed for the use of the young officers, that 
they may be furnished with every pre-requisite 
against spring. The ship-carpenters are very 
busy in getting the rest of the privateers ready, 
and also other hands to equip them wholly for 
sailing. 

Now, right honorable sir, what will you do .' 
— Where will your lordship look .' Where can 
administration fix their ideas with the least view 
of success ? Say, my lord, that their troops are 
good ; the Americans have again and again 
repulsed them ; not one plan of administration 
hath had the wished for success ; in general 
they have turned out abortive ? — Say further, 
that 20 or 30,000, nay double the numbers, 
shall be sent to subdue the Americans — 20,000 
(descending to the camp phrase) may nearly 
serve for a breakfast, or rather do for a relish, 
and so, from time to time, British troops may be 
transported /or the American sacrifice. But 
administration can destroy all their sea ports : 
I reply, a few months ago they might have 
wrought such devastation, but now they will 
find it impracticable. Some harbors are 
blocked up, batteries before others erected, as 
above mentioned, and when the ice impedi- 
ments are dissolved in their harbors, no mar- 
vel, my lord, if some of the British armament, 
as well as transports or store-ships, be taken : 
about an hundred privateers, with the most in- 
trepid marines, and those persons who, last nat- 

* Each riding at anchor before his govemment, or as 
near as convenience will admit. 



MARYLAND. 



267 



ural war, immortalized their names, again cho- 
sen for captains, are (touching their schemes) 
no contemptible enemy by sea. Convinced 
I am fully, that an hundred thousand of the 
best troops Europe can raise will not subdue 
the Americans, nor make them acquiesce in 
the parliamentary claims. — Let government say 
what they please in favor of their forces — 
remember, my lord, the Americans have just 
such blood, the like courage, the same spirits, 
and are equal in color and stature, and as well 
disciplined. Some of their fathers, grand-fath- 
ers, and great-grandfathers, are to British 
dust returned, and in silent repose, while their 
sons and grandsons are struggling for their 
birth-rights ; for they traditionally or constitu- 
tionally retain the idea of liberty, and with him 
of old say, " God forbid that we should sell the 
inheritance of our fathers ! " — Whether this be 
believed or not, I don't know ; but one thing I 
know, albeit the king requesteth, nevertheless, 
like Naboth, they will resist even unto death. — 
Blessed be God, we have no Jezebel to stir up 
his majesty, for his consort is the best of 
queens, and as such the Americans extol her 
majesty daily. Perhaps, my lord, this may be 
viewed as partiality ; but I can assure your 
lordship. I write from conviction, and not from 
a partial spirit. If I am charged anywhere 
herein with partiality, as it is most natural and 
also very fashionable now to act the sycophant 
where one's interest is, I certainly flatter your 
lordship (as I fear too many have), for I have 
no interest nor kindred here, nor hopes of in- 
terest for, or reward for anything of this nature 
that I have done or can do. But I have 
immense hopes and views. My time here is 
very short, and ere long I shall be in a world 
of spirits, where the most noble, the right hon- 
orable and reverend persons must all appear ; 
" I know not therefore how to give flattering 
titles unto man : for in so doing my Maker 
would soon take me away." 

If, figuratively, two persons may represent 
both parties in dispute, there is a striking sim- 
ilarity in sacred writ, with which your lordship 
is perfectly acquainted, and by which I beg 
permission to mention the following things. 

I view both sides, as to their precious blood, 
as good old Jacob viewed his sons, Joseph and 
Benjamin, and am equally with him unwilling 
that either should be slain. If the British 
troops must be represented by the elder 
brother, grieved to my very heart I must be 
to hear that he is sacrificed ; and if the Ameri- 
can forces may be compared to the younger, 
I shall equally lament his death. — May God, of 
his infinite mercy, save both by a speedy ac- 



commodation. Benjamin hath repeatedly pe- 
titioned Joseph for redress of grievances ; but 
Joseph would not receive his petition, but 
made himself strange, and spake roughly unto 
him, charging him with having and holding 
unjustly Pharaoh's cup,* of which the poor 
lad is perfectly innocent. — Oh ! that Joseph 
would take Benjamin in his arms and embrace 
him, for they are brothers ! If Benjamin have 
erred, let the age and wisdom of Joseph over- 
look and obliterate all ; let him no longer 
refrain, but fall on his neck and kiss him, and 
let love and virtue re-unite them. As Joseph 
embraced and owned Benjamin as his brother, 
and returned his money, so let the parent state 
embrace and own the colonies without fee or 
reward, and instantly the sword on both sides 
will be sheathed ; and then Benjamin, as usual, 
will go and carry corn and money to Joseph, 
and take his superb clothing in exchange. 
But if Joseph will yet refrain and not be recon- 
ciled, Benjamin is determined to clothe him- 
self with his own wool, and keep his money 
and send his corn to other merchantmen. Let 
facts, my lord, apologize for prolixity ; I will 
conclude now with a few lines. 

The Americans may be led with a hair ; 
but they have too much English blood in them, 
are too well disciplined, and too numerous to 
be driven, t\tn by an hundred thousand of the 
best forces government can raise. Where 
government can produce one thousand on the 
continent, America, with as much ease and 
expense, can produce ten thousand in oppo- 
sition : for men, women and children are 
against the proceedings of administration 
throughout the united colonies to a wonderful 
majority. The women, both old and young, 
being greatly irritated at the inflexibility of ad- 
ministration, are not only willing their sons 
and brothers should turn out in the field, but 
also declare that they will give them up and 
themselves likewise as a sacrifice before they 
will bow to Pharaoh's task-masters ; this 
makes the raising of troops on the continent 
very easy. Let a person go into any province, 
city, town, or county, and ask the females, 
" Are you willing your sons or brothers should 
go for soldiers and defend their liberties?" 
they would severally answer, " Yes, with all 
my soul, and if they won't go I won't own 
them as my sons, or brothers; for I'll help 
myself if there should be any need of mine : 
if I can't stand in the ranks, I can help for- 
ward with powder, balls, and provisions," and 
presently this will appear more pellucid. Last 

* Not rendering unto Caesar the things which be 
Caesar's. 



268 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



summer I saw in Philadelphia a company of 
school-boys, called the Academy company, in 
their uniforms, with real arms and colors. 
Upon this, I asked how many such companies 
were in the city, and for what they were de- 
signed ; to which I was answered by a gentle- 
woman, the mother of two of this company, 
" there are three companies, and as to the 
design, they are to learn the art or theory of 
war ; and if there should be any occasion for 
them in the field of battle, they will go, for 
they are all volunteers ; but I for my part am, 
I do aver, sir, heartily willing to sacrifice my 
sons, believing that with such sacrifice God is 
well pleased : for he has hitherto marvellously 
blessed our arms and conquered our enemies 
for us, and he who, in the days of his flesh, 
spoiled principalities and powers, and made a 
show of them openly, will in the end, I doubt 
not, evince to the world that he is conqueror." 
This, my lord, is the language of the American 
women ; your lordship knows it is generally 
the reverse with the English, the mothers' and 
sisters' lives are bound up in the boys ; but I 
am afraid I shall trespass on your lordship's 
patience : Therefore, 

In the great name, and for the sake of the 
ever blessed Trinity, I now beseech your lord- 
ship to weigh thoroughly, and with patience, 
impartiality, and love, this narrative of facts ; 
and may that ever blessed adorable person, 
Jesus Christ, the wonderful counsellor and 
prince of peace, give your lordship a right 
judgment and understanding in all things, and 
counsel and influence administration to act 
wisely, and repeal the acts in dispute, and so 
make peace. I am, my lord, your lordship's 
ready and willing servant, for Christ's sake, 

B. P. 



ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

To THE PEOPLE OF M.4RYLAND. 

Annapolis, Juiy 7, 1780. 
Friends and countrymen. — A free people, 
from whom the trust and powers of govern- 
ment are delegated to a representative council, 
for the better management of the public inter- 
ests, have a right to be informed at all times, 
but more especially in great emergencies, of 
the true situation of their affairs. Duty, there- 
fore, as well as inclination, prompts us to lay 
before you the exigencies and the danger of 
this, in common with our sister states ; to dis- 
close our wants, our resources, and the means 
of calling them forth in support of the justest 
cause and noblest ends a people can contend 



for. The enemy, convinced by fatal experience, 
that force and artifice alone will never subdue 
the stubborn spirit of liberty, have long de- 
pended on the failure of our public credit to 
accomplish their views of conquest : the rapid 
depreciation of our paper currency, principally 
owing to the not imposing taxes in due time, 
as somewhat adequate to the public demands, 
and the abilities of the people to pay, had given 
foundation to the opniion, that these states, 
from the want of money to support the war, 
would at length give up the contest, and bend 
to the galling yoke of Britain. The event, how- 
ever, we trust will discover this opinion to be 
as vain and delusive, as many others entertained 
by our inveterate foe. The congress has 
recommended to the states a plan for calling in 
their bills of credit, by taxes or otherwise, which 
has been adopted by this and several others of 
the states. Taxes, equally laid, quickly col- 
lected, and faithfully applied, are necessary to 
give efficacy to the plan, and to restore, and 
when restored, to preserve public credit. — Ex- 
perience has taught us the necessity of taxation : 
a free people, seeing that necessity, and the 
importance of victory, on which their liberty 
depends, needs no exhortation to submit, even 
with cheerfulness, to the heaviest taxes : reflect, 
that these will be but temporary, and the bene- 
fits resulting from them most extensive and 
permanent ; if adequate and timely exertions 
are made, the war, probably, may be speedily 
ended, and will not leave us incumbered with a 
load of debt, under which the present and 
future generations must otherwise inevitably 
labor: by timely and due exertions we shall 
avoid the evils inseparable from a great national 
debt. The taxes hitherto imposed cannot be 
complained of as very burthensome : our present 
debt, when compared with our probable re- 
sources in peace, is far from being alarming ; 
a lingering war, however, besides consuming 
our inhabitants, wasting our resources, accu- 
mulating expense, will subject our country to 
the cruel and wanton devastations of an enemy, 
who never yet used even transient victories 
with moderation. What strong incentives to 
the most vigorous and spirited efforts are de- 
ducible from these reflections ! Rise then into 
action with that ardor which, despising, over- 
comes all difficulties, and which led you, desti- 
tute of money, of allies, of arms and soldiers 
to encounter one of the most powerful nations 
in Europe. Single, and unsupported, raw and 
undisciplined, you baffled for three successive 
years the repeated attacks of numerous and 
veteran bands. Shall we now, when strength- 
ened by a mighty alliance, drop and desert the 



MARYLAND. 



269 



field, to which honor, the strongest ties, the 
dearest interests of humanity, point ; to which 
victory itself invites us ? A warlike, potent, 
and magnanimous nation, has espoused our 
cause with all that warmth of friendship, and 
is determined to yield us powerful aid, a 
respectable land and naval force may be daily 
expected on our coast from France, ready to 
act under the orders of our patriotic general. 
How disgraceful would it be to this state, 
were it any ways accessary in laying that great, 
and good man, under the humiliating necessity 
of avowing to our allies an inability to under- 
take any enterprise of consequence against the 
common enemy ; particularly, if that weakness 
should proceed, not from the real inability of 
this, and the other states, but from the supine- 
ness, or the want of spirit in their people ! 
We have hitherto done our duty ; the general 
has acknowledged our exertions, and we 
entreat you by all that is dear to freemen, not 
to forfeit the reputation you have so justly 
acquired : let us set an example of fortitude, 
perseverance and disinterestedness ; these vir- 
tues form the character of true republicans : 
beware, lest an inordinate love of riches should 
mark too strongly ours ; remember, that you 
entered upon this war, not through choice, but 
necessity ; not to acquire wealth, or power, but 
to preserve liberty and property : remember 
that your cause is righteous, that you had not 
recourse to arms, until the bayonet uplifted to 
your breasts, a discretionary surrender of all 
that is valuable to man, was demanded with 
menaces of hostile force, and with all the inso- 
lence of conscious power : remember too that 
you have pledged to each other your lives, your 
fortunes, and your sacred honor, in defence of 
those rights, without the enjoyment of which, 
life is but miser)-, and government a curse. 

The general has called upon us to complete 
our battalions, and for a reinforcement of 
2205 militia, to join him with all expedition. 
Considering the approach of harvest, and at- 
tentive to your ease and convenience, we have 
offered to raise an additional battalion, in lieu 
of the militia, and we have the satisfaction to 
inform you, that the general has approved the 
offer, on condition that this battalion be ready 
at the place of rendezvous by the last of this 
month at farthest. By the law, printed for 
your information, and with which we entreat 
your ready compliance, you will perceive that 
we have held out the most liberal encourage- 
ment for recruits, upon principles of equal- 
ity and justice. If, from negligence, indif- 
ference, or the dread of danger and fatigue, 
motives too degrading to be imputed to free- 



men, or from any other cause, this battalion 
should not be raised in time, we have directed 
the militia to be called out in classes, to supply 
the place of regular troops : your duty, your 
interest, and no doubt your inclination, will 
impel you to second the views of your repre- 
sentatives ; without your co-operation, in vain 
may we make laws, or concert plans for the 
general cause ; these must remain as dead let- 
ters, unless inspirited by your zeal and activity. 
We have the honor to represent men who, 
sensible of the blessings of liberty, must know, 
that the continuance of them rests altogether 
on the successful issue of this war. You feel 
not, indeed, at present, those distresses, which 
our brethren, whose country is the immediate 
scene of action, are exposed to ; their calami- 
ties, therefore, possibly may make a lighter 
impression on your minds. Contemplate, we 
beseech you, the ravages committed by the 
British forces on the plains of Jersey ; behold 
the dwellings of the poor and rich in flames, 
or reduced to ashes ; the fruits of a long and 
laborious industry swept instantly away as by 
a torrent ; view the helpless infant, the aged 
parent, the tender virgin, victims to the savage 
fury, and unbridled lusts of an insolent soldiery ; 
vievv these scenes of horror and dismay ; rouse, 
and revenge these wrongs, for these we too in 
our turn shall feel, if we refuse our aid to drive 
these spoilers and invaders from our land : 
emulate the conduct of the brave militia of our 
sister states ; the proofs of courage and patriot- 
ism, which they have exhibited, you cannot but 
applaud, and therefore must wish to imitate, 
and, if possible, surpass. 

The prize we are contending for is inestim- 
able ; the blood of those heroes, which has 
been shed in this just and glorious cause, the 
inviolable ties of plighted faith, the necessity of 
conquering, gratitude to our illustrious general, 
and to the brave men under his command, all, 
conspiring, call aloud for our redoubled efforts. 
Our army is weak, and reinforced it must be, 
to act on the defensive, or offensively, as cir- 
cumstances may require ; reinforcements, pro- 
portionable to those demanded from this, are 
to be furnished by the other states. The fall 
of Chariestown, and the distress of our brave 
friends in that quarter, have infused fresh vigor 
into the councils of America; let us, like the 
Romans of old, draw new resources and an 
increise of courage, even from defeats, and 
manifest to the world, that we are the most 
to be dreaded, when most depressed. 

By order of the general assembly, 
Dan. of St. Tho. Jenifer, Pres. Sec. 
JOSIAS Beall, Spr, Ho. Del. 



270 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ADDRESS 

Of the citizens of Baltimore to the 
Hon. Major General, the Marquis de 
LA Fayette. 

Baltimore, November 15, 1781. 

It is with peculiar satisfaction tliat the 
citizens of Baltimore embrace the present 
moment, to express a gratitude which they 
will always owe to major general the marquis 
de la Fayette ; and to congratulate him, per- 
sonally, on the late important events in Virginia 
and South Carolina, so glorious and consequen- 
tial to America. 

Among the first in our cause, you early 
found a way to our affections, with him, who 
has struggled with our various difficulties since 
their beginning. At a time when we had no 
ally, you were our friend ; and when we gained 
an ally, your presence and good offices could 
not but increase a cordiality which must render 
our union with France permanent. 

In particular, we cannot sufficiently acknowl- 
edge our sense of your late campaign in 
Virginia, where, with a few regulars and militia, 
you opposed the British commander, from 
whose large army, and military talents this 
state had such serious cause of apprehension. 

These things, sir, have rendered you dear to 
us, and we feel the highest gratification in see- 
ing, once more, in our town, the man who will 
always hold a first place in our hearts. 



tion to the inhabitants of Baltimore ; at the end 
of it I find myself bound to them by a new tic 
of everlasting gratitude. 

L.A Fayette. 



REPLY 

Of Major General de la Fayette to 
the address of the citizens of Balti- 
more. 

Baltimore, November 15. 1781. 

In the affectionate attentions of the citizens 
of a free town, I would find a reward for the 
services of a whole life. The honor to have 
been among the first American soldiers, is for 
me a source of the greatest happiness. 

I participate with you in the glorious events 
that have taken place under his excellency, 
general Washington's immediate command, 
and under general Greene. I enjoy the effects 
these will have on the success of our noble 
cause and particularly the advantages which 
they will afford to this state. 

The time when I had the honor to command 
the array in Virginia, which you are pleased so 
politely to mention, has only shewn that the 
courage and fortitude of American troops are 
superior to every kind of difficulty. 

My campaign began with a personal obliga- 



ADDRESS 

To Count de Rochambeau, by the Mer- 
chants of Baltimore. 

Balti.more, Juiy 29, 1782, 

Yesterday a deputation of the merchants of 
this town, waited upon his excellency Count 
de Rochambeau, and presented him the 
following address, expressing their grateful 
sentiments of his very polite attention to 
their request for protection of the trade, etc. 

To his excellency /he COWT DE ROCHAMBEAU, 
commander in chief of the auxiliary troops 
of his most Christian majesty, in the United 
States. 

We, the merchants of the town of Baltimore, 
impressed with a grateful sense of the impor- 
tant ser\'ices rendered by your excellency, and 
the gallant forces under your command, to the 
United States, and more particularly to the 
state of Maryland, beg leave to wait upon your 
excellency, and return you our most sincere 
thanks, in this public fnanner, for the distin- 
guished aid and protection, which you have, 
from time to time, so willingly affiarded to the 
commercial interests of this state, and to inform 
your excellency, that we are happy in the oppor- 
tunity of paying you this tribute, so justly due 
to distinguished merit. 

And, permit us, sir, on this occasion, to 
observe, that when the distresses of this country 
rendered an application to the French nation 
for assistance necessary, the wisdom of your 
sovereign pointed out your excellency as the 
grand instrument to assist in our salvation ; 
and, with gratitude, we remark, that the objects 
of your appointment have been fully answered, 
and the events that have taken place, since 
your happy arrival in America, and in which 
you acted so distinguished a part, fully evince 
the propriety of your sovereign's choice, and 
the magnanimity of his intentions toward us — 
for we have seen a British army, numerous and 
well appointed, become prisoners of war to the 
united exertions of the combined armies of 
France and America — an event that was con- 
siderably accelerated by the great experience 
and military talents of your excellency, and the 
valor of the officers and soldiers under your 
command, and which, we trust, will tend event- 



MARYLAND. 



271 



ually to the establishment of the rights and 
liberties of this country, the purposes for which 
you have so generously drawn your sword. 

And we beg leave also, amid the general joy 
diffused by the birth of a Dauphin of France 
to congratulate your excellency on that auspi- 
cious event ; and it is our fer\'ent wish and 
prayers, that he may long live to tread the 
footsteps of his illustrious father, in being the 
friend of the distressed, and the advocate for 
the liberties of mankind. 

In hopes that your excellency will enjoy 
health and happiness, while you reside among 
us, and on return to your native country, may 
you be rewarded by your sovereign, in propor- 
tion to your merits and services — we remain, 
with sentiments of gratitude and esteem, on 
behalf of the merchants of Baltimore, your 
excellency's most obedient servants, 

Samuel Purviance, 
Richard Curson, 
Samuel Smith, 
Mark. Pringle, 
William Patterson. 



REPLY 
Of Count de Rochambeau. 

Baltimore, July^ 178a, 
To the merchants of the to'uw of Baltimore. 

Gentlemen — The intentions of the king, my 
master, toward his faithful allies, being that his 
auxiliary troops should not only protect the 
liberties of the United States, but watch over 
their commercial interests, as often and as 
much as would be in their power, I have felt a 
peculiar pleasure to have been able to render 
some service to your state. The noblest reward 
for me is. without doubt, the approbation of 
such a respectable body of citizens. 

The praises which you are pleased to bestow 
on my conduct, and that of the officers and 
soldiers under my command, are due, in a 
great measure, to his excellency general Wash- 
ington, and his army, to whose exertions we 
have had the honor to co-operate, in the reduc- 
tion of the British army at York-Town. 

My sovereign will certainly be impressed 
with a grateful sense of the general joy which 
has been diffused among the people of all ranks 
in the United States, upon the birth of an heir 
to his kingdom. I shall not fail to make him 
acquainted with your patriotic and generous 
wishes. 

I embrace with pleasure, gentlemen, this 
occasion, to render you my sincere thanks foi 
the readiness with which you have taken in 
your houses our staff-office: s and others, whose 



duty and station renders the convenience of a 
house absolutely necessary to them. 

I flatter myself that they will maintain, with 
you, that good understanding, and harmony of 
sentiments, which we have been happy enough 
to experience, till now, from your fellow citizens 
in the different states. 

Le Cte de Rochambeau. 



ADDRESS 

Of the Governor to Count de Rocham- 
beau. 

Annapolis, August 15, 178a. 
On Saturday last arrived in this city, on a visit 
to our governor, his excellency count Rocham- 
beau, commander in chief of the auxiliary army 
in the United States, accompanied by the Count 
Dillon, and several other French officers of dis- 
tinction, and on Monday morning set out on 
his return to Baltimore. 



To his excellency COUNT DE ROCHAMBEAU, 

commander in chief of the auxiliary army in 

the United States. 

Annapolis, .4ug. n, 1782. 

Sir — It is with singular pleasure, that the ex- 
ecutive of Mar\land embrace the opportunity af- 
forded by your arrival in this city, of offering your 
excellency every mark of esteem and respect. 

Accept, sir, our warmest thanks for the dis- 
tinguished part you sustained in the reduction 
of York ; to the wisdom of your counsels, the 
vigor of your conduct, the bravery of the troops 
under your command, and to the judicious 
exertions of the Count de Grasse, the success 
obtained by the allied army is, in a great degree, 
to be attributed. 

We are happy to assure your excellency, that 
the people of this state, deeply interested in 
every event which can promote the felicity of 
your illustrious monarch, or his kingdom, 
received with the most lively demonstrations 
of joy, the account of the birth of a Dauphin. 
That the young prince may emulate the virtues, 
and inherit the dominions of his royal father, 
and that the union, founded on the most gen- 
erous equality, and cemented by the blood of 
both nations, may endure forever, is our fervent 
wish ; the incidents of war have only more 
strongly united our affections, and we doubt 
not, that the ancient spirit of France, with her 
numerous resources, will soon humble the 
pride of our common enemy. 

The ready protection afforded by your excel- 
lency to the commerce of Mar>'land, demands 
our grateful acknowledgments ; the decorum 
and exemplary discipline observed by your 



2/2 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



troops, on their march through the state, have 
given entire satisfaction to our citizens ; our 
duty and inclination will prompt us to do ever)' 
thing in our power for their convenience ; and 
we request your excellency to communicate to 
the generals and other officers of your army 
the high sense we entertain of their merit, and 
the affection and regard we have for their per- 
sons and characters. 

In behalf of the executive, 

Thomas S. Lee. 



Reply of the Count De Rochambeau. 

To his excellency the governor, and the honor- 
able council of the state of Maryland. 

Annapolis, August ii, 1782. 

I am very sensible of the marks of friendship 
and affection that I receive from his excellency 
the governor, and the honorable council of the 
state of Maryland. 



If we have been happy enough to contribute 
toward the success of their arms, under our 
commander in chief, his excellency General 
Washington, we receive the most flattering 
marks of approbation, by the very cordial re- 
ception the French army meet with from all 
the inhabitants of this state. 

The great joy and interests they have been 
pleased to show, on account of the birth of the 
Dauphin, will undoubtedly, be very agreeable 
to the king my master ; he will be equally flat- 
tered at the warmth with which the state of 
Mar)'land support their alliance, and wish it to 
be lasting. The strict discipline of the troops, 
is the least mark of gratitude that we could 
give to a state from which we receive so many 
proofs of attachment and friendship. 

I have the honor to be, your obedient and 
most humble servant, 

Le Compte De Rochambeau. 



VIRGINIA. 



PROCEEDINGS 

Of Delegates assembled at Williams- 
burg, Va., August i, 1774. 

At a very full meeting of the delegates from 
the different counties in the colony and do- 
minion of Virginia, begun in Williams- 
burg, the first day of August, in the year of 
our Lord 1774, and continued by sez'eral 
adjournments to Saturday the 6th of the said 
month, the follozuitig association was unani- 
mously resolved upon and agreed to. 

We, his majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, 
the delegates of the freeholders of Virginia, 
deputed to represent them at a general meet- 
ing in the city of Williamsburg, avowing our 
inviolable and unshaken fidelity and attach- 
ment, to our most gracious sovereign, our 
regard and affection for all our friends and fel- 
low subjects in Great Britain and elsewhere, 
protesting against every act or thing, which 
may have the most distant tendency to inter- 
rupt, or in anywise disturb his majesty's peace, 
and the good order of government, within this 
his ancient colony, which we are resolved to 
maintain and defend, at the risk of our lives 
and fortunes, but at the same time affected 
with the deepest anxiety, and most alarming 



apprehensions, of those grievances and distres- 
ses by which his majesty's American subjects 
are oppressed, and having taken under our most 
serious deliberation, the state of the whole con- 
tinent, find that the present unhappy situation 
of our affairs is chiefly occasioned by certain 
ill-advised regulations, as well of our trade as 
internal policy, introduced by several unconsti- 
tutional acts of the British parliament, and at 
length, attempted to be enforced by the hand 
of power ; solely influenced by these important 
and weighty considerations, we think it an in- 
dispensable duty, which we owe to our country, 
ourselves, and latest posterity, to guard against 
such dangerous and extensive mischiefs, by 
every just and proper means. 

If, by the measures adopted, some unhappy 
consequences and inconveniences should be 
derived to our fellow subjects, whom we wish 
not to injure in the smallest degree, we hope 
and flatter ourselves, that they will impute them 
to their real cause — the hard necessity to which 
we are driven. 

That the good people of this colony may, on 
so trying an occasion, continue steadfastly 
directed to their most essential interests, in 
hopes that they will be influenced and stim- 
ulated by our example to the greatest industry, 
the strictest economy, and frugality, and the 



VIRGINIA. 



273 



execution of every public virtue, persuaded that 
the merchants, manufacturers, and other inhab- 
itants of Great Britain, and, above all, that the 
British parliament will be convinced how much 
the true interest of that kingdom must depend 
on the restoration and continuance of that 
mutual friendship and cordiality, which so 
happily subsisted between us, we have unani- 
mously, and, with one voice, entered into the 
following resolutions and association, which we 
do oblige ourselves, by those sacred ties of 
honor and love to our country, strictly to ob- 
serve ; and further declare, before God and 
the world, that we will religiously adhere to 
and keep the same inviolate, in every particular, 
until redress of all such American grievances 
as may be defined and settled at the general 
congress of delegates from the different col- 
onies, shall be fully obtained, or until this asso- 
ciation shall be abrogated or altered- by a gen- 
eral meeting of the deputies of this colony, to 
be convened, as is herein after directed. And 
we do, with the greatest earnestness, recom- 
mend this our association, to all gentlemen, 
merchants, traders, and other inhabitants of 
this colony, hoping that they will cheerfully and 
cordially accede thereto. 

1st. We do hereby resolve and declare that 
we will not, either directly or indirectly, after 
the first day of November next, import from 
Great Britain, any goods, wares, or merchan- 
dises, whatever, (medicines excepted,) nor will 
we, after that day, import any British manu- 
factures, either from the West-Indies or any 
other place, nor any article whatever, which 
we shall know, or have reason to believe, was 
brought into such countries from Great Britain, 
nor will we purchase any such articles so im- 
ported, of any person or persons whatsoever, 
except such as are now in the country, or such 
as may arrive on or before the said first day of 
November, in consequence of orders already 
given, and which cannot now be counter- 
manded in time. 

2dly. We will neither ourselves import, nor 
purchase any slave, or slaves, imported by any 
person, after the first day of November next, 
either from Africa, the West-Indies, or any 
other place. 

3dly. Considering the article of tea as the 
detestable instrument which laid the founda- 
tion of the present sufferings of our distressed 
friends in the town of Boston, we view it with 
horror, and therefore, resolve that we will not, 
from this day, either import tea of any kind 
whatever, nor will we use or suffer, even such 
of it as is now at hand, to be used in any of 
our families. 
r8 



4thly. If the inhabitants of the town of Bos- 
ton, or any other colony, should, by violence or 
dire necessity, be compelled to pay the East- 
India company for destroying any tea, which 
they have lately, by their agents, unjustly at- 
tempted to force into the colonies, we will not, 
directly or indirectly, import or purchase any 
British East-India commodity whatever, till 
the company, or some other person, on their 
behalf, shall refund and fully restore to the 
owners, all such sum or sums of money as 
may be so extorted. 

5thly. We do resolve, that unless American 
grievances be redressed before the loth day of 
August, 1775, we will not, after that day, di- 
rectly or indirectly, export tobacco or any 
other article whatever, to Great Britain ; nor 
will we sell any such articles as we think can 
be exported to Great Britain with a prospect 
of gain, to any person or persons whatever, 
with a design of putting it into his or their 
power to export the same to Great Britain, 
either on our own. his or their account. And 
that this resolution may be the more effectu- 
ally carried into execution, we do hereby re- 
commend it to the inhabitants of this colony, 
to refrain from the cultivation of tobacco as 
much as conveniently may be, and in lieu 
thereof that they will, as we resolve to do, 
apply their attention and industry, to the culti- 
vation of all such articles, as may form a 
proper basis for manufactures of all sorts, 
which we will endeavor to encourage through- 
out this colony to the utmost of our abilities. 

6thly. We will endeavor to improve our 
breed of sheep, and increase their number to 
the utmost extent, and to this end, we will be 
as sparing as we conveniently can in killing of 
sheep, especially those of the most profitable 
kind, and if we should at any time be over- 
stocked and can conveniently soare any we will 
dispose of them to our neighbors, especially 
the poorer sort of people, upon moderate 
terms. 

7thly. Resolved, that the merchants and 
others, venders of goods and merchandises 
within this colony, ought not to take advan- 
tage of the scarcity of goods that may be occa- 
sioned by this association, but that they ought 
to sell the same, at the rates they have been 
accustomed to for twelve months past, and if 
they shall sell any such goods on higher terms, 
or shall in any manner, or by any device what- 
ever, violate or depart from this resolution, we 
will not, and are of opinion that no inhabitant 
of this colony ought, at any time thereafter, to 
deal with any such persons, their factors, or 
agents, for any commodity whatever ; and it is 



274 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



recommended to the deputies of the several 
counties, that committees be chosen in each 
county, by such persons as accede to this asso- 
ciation, to take effectual care that these re- 
solves be properly observed, and for corre- 
sponding occasionally with the general commit- 
tee of correspondence in the city of Williams- 
burg. Provided that, if exchange should rise, 
such advance may be made in the prices of 
goods as shall be approved by the committee 
of each county. 

Sthly. In order the better to distinguish 
such worthy merchants and traders, who are 
well wishers to this colony, from those who 
may attempt, through motives of self-interest, 
to obstruct our views, we do hereby resolve, 
that we will not, after the first day of Novem- 
ber next, deal with any merchant or trader, 
who will not sign this association, nor until he 
hath obtained a certificate of his having done 
so from the county committee, or any three 
members thereof And if any merchant, trader, 
or other persons, shall import any goods or 
merchandise, after the first day of November, 
contrary to this association, we give it as our 
opinion, that such goods and merchandise 
should be either forthwith re-shipped, or deliv- 
ered up to the county committee, to be stored 
at the risk of the importer, unless such im- 
porter shall give a proper assurance to the said 
committee, that such goods or merchandises 
shall not be sold within this colony during the 
continuance of this association ; and if such 
importer shall refuse to comply with one or the 
other of these terms, upon application and due 
caution given to him or her, by the said com- 
mittee, or any three members thereof, such 
committee is required to publish the truth of 
the case in the Gazettes, and in the county 
where he or she resides, and we will thereafter 
consider such person or persons as inimical to 
this countr)', and break off every connection and 
all dealings with them. 

9thly. Resolved, That if any person or per- 
sons shall export tobacco, or any other com- 
modity, to Great Britain, after the loth day of 
August, 1775, contrary to this association, we 
shall hold ourselves obliged to consider such 
person or persons as inimical to the commu- 
nity, and as an approz'er of American griti'- 
antes ; and give it as our opinion, that the 
public should be advertised of his conduct, as 
in the 8th article is desired. 

lothly. Being fully persuaded that the 
united wisdom of the general congress may 
improve these our endeavors to preserve the 
-rights and liberties in British America, we de- 
cline enlarging at present, but do hereby resolve 



that we will conform to, and strictly observe, 
all such alterations, or additions, assented to 
by the delegates for this colony, as they may 
judge it necessary to adopt, after the same 
shall be published and made known to us. 

iithly. Resolved, That we think ourselves 
called upon by every principle of humanity and 
brotherly affection, to extend the utmost and 
speediest relief to our distressed fellow subjects 
in the town of Boston, and therefore most 
earnestly recommend it to all the inhabitants 
of this colony, to make such liberal contribu- 
tions as they can afford ; to be collected and 
remitted to Boston, in such manner as may 
best answer so desirable a purpose. 

I2thly, and lastly. Resolved, That the mod- 
erator of this meeting, and, in case of his death, 
Robert Carter Nicholas, esquire, be empowered, 
on any future occasion, that may in his opinion 
require it, to convene the several delegates of 
this colony, at such time and place as he may 
judge proper ; and in case of the death or ab- 
sence of any delegate, it is recommended that 
another be chosen in his place. 



Peyton Randolph, 
Robert C. Nicholas, 
Richard Bland, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
George Washington, 
Benjamin Harrison, 
Edmund Pendleton, 
Patrick Henry, junior. 
Southy Simpson, 
Isaac Smith, 
J. Walker, 
Thomas Jefferson, 
John Tabb, 
John Winn, 
William Cabell, 
Joseph Cabell, 
Frederick Macklin, 
Henry Tazewell, 
Henry Bell, 
R. Rutherford, 
William Acrill, 
P. Carrington, 
James Speed, 
Archibald Cary, 
B. Wat kins, 
Henry Pendleton, 
Henry Field, junior, 
William Fleming, 
John Mayo, 
Robert Boiling, 
John Banister, 
Francis Slaughter, 
Henry King, 



Meriwether Smith, 
Charles Broadwater, 
Thomas Marshall, 
James Scott, junior, 
Isaac Zane, 
George Rootes, 
Thomas Whiting, 
Lewis Burwell, 
Thomas M. Randolph, 
John Woodson, 
Nathaniel Terry, 
Micajah Watkins, 
J. Mercer, 
J. Syme, 

Richard Adams, 
Samuel Du Val, 
William Norwell, 
John S. Wills, 
John Day, 
Richard Hardy, 
Joseph Jones, 
William Fitzhugh, 
George Brooke, 
George Lyne, 
Carter Braxton, 
William Aylett, 
James Selden, 
Charles Carter, 
Francis Peyton, 
Thomas Walker, 
Thomas Pettus, 
Edmund Berkeley, 
James Montagjue, 



VIRGINIA. 



575 



Worlich Westwood, 
James Edmonson, 
W. Roane, 
Benjamin Baker, 
Burwell Basset, 
B. Dandridge, 
Thomas Newton, jun. 
James Holt, 
Adiel Milby, 
John Bowdoin, 
Peter Presley Thornton 
Rodham Kenner, 
Thomas Barbour, 
William Bibb, 
John Morton, 
Peter Poythress, 
William Robinson, 
Christopher Wright, 
Henry Lee, 
T. Blackburn, 
Robt. Wormeley Carter, 



Robert Burton, 
Benner Goode, 
Lemuel Riddick, 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Edwin Gray, 
Henry Taylor, 
George Stubblefield, 
Mann Page, jun. 
John Alexander, 
C. Carter, 
,AlIen Cocke, 
Nicholas Faulcon, jun. 
Davie Mason, 
Michael Blow, 
William Hanvood, 
William Langhorne, 
Richard Lee, 
Dudley Digges, 
Thomas Nelson, jun. 
Champion Travie, 
.Joseph Hutchings. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



To THE Delegates to congress, 

LIAMSBURG, I774. 



WlL- 



The unhappy disputes between Great Britain 
and her American colonies, which began about 
the third year of the reign of his present maj- 
esty, and since continually increasing, have 
proceeded to lengths so dangerous and alarm- 
ing as to excite just apprehensions, in the minds 
of his majesty's faithful subjects of this colony, 
that they are in danger of being deprived of 
their natural, ancient, constitutional, and char- 
tered rights, have compelled them to take the 
same into their most serious consideration ; 
and being deprived of their usual and accus- 
tomed mode of making known their grievances, 
have appointed us their representatives to con- 
sider what is proper to be done in this danger- 
ous crisis of American affairs. It being our 
opinion that the united wisdom of North 
America should be collected in a general con- 
gress of all the colonies, we have appointed the 
honorable Peyton Randolph, esquire, Richard 
Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and 
Edmund Pendleton, esquires, deputies to re- 
present this colony in the said congress, to be 
held at Philadelphia on the first Monday in 
September next. 

And that they may be the better informed 
of our sentiments, touching the conduct we 
wish them to observe on this important occa- 
sion, we desire they will express, in the first 



place, our faith and true allegiance to his ma- 
jesty, king George the third, our lawful and 
rightful sovereign ; and that we are determined 
with our lives and fortunes, to support him in 
the /f£-a/ exercise of all his just rights and pre- 
rogatives ; and however misrepresented, we 
sincerely approve ofa constitutional connection 
with Great Britain, and wish most ardently a 
return of that intercourse of affection and com- 
mercial connection that formerly united both 
countries, which can only be effected by a 
removal of those causes of discontent which 
have of late unhappily divided us. 

It cannot admit of a doubt but that British 
subjects in America, are entitled to the same 
rights and privileges as their fellow subjects 
possess in Britain ; and therefore, that the 
power assumed by the British parliament to 
bind America by their statutes, in all cases 
whatsoever, is unconstitutional, and the source 
of these unhappy differences. 

The end of government would be defeated 
by the British parliament exercising a power 
over the lives, the property, and the liberty of 
the American subject ; who are not, and from 
their local circumstances cannot, be there re- 
presented. Of this nature we consider the 
several acts of parliament for raising a revenue 
in America, for extending the jurisdiction of 
the courts of admiralty, for seizing American 
subjects and transporting them to Britain to 
be tried for crimes committed in America, and 
the several late oppressive acts respecting the 
town of Boston, and province of the Massa- 
chusetts-Bay. 

The original constitution of the American 
colonies possessing their assemblies with the 
sole right of directing their internal polity, it is 
absolutely destructive of the end of their insti- 
tution that their legislatures should be sus- 
pended, or prevented, by hasty dissolutions, 
from exercising their legislative power. 

Wanting the protection of Britain, we have 
long acquiesced in their acts of navigation 
restrictive of our commerce, which we consider 
as an ample recompense for such protection ; 
but as those acts derive their efficacy from that 
foundation alone, we have reason to expect 
they will be restrained, so as to produce the 
reasonable purposes of Britain, without being 
injurious to us. 

To obtain a redress of those grievances, with- 
out which the people of America can neither be 
safe, free, nor happy, they are willing to under- 
go the great inconvenience that will be derived 
to them from stopping all imports whatsoever 
from Great Britain, after the first day of No- 
vember next, and also to cease exporting any 



276 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION, 



commodity whatsoever, to the same place, after 
the loth day of August, 1775. The earnest 
desire we have, to make as quiclc and full pay- 
ment, as possible, of our debts to Great Bri- 
tain, and to avoid the heavy injury that would 
arise to this country from an earlier adoption 
of the non-exportation plan, after the people 
have already applied so much of their labor to 
the perfecting of the present crop, by which 
means they have been prevented from pursuing 
other methods of clothing and supporting their 
families, have rendered it necessary to restrain 
you in this article of non-exportation ; but it is 
our desire that you cordially co-operate with 
our sister colonies, in general congress, in such 
other just and proper methods as they, or the 
majority, shall deem necessary for the accom- 
plishment of these valuable ends. 

The proclamation issued by general Gage, in 
the government of the province of the Massa- 
chusetts-Bay, declaring it treason for the in- 
habitants of that province to assemble them- 
selves to consider of their grievances, and form 
associations for their common conduct on the 
occasion, and requiring the civil magistrates 
and officers to apprehend all such persons to 
be tried for their supposed offences, is the most 
alarming process that ever appeared in a Brit- 
ish government ; that the said general Gage 
hath thereby assumed and taken upon himself 
power denied by the constitution to our legal 
sovereign ; that he, not having condescended 
to disclose by what authority he exercises such 
extensive and unheard of powers, we are at a 
loss to determine whether he intends to justify 
himself as the representative of the king, or as 
the commander in chief of his majesty's forces 
in North America. If he considers himself as 
acting in the character of his majesty's repre- 
sentative, we would remind him, that the 
statute 25th Edward III. has expressed and 
defined all treasonable offences, and that the 
legislature of Great Britain hath declared that 
no offence shall be construed to be treason 
but such as is pointed out by that statute, 
and that this was done to take out of the 
hands of tyrannical kings, and of weak and 
uncked ministers, that deadly weapon which 
constructive treason had furnished them with, 
and which had drawn the blood of the best and 
honestest men in the kingdom, and that the 
king of Great Britain hath no right, by his 
proclamation, to subject his people to imprison- 
ment, pains, and penalties. 

That, if the said general Gage conceives he 
is empowered to act in this manner, as the com- 
mander in chief of his majesty's forces in Amer- 
ica, this, a</i'i?«.s and ///(^(z/ proclamation must be 



considered as a plain and full declaration that 
this despotic viceroy\i'\\\ be bound by no law, nor 
regard the constitutional rights of his majesty's 
subjects, whenever they interfere with the plan 
he had formed for oppressing the good people 
of the Massachusetts-Bay ; and therefore, that 
the executing or attetnpting to execute, such 
proclamation, will justify RESISTANCE and 

REPRISAL. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



From the Freeholders of Cumberland 
County, Virginia, to John Mayo and 
William Fleming, gentlemen, their 
Delegates, March, 1775. 

" We the freeholders of Cumberland county, 
having elected you to represent us in a pro- 
vincial convention, to be held in the town of 
Richmond, on Monday the 20th of this instant, 
and being convinced that the safety and happi- 
ness of British America depend on the unani- 
mity, firmness, and joint efforts of all the col- 
onies, we expect you will, on your parts, let 
your measures be as much for the common 
safety, as the peculiar interests of this colony 
will permit ; and that you, in particular, comply 
with the recommendation of the continental 
congress, in appointing delegates to meet in 
the city of Philadelphia in May next. 

" The means of constitutional legislation in 
this colony, being now interrupted, and entirely 
precarious, and being convinced that some 
rule is necessar)-. for speedily putting the col- 
ony in a state of defence, we, in an especial 
manner, recommend this matter to your consid- 
eration in convention ; and you may depend 
that any general tax, by that body imposed, for 
such purposes, will be cheerfully submitted to 
and paid by the inhabitants of this county. 

" We desire that you will consider the Bos- 
tonians as suffering in the common cause, and 
cheerfully join in their support to the utmost of 
your power. 

" That you will direct the deputies to con- 
gress, on the parts of this colony, to use their 
best endeavors to establish a trade between the 
colonies ; and to procure a quantity ol gunpow- 
der and a number of cotton and wool cards 
from the northward, or elsewhere. 

" We desire further, that you will not depart 
from the association formed by the continental 
congress in September last, but will strictly 
adhere to it in every particular." 



VIRGINIA. 



277 



INTERESTING DEBATE 



In the Legislature of Virginia on the 
Motion offered by Patrick Henry, 
esq., in the year 1 775, to put the 
COLONY OF Virginia in a state of 

DEFENCE. 

FROM WIBt's life OF HENRV. 

On Monday, the ^otk of March, 1775, the 
convention of delegates from the several coun- 
ties and corporations of Virginia, met for the 
second time. Their meeting was held in the 
Old Church, in the town of Richmond — Mr. 
Henry was a member of this body also. The 
reader will bear in mind the tone of the 
instructions given by the convention of the pre- 
ceding year, to their deputies in congress. He 
will remember that while they recite, with great 
feeling, the series of grievances under which 
the colonies had labored, and insist, with firm- 
ness, on their constitutional rights, they give 
nevertheless the most explicit and solemn 
pledge of their faith, and true allegiance to his 
majesty, king George the III. and avow their 
determination to support him vvith their lives 
and fortunes, in the legal exercise of all his 
just rights and prerogatives. He will remem- 
ber that these instructions contain also an ex- 
pression of their sincere approbation of a con- 
nection with Great Britain — and of their ardent 
wishes for a return of that friendly intercourse, 
prosperity and happiness. These sentiments 
still actuated many of the leading members of 
the convention of 1775 — they could not part 
with the fond hope, that those peaceful days 
would again return, which had shed so much 
light and warmth over the land, and the report 
of the king's gracious reception of the petition 
from congress, tended to cherish that hope 
and to render them averse to any measure of 
violence — but Mr. Henry saw things with a 
steadier eye, and a deeper insight. His judg- 
ment was too solid to be duped by appearan- 
ces, and his heart too firm and manly, to be 
amused by false and flattering hopes. — He had 
long since read the true character of the 
British court, and saw that no alternative 
remained for his country, but abject submis- 
sion, or heroic resistance. It was not for a 
soul like Henry's to hesitate between these 
courses. He had ofTered upon the altar of 
liberty no divided heart. The gulf of war 
which yawned before him, was indeed fiery 
and fearful. But he saw that the awful plunge 
was inevitable. The body of the convention, 
however, hesitated. They cast around a 
"longing lingering look " to those flowery 
fields, on which peace and ease and joy were 



still sporting, and it required all the energies 
of a mentor, like Henry, to push them from the 
precipice, and conduct them over the stormy 
sea of the revolution, to liberty and glory. 

The convention being formed, and organized 
for business, proceeded in the first place to ex- 
press their unqualified approbation of the 
measures of congress, and to declare that they 
considered this whole continent as under the 
highest obligations to that respectable body for 
the wisdom of their councils, and their unre- 
mitted endeavors to maintain and preserve 
inviolate, the just rights and liberties of his 
majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects in America. 

They next resolved, "that the warmest 
thanks of the convention, and of all the inhabi- 
tants of this colony were due, and that this 
just tribute of applause, be presented to the 
worthy delegates, deputed by a former conven- 
tion to represent this colony in general con- 
gress, for their cheerful undertaking, and faith- 
ful discharge of the ver}- important trust reposed 
in them." 

The morning of the 23d of March was 
opened by reading a petition and memorial 
from the assembly of Jamaica, " to the king's 
most e.xcellent majesty : " whereupon it was 
resolved "that the unfeigned thanks, and most 
grateful acknowledgments of the convention 
be presented to that very respectable assembly, 
for the exceeding generous and affectionate 
part they have so nobly taken, in the unhappy 
contest between Great Britain and her colonies, ' 
and for their truly patriotic endeavors to fix the 
just claims of the colonists upon the most per- 
manent constitutional principles ; that the 
assembly be assured, that it is the most ardent 
wish of this colony (and they were persuaded^ 
of the whole continent of North America) to 
see a speedy return of those halcyon days when 
we lived a free and happy people." 

These proceedings were not adapted to the 
taste of Mr. Henry. On the contrary, they 
were " gall and worm-wood " to him. The 
house required to be wrought up to a bolder - 
tone. He rose, therefore, and moved the fol- 
lowing manly resolutions : 

" Resolved, That a well-regulated militia, 
composed of gentlemen and yeomen, is the 
natural strength and only security of a free 
government ; that such a militia, in this colony, 
would forever render it unnecessary for the 
mother country to keep among us, for the pur- 
pose of our defence, any standing army of 
mercenary soldiers, always subversive of the 
quiet, and dangerous to the liberties of the 
people, and would alleviate the pretext of 
taxing us for their support. 



2/8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



" That the estabUshment of such a militia is, 
at this time, peculiarly necessary, by the state 
of our laws, for the protection and defence of 
the country, some of which are already expired, 
and others will shortly be so, and that the 
Icnown remissness of government, in calling 
us together, in legislative capacity, renders it 
too insecure, in this time of danger and distress, 
to rely that opportunity will be given of renew- 
ing them, in general assembly, or making any 
provision to secure our inestimable rights and 
liberties from those further violations with 
•which they are threatened. 

•• Resolved, therefore, that this colony be im- 
mediately put i?ito a state of defence, and that 

be a committee to 
paepare a plan for the embodying, arming and 
disciplining such a number of men, as may be 
sufficient for that purpose'' 

The alarm which such a proposition must 
have given to those who had contemplated no 
resistance of a character more serious than 
petition, non-importation and passive fortitude, 
and who still hung, with suppliant tenderness, 
on the skirts of Britain, in the hope of seeing, 
once more, her maternal smile, will be readily 
conceived by the reflecting reader. The shocl< 
was painful ; it was almost general. The reso- 
lutions were opposed, as not only rash in policy, 
but as harsh, and well nigh impious, in point 
of feeling. Some of the warmest patriots of 
the convention opposed them. Richard Bland, 
Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, 
who had so lately drunk of the fountain of 
patriotism, in the continental congress, and 
Robert C. Nicholas, one of the best, as well as 
ablest men and patriots in the state, gave them 
all the resistance of their great influence and 
abilities. They urged the late gracious recep- 
tion of the congressional petition by the throne. 
— They insisted that national comity, and much 
more, filial respect, demanded the e.xercise of a 
more dignified patience : — that the sympathies 
of the parent country were now on our side ; 
that the friends of American liberty, in parlia- 
ment, were still with us, and had, as yet, had 
no cause to blush for our indiscretion ; that the 
manufacturing interest of Great Britain, already 
smarting under the effects of our non-importa- 
tion, co-operated powerfully towards our relief ; 
that the sovereign himself had relented, and 
shown that he looked upon our sufferings with 
an eye of pity. Was this the moment, they 
asked, to disgust our friends, to extinguish all 
the conspiring sympathies which were working 
in our favor, to turn their friendship into 
hatred ; their pity into revenge .'' And what 
was there, they asked, in the situation of the 



colony, to tempt us to this .' Were we a great 
military people ? Were we ready for war ? 
Where were our stores — where were our arms 
— where our soldiers — where our generals — 
where our money, the sinews of war ? They 
were no where to be found. In truth, we were 
poor — we were naked — we were defenceless : 
and yet we talk of assuming the front of war ! 
of assuming it too, against a nation, one of the 
most formidable in the world ! a nation, ready 
and armed at all points ! — her navies riding 
triumphant in every sea — her armies never 
marching but to certain victory ? — What was 
to be the issue of the struggle we were called 
upon to court .' What could be the issue, in the 
comparative circumstances of the two countries, 
but to yield up this country, an easy prey to 
Great Britain, and to convert the illegitimate 
right, which the British parliament now claimed, 
into a firm and indubitable right, by conquest f 
The measure might be brave ; but it was the 
bravery of madmen. It had no pretension to 
the character of prudence, and as little to the 
grace of genuine courage. It would be time 
enough to resort to measures of despair, when 
every well founded hope had entirely vanished. 

To this strong view of the subject, supported 
as it was, by the stubborn fact of the well 
known helpless condition of the colony, the op- 
ponents of those resolutions superadded every 
topic of persuasion which belonged to the case. 
" The strength and lustre which we derived 
from our connections with Great Britain — the 
domestic comforts which we had drawn from 
the same source, and whose value we were 
now able to estimate, by their loss — that ray of 
reconciliation, which was dawning upon us 
from the east, and which promised so fair and 
happy a day : with this they contrasted the 
clouds and storms which the measure, now 
proposed, was so well calculated to raise, and 
in which we should not have even the poor 
consolation of being pitied by the world, since 
we should have, so needlessly and rashly, drawn 
them upon ourselves." 

These arguments and topics of persuasion 
were so well justified by the appearance of 
things, and were, moreover, so entirely in unison 
with that love of ease and quiet, which is natu- 
ral to man, and that disposition to hope for 
happier times, even under the most forbidding 
circumstances, that an ordinary man, in Mr. 
Henry's situation, would have been glad to 
compound with the displeasure of the house, 
by being permitted to withdraw his resolutions 
in silence. 

Not so Mr. Henr)-. His was a spirit fitted to 
raise the whirlwind, as well as to ride in and 



VIRGINIA. 



279 



direct it. His was that comprehensive view, 
that unerring prescience, that perfect command 
over the actions of men, that qualified him, not 
merely to guide, but almost to create the des- 
tinies of nations. 

He rose, at this time, with a majesty unusual 
to him, in an exordium, and with all that self- 
possession by which he was so invariably dis- 
tinguished. "No man," he said, "thought 
more highly than he did of the patriotism, as 
well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen 
who had just addressed the house. But differ- 
ent men often saw the same subject in different 
lights ; and therefore, he hoped it would not be 
thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if en- 
tertaining, as he did, opinions of a character 
very opposite to theirs, he should speak his 
sentiments, freely and without reserve. This, 
he said, was no time for ceremony. The ques- 
tion before the house, was one of awful moment 
to this country. For his own part, he con- 
sidered it, as nothing less than a question of 
freedom or slavery ; and in proportion to the 
magnitude of the subject, ought to be the free- 
dom of the debate. It was only in this way 
that they could hope to arrive at truth, and ful- 
fil the great responsibility which they held to 
God and their countr)'. Should he keep back 
his opinions, at such a time, through fear of 
giving offence, he should consider himself as 
guilty of treason towards his country, and of an 
act of disloyalty towards the Majesty of Heaven, 
which he revered before all earthly kings." 

"Mr. President," said he, " It is natural to 
man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We 
are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, 
and listen to the song of that syren, till she 
transforms us into beasts. Was this, he asked, 
the part of wise men, engaged in a great and 
arduous struggle for liberty.' Were we dis- 
posed to be of the number of those who, having 
eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not the 
things which so nearly concern their temporal 
salvation ? For his part, whatever anguish of 
spirit it might cost, he was willing to know the 
whole truth — to know the worst, and to provide 
for it." 

"He had," he said, " but one lamp, by which 
his feet were guided, and that was the lamp of 
experience. He knew of no way of judging the 
future, but by the past ; and judging by the 
past, he wished to know what there had been 
in the conduct of the British ministry for the 
last ten years, to justify those hopes with which 
gentlemen had been pleased to solace them- 
selves and the house. Is it that insidious 
smile with which our petition has been lately 
received .' Trust it not, sir, it will prove a 



snare to your feet.— Suffer not yourself to be 
betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how 
this gracious reception of our petition comports 
with those war-like preparations, which cover 
our waters, and darken our land .' Are fleets 
and armies necessary to a work of love and 
reconciliation ? Have we shewn ourselves so 
unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be 
called in, to win back our love ? Let us not 
deceive ourselves, sir. These are the imple- 
ments of war and subjugation — the last argu- 
ments, to which kings resort. I ask gentle- 
men, sir, what means this martial array, if its 
purposes be not to force us to submission ? — 
Can gentlemen assign any other possible 
motive for it .' Has Great Britain any enemy, 
in this quarter of the world, to call for all this 
accumulation of navies and armies .' No, sir, 
she has none. They are meant for us : they 
can be meant for no other. They are sent 
over, to bind and rivet upon us those chains, 
which the British ministry have been so long 
forging. And what have we to oppose to 
them ? Shall we try argument ? — Sir, we 
have been trying that, for the last ten years. 
Have we anything new to offer upon the sub- 
ject ? Nothing. We have held the subject 
up in every light of which it is capable : but it 
has been all in vain.^Shall we resort to entreaty 
and humble supplication .' What terms shall 
we find, which have not been already ex- 
hausted ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, 
deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done 
everything that could be done, to avert the 
storm which is now coming on. We have 
petitioned — we have remonstrated — we have 
supplicated — we have prostrated ourselves 
before the throne, and have implored its 
interposition, to arrest the tyrannical hands 
of the ministry and parliament. — Our petitions 
have been slighted — our remonstrances have 
produced additional violence and insult — our 
supplications have been disregarded, and we 
have been spurned with contempt from the 
foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, 
may we indulge the fond hope of peace and 
reconciliation. There is no longer any room 
for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean 
to preserve inviolate those inestimable privi- 
leges, for which we have been so long-con- 
tending — if we mean not basely to abandon 
the noble struggle, in which we have been so 
long engaged, and which we have pledged our- 
selves never to abandon— until the glorious 
object of our contest shall be obtained— we 
MUST FIGHT ! I repeat it, sir, WE MUST 
FIGHT ! ! An appeal to arms, and to the God 
of Hosts, is all that is left us ! " 



28o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



" Imagine to yourselves," says my corre- 
spondent,* " this sentence, delivered with all 
the calm dignity of Cato, of Utica —imagine 
to yourself the Roman senate, assembled in the 
capitol, when it was entered by the profane 
Gauls, who, at first, were awed by their pres- 
ence, as if they had entered an assembly of 
the Gods ! — imagine that you heard that Cato 
addressing such a senate — imagine that you 
saw the handwriting on thewallofBelshazzar's 
palace — imagine you had heard a voice, as 
from Heaven, uttering the words ■" We must 
fight," as the doom of fate, and you may 
have some idea of the speaker, the assembly to 
whom he addressed himself, and the auditory, 
of which I was one. 

"They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, 
" that we are weak — unable to cope with so 
formidable an adversary.— But when shall we 
be stronger ? — Will it be the next week or the 
next year? Will it be when we are totally dis- 
armed, and when a British guard shall be sta- 
tioned in every house ? Shall we gather 
strength by irresolution and inaction ? Shall 
we acquire the means of effectual resistance, 
by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging 
the delusive phantom of hope, until our ene- 
mies shall have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, 
we are not weak, if we make a proper use of 
those means which the God of nature hath 
placed in our power. — Three millions of peo- 
ple, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in 
such a country as that which we possess, are 
invincible by any force which our enemy can 
send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not 
fight our battles alone. There is a just God, 
who presides over the destinies of nations, and 
who will raise up friends to fig+it our battles 
for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong 
alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the 
brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If 
we were base enough to desire it, it is now too 
late to retire from the contest. There is no 
retreat, but in submission and slavery ! Our 
chains are forged : their clanking may be 
heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is 
inevitable ; and let it come ! ! I repeat it, sir— 
Let it come ! ! ! " 

'• It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter : 
Gentlemen may cry, " peace peace ; " but there 
is no peace ; the war is actually begun ! The 
next gale that sweeps from the north will bring 
to our ears the clash of resounding arms ? 
Our brethren are already in the field ! Why 
stand we here idle '—What is it that gentlemen 
wish? What would they have? Is life so 
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at 

* Judge Tucker. 



the price of chains and slavery ! ! ! Forbid it. 
Almighty God ! I know not what course 
others may take ; but, as for me " (cried he, 
with both arms extended aloft, his brows knit, 
every feature marked with the resolute pur- 
pose of his soul, and his voice swelled to its 
boldest note of exclamation,) "Give me lib- 
erty OR GIVE ME DEATH." 

He took his seat. No murmur of applause 
was heard ; the effect was too deep. After 
the trance of a moment, several members were 
seen to start from their seats. The cry " to 
arms," seemed to quiver on every lip, and 
gleam from every eye ! Richard H. Lee arose 
and supported Mr. Henry, but even his melody 
was lost amidst the agitation of that ocean, 
which the master spirit of the storm had lifted 
on high. That supernatural voice still sounded 
in their ears, and shivered along their arteries. 
They heard in every pause the cry of liberty or 
death. They became impatient of speech. 
Their souls were on fire for action. 

The measure was adopted ; and Patrick 
Henry, Richard H. Lee, Robert C. Nicholas, 
Benjamin Harrison, Lemuel Riddick, George 
Washington, Adam Stevens, Andrew Lewis, 
William Christian, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas 
Jefferson, and Isaac Zane, esquires, were 
appointed a committee to prepare the plan 
called for by the last resolution. 



RESOLUTIONS 

Of THE Convention, recommending the 

STAY OF PROCEEDINGS IN CIVIL SUITS. 
Saturday, March 25, 1775. 

Resolved, as the opinion of this convention, 
that on account of the unhappy disputes be- 
tween Great Britain and the colonies, and the 
unsettled state of this country, the lawyers, 
suitors, and witnesses, ought not to attend the 
prosecution or defence of civil suits at the ne.xt 
general court: and it is recommended to the 
several courts of justice, not to proceed to tht 
hearing or determination of suits on their 
dockets, except attachments ; nor to give judg- 
ment, but in the case of sheriffs, or other col- 
lectors of money or tobacco received by them, 
in other cases where such judgment shall be 
voluntarily confessed, or upon such amicable 
proceedings as may become necessary for the 
settlement, division, or distribution of estates: 
and, during the suspension of the administra- 
tion of justice, it is earnestly recommended to 
the people, to obsen-e a peaceable and orderly 
behavior; to all creditors to be as indulgent to 
their debtors as may be ; and to all debtors to 
pay as far as they are able ; and where differ- 
ences may arise, which cannot be adjusted 



VIRGINIA. 



281 



between the parties, that they refer the decision 
thereof to judicious neighbors, and abide by 
their determination. 



RESOLUTIONS 



For the encouragement of Home 
Manufactures. 

Monday, March 27, 1775. 

The committee appointed to prepare a plan 
for the encouragement of arts and manu- 
factures, reported the following resolutions, 
which being severally read, were unanimously 
agreed on. 

W/tfreas, it hath been judged necessar)-, for 
the preserv-ation of the just rights and liberties 
of America, firmly to associate against importa- 
tion ; and, as the freedom, happiness, and 
prosperity of a state greatly depend on provid- 
ing within itself, a supply of articles necessary 
for subsistence, clothing, and defence ; and 
whereas, it is judged essential, at this critical 
juncture, to form a proper plan for employing 
the different inhabitants of this colony, provid- 
ing for the poor, and restraining vagrants and 
other disorderly persons, who are nuisances to 
every society, a regard for our country, as well 
as common prudence, call upon us to encour- 
age agriculture, manufactures, economy, and 
the utmost industry ; therefore, this convention 
doth resolve as follows : 

Resolved unanimously — That it be earnestly 
recommended to the different magistrates, 
vestries, and churchwardens, throughout this 
colony, that they pay a proper attention and 
strict regard to the several acts of assembly, 
made for the restraint of vagrants, and the 
better employing and maintaining the poor. 

Resolved unanimously — That from and after 
the first day of May next, no person or persons 
whatever, ought to use, in his or their families, 
unless in case of necessity, and on no account, 
sell to butchers, or kill for market, any sheep 
under four years old ; and where there is a 
necessity for using any mutton, in his, her, or 
their families, it is recommended to kill such 
only as are least profitable to be kept. 

Resolved unanimously — That the setting up 
and promoting woolen, cotton, and linen manu- 
factures, ought to be encouraged in as many 
different branches as possible, especially coat- 
ing, flannel, blankets, rugs, or overlids, hosiery, 
and coarse cloths, both broad and narrow. 

Resolved unanimously — That all persons, 
having proper lands for the purpose, ought to 
cultivate and raise a quantity of fJax, hemp, 



and cotton, sufficient not only for the use of his 
or her own family, but also to spare to others 
on moderate terms. 

Resolved unanimously — As salt is a daily 
and indispensable necessary of life, and the 
making of it among ourselves must be deemed 
a valuable acquisition, it is therefore recom- 
mended, that the utmost endeavors be used to 
establish salt works, and that proper encour- 
agement be given to Mr. James Tail, who hath 
made proposals, and offered a scheme to the 
public, for so desirable a purpose. 

Resolved unanimously — That saltpetre and 
sulphur, being articles of great and necessary 
use, the making, collecting, and refining them 
to the utmost extent, be recommended, the 
convention being of opinion that it may be 
done to great advantage. 

Resolved unanimously — That the making of 
gunpowder be recommended. 

Resolved unanimously — That the manufac- 
turing of iron into nails and wire, and other 
necessary articles, be recommended. 

Resolved unanimously — That the making of 
steel ought to be largely encouraged, as there 
will be a great demand for this article. 

Resolved unanimously — That the making of 
different kinds of paper ought to be encouraged ; 
and as the success of this branch depends on a 
supply of old linen and woolen rags, the in- 
habitants of this colony are desired, in their 
respective families, to preserve these articles. 

Resolved unanimously — That, whereas, wool 
combs, cotton and wool cards, hemp and flax 
heckels, have been for some time made to ad- 
vantage, in some of the neighboring colonies, 
and are necessary for carrying on linen and 
woollen manufactures, the establishing such 
manufactures be recommended. 

Resolved unanimously — That the erecting 
fulling mills, and mills for breaking, swingling, 
and softening hemp and flax, and also that the 
making grindstones be recommended. 

Resolved unanimously — That the brewing 
malt liquors in this colony, would tend to ren- 
der the consumption of foreign liquors less 
necessary, it is therefore recommended, that 
proper attention be given to the cultivation of 
hops and barley. 

Resolved unanimously — That it be recom- 
mended to all the inhabitants of this colony, 
that they use as the convention engageth to do, 
our own manufactures, and those of other 
colonies, in preference to all others. 

Resolved unanimousl) — That for the more 
speedily and effectually carrying these resolu- 
tions into execution, it be earnestly recom- 
mended, that societies be formed in different 



282 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



parts of this colony ; and it is the opinion of this 
convention, that proper premiums ought to be 
offered in the several counties and corporations, 
to such persons as shall excel in the several 
branches of manufactures ; and it is recom- 
mended to the several committees of the differ- 
ent counties and corporations, to promote and 
encourage the same, to the utmost of their 
power. 



PATRIOTIC ACTION 

Of the town council of Fredericks- 
burg, Va. 

Fredericksburg, Committee chamber, 

Saturday April 39, 1775. 

At a council of 102 members, delegates of 
the provincial convention, officers and special 
deputies of 14 companies of light horse, con- 
sisting of upwards of 600 well armed and dis- 
ciplined men, friends of constitutional liberty 
and America, now rendezvoused here in conse- 
quence of an alarm occasioned by the powder 
being removed from the county magazine, in 
the city of Williamsburg, in the night of 
Thursday the 21st inst. and deposited on 
board an armed schooner by order of his 
excellency the governor. 

The council having before them the several 
matters of intelligence respecting this transac- 
tion, and particularly a letter from the hon. 
Peyton Randolph, esq., speaker of the late 
house of burgesses of Virginia, received here 
last night by an express despatched to Wil- 
liamsburg, for the purpose of gaining intelli- 
gence, informing that the gentlemen of the city 
of Williamsburg and neighborhood, have had 
full assurances from his e.xcellency that this 
affair shall be accommodated, and advising 
that the gentlemen assembled here should 
proceed no further at this time — this council 
came to the following determination, and offer 
the same as their advice to those public 
spirited gentlemen, friends to British liberty 
and America, who have honored them by this 
appointment. Highly condemning the conduct 
of the governor, on this occasion, as impolitic, 
and justly alarming to the good people of this 
colony, tending to destroy all confidence in 
government, and to widen the unhappy breach 
between Great Britain and her colonies, ill- 
timed and totally unnecessary, consider this 
instance as a full proof that no opinion which 
may be formed of the good intentions of a 
governor in private life, can afford security to 
our injured and oppressed country ; but that 
obedience to arbitrary, ministerial mandate. 



and the most oppressive and tyrannical system 
of government, must be the fatal line of con- 
duct to all his majesty's present servants in 
America ; at the same time justly dreading the 
horrors of a civil war, influenced by motives 
of the strongest affection to our fellow subjects 
of Great Britain, most ardently wishing to heal 
our mutual wounds, and therefore preferring 
peaceable measures, whilst the least hope of 
reconciliation remains, do advise that the sev- 
eral companies now rendezvoused here do 
return to their respective homes. But con- 
sidering the just rights and liberty of America 
to be greatly endangered by the violent and 
hostile proceedings of an arbitrary ministry, 
and being firmly resolved to resist such at- 
tempts at the utmost hazard of our lives and 
fortunes, do now pledge ourselves to each 
other to be in readiness, at a moment's 
warning, to re-assemble, and, by force of 
arms, to defend the laws, the liberty and 
rights of this, or any sister colony, from un- 
just and wicked invasion. Ordered, that ex- 
presses be despatched to the troops assembled 
at the Bowling-Green, and also to the compa- 
nies from Frederick, Berkely, Dunmore, and 
such other counties as are now on their march, 
to return them thanks for their cheerful offers 
of service, and to acquaint them with the de- 
termination now taken. 

God save the liberties of America, 

The foregoing determination of council, hav- 
ing been read at the head of each company, 
was cordially and unanimously approved. 



IMPORTANT LETTERS 

From Thomas Jefferson, relating to 
the causes resulting in the Decla- 
ration OF Independence. 

FROM THE RICHMOND COMPILER OF APRIL 6, 1816. 

The following are extracts from letters tend- 
ing to prove that the American declaration of 
independence was the effect of ministerial op- 
pression and not the result of a pre-concerted 
plan. — Though intended for the bosom of pri- 
vate friendship, those letters may legitimately 
be considered as conveying the sentiments of 
the whole American people at that time. 
They evince the reluctance with which a sepa- 
ration from Great Britain was contemplated ; 
and do away the idea held out by some Eng- 
lish writers, that " independence had long been 
meditated by the leading characters in the 



VIRGINIA. 



283 



colonies, and that they availed themselves of 
the obnoxious acts of the British government 
for its assertion." 



Thom.\s Jefferson to Dr. Small. 

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. Wm. 
Small, formerly one of the professors of Wil- 
liam and Mar>', but then at Birmingham, in 
England, where he successfully applied his ex- 
tensive scientific knowledge to practical im- 
provements, in various manufactures, etc., 
dated May 7th, 1775, writes as follows : 

" Within this week, we have received the un- 
happy news of an action of considerable mag- 
nitude between the king's troops and our 
brethren of Boston, in which it is said 500 of 
the former, with the earl of Percy, were slain. 
That such an action has happened is un- 
doubted, though, perhaps, the circumstances 
may not yet have reached us with truth. This 
accident has cut off our last hopes of reconcilia- 
tion, and a frenzy of revenge seems to have 
seized all ranks of people. — It is a lamentable 
circumstance that the only mediatory power 
acknowledged by both parties, instead of lead- 
ing to a reconciliation this divided people, 
should pursue the incendiary purpose of still 
blowing Up the flames, as we find him con- 
stantly doing in ever)' speech, and public dec- 
laration. This may, perhaps, be intended to 
intimidate into an acquiescence, but the effect 
has been most unfortunately otherwise. A 
little knowledge of human nature, and atten- 
tion to its ordinary workings, might have fore- 
seen that the spirits of the people were in a 
state, in which they were more likely to be pro- 
voked than frightened by haughty deportment ; 
and to fill up the measure of irritation, pro- 
scription of individuals has been substituted in 
room of a just trial. Can it be believed that a 
grateful people will suffer those to be con- 
signed to execution whose sole crime has been 
developing and asserting their right ? Had 
the parliament possessed the liberty of reflec- 
tion, they would have avoided a measure as im- 
potent as it was inflammatory. When I saw lord 
Chatham's bill, I entertained high hopes that 
a reconciliation could have been brought about. 
The difference between his terms, and those 
offered by our congress, might have been ac- 
commodated, if entered on by both parties 
with a disposition to accommodate ; but the 
dignity of parliament, it seems, can brook no 
opposition to its power. Strange, that a set of 
men who have made sale of their virtue to the 
minister, should yet talk of retaining dignity ! " 



Thomas Jefferson to John Randolph, 
formerly attorney general. 

August as, 177s. 

I am sorry the situation of our country 
should render it not eligible to you to remain 
longer in it. I hope the returning wisdom of 
Great Britain will ere long put an end to the 
unnatural contest. There may be people to 
whose tempers and dispositions contention 
may be pleasing, and who may therefore wish 
a continuance of confusion ; but to me, it is of 
all states but one, the most horrid. My first 
wish is a restoration of our just rights ; my 
second a return of the happy period when, 
consistently with duty, I may withdraw my- 
self totally from the public eye, and pass the 
rest of my days in domestic ease and tran- 
quility, banishing every desire of afterwards 
even hearing what passes in the world. Per- 
haps, ardor for the latter adds considerably 
to the warmth of the former wish. Looking 
with fondness towards a reconciliation with 
Great Britain, I cannot help hoping you may 
be able to contribute towards expediting this 
good work. I think it must be evident to 
yourself that the ministry have been deceived 
by their ofl[icers on this side of the water, who 
(for what purposes I cannot tell) have con- 
stantly represented the American opposition as 
that of a small faction, in which the body of 
the people took little part. This you can in- 
form them, of your own knowledge, to be 
untrue. They have taken it into their heads, 
too, that we are cowards, and shall surrender 
at discretion to an armed force. The past and 
4"uture operations of the war must confirm or 
undeceive them on that head. I wish they 
were thoroughly and minutely acquainted with 
every circumstance relative to America, as it 
exists in truth. I am persuaded they would 
go far towards disposing them to reconcilia- 
tion. Even those in parliament who are called 
friends to America, seem to know nothing of 
our real determinations. I observe they pro- 
nounced in the last parliament that the con- 
gress of 1774 did not mean to insist rigorously 
on the terms they held out, but kept something 
in reserve to give up, and in fact that they 
would give up, every thing but the right ot 
taxation. Now, the truth is far from this, as I 
can affirm, and put my honor to the assertion. 
Their continuing in this error may, perhaps, 
have very ill consequences. The congress 
stated the lowest terms they thought possible 
to be accepted, in order to convince the world 
they were not unreasonable. They gave up 
the monopoly and regulation of trade, and all 
acts passed prior to 1764, leaving to British 



284 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



generosity to render these, at some future 
time, as easy to America as the interests of 
Great Britain could admit. I wish no false 
sense of honor, no ignorance of our real inten- 
tions, no vain hope that partial concessions of 
right will be accepted, may induce the ministiy 
to trifle with accommodation till it shall be put 
even out of our own power to accommodate. 
If, indeed. Great Britain, disjoined from her 
colonies be a match for the most potent na- 
tions of Europe, with the colonies thrown into 
their scale, they may go on securely ; but if 
they are not assured of this, it would be cer- 
tainly unwise, by trying the event of another 
campaign, to risk our accepting a foreign aid, 
which, perhaps, may not be unattainable but 
on a condition of everlasting avulsion from 
Great Britain. This would be thought a hard 
condition to those who wish for re-union with 
the parent country. I am sincerely one of 
those, and would rather be in dependence on 
Great Britain, properly limited, than on any 
nation upon earth, or than on no nation ; but 
I am one of those too, who rather than sub- 
mit to the right of legislating for us, assumed 
by the British parliament, and which late ex- 
perience* has shown they will so cruelly 
exercise, would lend my hand to sink the 
whole island in the ocean. 



ACTION 

Of Common Council of Willi.amsburg, 
relative to the removal of arms be- 
longing to his majesty. 

Ai a court of common council for the city of 
Williamsburg, held the ?>thof May, 1775. 

Whereas it hath been represented to this 
hall, that, on the 4th inst. in the night time, 
some person or persons unknown, had broke 

* This is understood to have alluded to a bill, passed by 
the house of lords at their preceding session, excepting 
from the benefit of any general pardon which might be 
offered, certain individuals by name. Mr. Montague, 
then agent for the house of burgesses of Virginia (which 
place was procured for him by the interest of Peyton 
Randolph, speaker of the house, and his early and inti- 
mate friend) extracted the substance of the bill, and the 
names excepted, and enclosed the extract to Peyton Ran- 
dolph. Among the persons excepted were Hancock and 
one or both .\damses, as notorious leaders of the opposi- 
tion in Massachusetts, Patrick Henry, as the same in 
Virginia, Peyton Randolph, as president of the general 
congress at Philadelphia, and Thomas Jefferson, as author 
of a proposition to the convention of Virginia for an ad- 
dress to the king, in which was maintained that there was 
in right no link of union between England and the colo- 
nies but that of the same king, and that neither the parlia- 
ment, nor any other functionary of that government, had 
any more right to exercise authority over the colonies, 
thao over the electorate of Hanover, &c. 



into the public magazine, and taken from 
thence sundry fire-arms belonging to his 
majesty : 

We, the mayor, aldermen, and common 
council of the said city, being desirous to 
maintain peace, order and good government, do 
hereby declare our abhorrence of such unlaw- 
ful proceeding, and do hereby require the in- 
habitants to use their utmost endeavors to pre- 
vent the like outrage in future, and e.xhort all 
persons who may be in possession of any of 
the said arms, to return the same immediately, 
to be replaced in the magazine. 

And it having been recommended to this 
meeting by the governor and council, to ap- 
point a guard to protect the said magazine, 
they are of opinion that they have no authority 
to lay any tax for that purpose, but that if some 
trusty person should be appointed, by his ex- 
cellency the governor, to be keeper thereof, 
and care taken to strengthen it with proper bars, 
there probably would be a stop put to violences 
of that nature, and they do humbly recommend 
to his excellency, Mr. Gabriel Maupin, who 
lives near the magazine, as a person worthy 
of that trust. 

(A copy) Mat. Davenport, town clerk. 



PROCEEDINGS 



In Hanover county, relative to hos- 
tilities COMMITTED BY THE KING'S 
TROOPS. 

At a committee appointed and held for Han- 
over county, at the court house, on Thursday 
the 9th of May, 1775 — present, John Syme, 
Samuel Overton, William Craghead, Mcri- 
weather Skelton, Richard Morris, Benjamin 
Anderson, John Pendleton, John Robinson, 
Nelson Berkely, and George Dabney, jun. 

Agreeably to a resolution of the committee 
held at Newcastle the 2d inst. setting forth, 
that they being fully informed of the violent 
hostilities committed by the king's troops ia 
America, and of the danger arising to the 
colony by the loss of the public powder, and 
of the conduct of the governor, which threatens, 
altogether, calamities of the greatest magnitude 
and most fatal consequences to this colony, 
and therefore recommending reprisals to be 
made upon the king's property, sufficient to 
replace the gun-powder taken out of the maga- 
zine, it appears to this committee, that the 
volunteers who marched from Newcastle, to 
obtain satisfaction for the public powder, by 
reprisal or otherwise, proceeded on that busi- 



VIRGINIA. 



285 



ness as follows, to wit : " That an officer with 
16 men was detached to seize the king's 
receiver general, with orders to detain him ; 
and this, it was supposed, might be done with- 
out impeding the progress of the main body. 
The said receiver general not being appre- 
hended, owing to his absence from home, the 
said detachment, according to orders proceeded 
to join the main body on its march to Williams- 
burg, and the junction happened the 3d instant 
at Uoncastle's ordinary about sunset. A little 
after sunrise next morning, the commanding 
officer being assured that proper satisfaction in 
money should be instantly made, the volunteers 
halted, and the proposal being considered by 
them was judged satisfactory as to that point ; 
and the following receipt was given, viz., 
" Doncastle's ordinary. New Kent, May 4, 
1775: Received from the hon. Richard Cor- 
bin, esq. his majesty's receiver general, ^330, 
as a compensation for the gun-powder lately 
taken out of the public magazine by the gover- 
nor's order ; which money I promise to convey 
to the Virginia delegates at the general con- 
gress, to be under their direction, laid out in 
gun-powder for the colony's use, and to be 
stored as they shall direct, until the next colony 
convention or general assembly, unless it shall 
be necessary, in the mean time, to use the 
same in defence of this colony. It is agreed 
that in case the next convention shall determine 
that any part of this said money ought to be 
returned to his majesty's said receiver general, 
that the same shall be done accordingly. 

Test, Pat. Henry, jun." 

Sam. Meredith, ) 
Parke Goodale. f 

It was then considered that as a general 
congress would meet in a few days, and pro- 
bably a colony convention would shortly assem- 
ble, and that the reprisal now made would 
amply replace the powder, with the charges of 
transportation, the commanding officer wrote 
the following letter, and sent it by express. 

Sir — The affair of the powder is now settled, 
so as to produce satisfaction to me, and I 
earnestly wish to the colony in general. The 
people here have it in charge, from Hanover 
committee, to tender their service to you, as a 
public officer, for the purpose of escorting the 
public treasury to any place in this colony, 
where the money may be judged more safe 
than in the city of Williamsburg. The repri- 
sal now made by the Hanover volunteers, 
though accomplished in a manner least liable 
to the imputation of violent extremity, may 
possibly be the cause of future injury to the 



(A true copy) 



treasury. If therefore you apprehend the least 
danger, a sufficient guard is at your service. 
I beg the return of the bearer may be instant, 
because the men wish to know their destina- 
tion. With great regard, I am, sir, your most 
humble servant, 

Pat. Henry, jun. 
To Robert Carter Nicholas, esq. trcas. 
Test, Samuel Meredith, /,,. , 

Garland Anderson. [ (^ '"''^^"W) 

To which an answer was received from the 
said Mr. Nicholas, importing that he had no 
apprehensions of the necessity or propriety of 
the proffered service. For which reasons, and 
understanding, moreover, from others, that the 
private citizens of Williamsburg were in a 
great measure quieted from their late appre- 
hension for their persons and property, the 
volunteers judged it best to return home, and 
did so accordingly, in order to wait the fiirther 
directions of the general congress, or colony 
convention. It appears also to this committee, 
that before, and on the march, strict orders 
were repeatedly given to the volunteers to 
avoid all violence, injury and insult, towards 
the persons and property of every private indi- 
vidual ; and that in executing the plan of re- 
prisal on the persons of the king's servants 
and his property, bloodshed should be avoided, 
if possible ; and that there is the strongest 
reason to believe that the foregoing orders, 
respecting private persons and property, were 
strictly observed. 

Resolved, That this committee do approve of 
the proceedings of the officers and soldiers of 
the volunteer company, and do return them 
their most sincere thanks for their services on 
the late expedition ; and also that the thanks 
of this committee be given to the many volun- 
teers of the different counties who joined, and 
were marching and ready to co-operate with 
the volunteer company of this county. 

Ordered, That the clerk do transmit a copy 
of those proceedings to the printers, and desire 
that they will be pleased to publish the same 
in the Gazettes, as soon as possible. 

By order of the committee, 
(A copy) Bart. Anderson, Clerk. 



PATRIOTIC ADDRESS 
Of the Baptists of Virginia to the 
Convention, and the action taken 
thereon. 

Au^st 16, 1775. 

An address from the Baptists in this colony 
was presented to the convention, and read ; 



286 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



setting forth, that however distinguished from 
the body of their countr>'men, by appellatives 
and sentiments of a religious nature, they nev- 
ertheless consider themselves as members of 
the same community in respect to matters of a 
civil nature, and embarked in the same com- 
mon cause ; that, alarmed at the oppression 
which hangs over America, they had consid- 
ered what part it would be proper to take in 
the unhappy contest, and had determined that 
in some cases it was lawful to go to war, and 
that they ought to make a military resistance 
against Great Britain in her unjust invasion, 
tyrannical oppressions, and repeated hostilities ; 
that their brethren were left at discretion to 
enlist, without incurring the censure of their 
religious community ; and, under these circum- 
stances, many of them had enlisted as soldiers, 
and many more were ready to do so, who had 
an earnest desire their ministers should preach 
to them during the campaign ; that they had 
therefore appointed four of their brethren to 
make application to this convention for the 
liberty of preaching to the troops at convenient 
times, without molestation or abuse, and pray- 
ing the same may be granted them. 

Resolved, That it be an instruction to the 
commanding officers of the regiments or troops 
to be raised, that they permit dissenting clergy- 
men to celebrate Divine worship, and to preach 
to the soldiers, or exhort, from time to time, as 
the various operations of the military service 
may permit, for the ease of such scrupulous 
consciences as may not choose to attend Divine 
service as celebrated by the chaplain. 



ADDRESS 

Of the Freeholders of Botetourt 
COUNTY, Virginia, to Colonel An- 
drew Lewis, and Mr. John Hover. 

Williamsburg, Oct. 1775. 
Gentlemen — For your past service you have 
our thanks, and we presume it is all the reward 
you desire. And as we have again committed 
to you the greatest trust we can confer (that of 
appearing for us in the great council of the 
colony) we think it expedient you hear our 
sentiments at this important juncture. And 
first, we require you to represent us with 
hearts replete with the most grateful and loyal 
veneration for the race of Brunswick, for they 
have been truly our fathers ; and at the same 
time the most dutiful affection for our sov- 
ereign, of whose honest heart we cannot en- 
tertain any diffidence ; but sorr)' we are to add. 



that in his councils we can no longer confide ; 
a set of miscreants, unworthy to administer the 
laws of Britain's empire, have been permitted 
impiously to sway. How unjustly, cruelly, and 
tyrannically, they have invaded our rights, we 
need not put you in mind. We only say. and 
we assert it with pride, that the subjects of 
Britain are one ; and when the honest man of 
Boston who has broke no law, has his pro- 
perty wrested from him, the hunter on the 
Allegany must take the alarm, and, as a free- 
man of America, he will fly to his representa- 
tives, and thus instruct them : — Gentlemen, 
my gun, my tomahawk, my life I desire you to 
render to the honor of my king and country ; 
but my liberty to range these woods on the 
same terms my father has done, is not mine to 
give up ; it was not purchased by me, and pur- 
chased it was ; it is entailed on my son, and 
the tenure is sacred. Watch over it, gentle- 
men, for to him it must descend unviolated, if 
my arm can defend it ; but if not, if wicked 
power is permitted to prevail against me, the 
original purchase was blood, and mine shall 
seal the surrender. 

That our countrymen and the world may 
know our disposition, we choose that this be 
published. And we have one request to add, 
that is, that the sons of freedom who appeared 
for us at Philadelphia, will accept our most 
ardent, grateful acknowledgments ; and we 
hereby plight them our faith, that we will reli- 
giously observe their resolutions, and obey their 
instructions, in contempt of power and tem- 
porary interest ; and should the measures they 
have wisely calculated for our relief fail, we 
will stand prepared for every contingency. 
We are, gentlemen, your dutiful, etc. 

The Freeholders of Botetourt. 



PROCLAMATION 



Of Lord Dunmore offering freedom to 
the slaves belonging to the rebels 
in Virginia, November 7, 1775. 

In Norfolk and the adjacent country. Dun- 
more counted on numerous adherents. The 
rash advice, together with his own impetuous, 
haughty and revengeful temper, early impelled 
him to a measure characterized by folly, and 
fraught with incalculable mischief, not only to 
the people of Virginia, but to his own cause, 
tinder date of Nov. 7th, he issued the following 
proclamation, the style of which strongly indi- 
cates the agitation of a perturbed mind, whilst 
its substance betrays a blind, impolitic, ruin- 



VIRGINIA. 



ous inflexibility, and, what is still worse, a sav- 
age and wanton disregard for the fundamental 
principles upon which the social fabric essen- 
tially rests, and for those rules of civilization, 
which are usually respected, even in the frenzy 
and calamitous intent of war. 



By kis excellency, the right honorable JOHN, 
EARL OF DUNMORE, kts majesty's lieutenant 
and governor general of the colony of Vir- 
ginia, and vice admiral of the same. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

" As I have ever entertained hopes that an 
accommodation might have taken place be- 
tween Great Britain and this colony, without 
being compelled by my duty to do this most 
disagreeable, but now absolutely necessary 
duty, rendered so by a body of men, unlawfully 
assembled, firing on his majesty's tenders, and 
the formation of an army, and an army now 
on its march to attack his majesty's troops, 
and destroy the well disposed subjects of this 
colony. To defeat such treasonable purposes, 
and that all such traitors, and their abettors 
may be brought to justice, and that the peace 
and good order of this colony may be again 
restored, which the ordinary course of the civil 
law is unable to effect, I have thought fit to 
issue this my proclamation, hereby declaring 
that, until the aforesaid good purposes can be 
obtained, I do, in virtue ofthe power and author- 
ity to me given, by his majesty, determine to 
execute martial law, and cause the same to be 
executed throughout this colony ; and to the 
end that peace and good order may the sooner 
be restored, I do require ever)' person capable 
of bearing arms to resort to his majesty's 
standard, or be looked upon as traitors 
to his majesty's crown and government, and 
thereby become liable to the penalty the law 
inflicts upon such offences ; such as for- 
feiture of life, confiscation of lands, etc., etc. 
And I do hereby further declare all indented 
servants, negroes, or others (appertaining to 
rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear 
arms, they joining his majesty's troops as soon 
as may be, for the more speedily reducing his 
colony to a proper sense of their duty to his 
majesty's crown and dignity. I do further 
order and require all his majesty's liege sub- 
jects, to retain their quit-rents or other taxes 
due, or that may become due in their own cus- 
tody, till such a time may again be restored to 
this at present most unhappy country, or de- 
manded of them for their former salutary pur- 



287 

poses, by officers properly authorized to receive 
the same. 

"Given under my hand, on board the ship 
William, off Norfolk, the 7th day of November, 
in the i6th year of his majesty's reign. 

"DUNMORE. 

" God save the king." 



LETTER 

From Lord Dunmore, to General Howe, 
referring to his proclamation, of- 
fering freedom to slaves of the 
REBELS IN Virginia. Nov. 30, 1775. 

" I must inform you, that with our little corps 
I think we have done wonders. We have taken 
and destroyed above fourscore pieces of ord- 
nance, and by landing in different parts of the 
country, we keep them in continual hot water ; 
but as captain Leslie tells me he means to give 
you particulars enough, I shall say no more on 
that subject. Among the prisoners, we have 
taken one Oliver Porter, and Deane, two 
natives of Boston, bringing in gunpowder to 
North Carolina. The latter was sent from 
Boston to influence the minds of the people, in 
which he has been but too successful. He 
was taken from on board a schooner going 
from this place to the Western Islands, to 
bring powder to this colony ; and the others 
have carried arms against his majesty in this 
province. I have sent them more with a view 
of intimidating others than to punish them, as 
they expect here that, so sure as they are sent 
to Boston, they are to be hanged. Robinson 
is a delegate of our convention. Matthews 
was a captain of their minute-men. Perhaps 
they may be of some use to you, in exchanging 
them for good men. The sloop not sailing so 
soon as I expected, I have to inform you that, 
on the 14th inst. I had information that a 
party of about a hundred ofthe North Carolina 
rebels had marched to the assistance of those 
in this colony, and were posted at a place called 
the Great-Bridge, a very essential pass in the 
country. I accordingly embarked our little 
corps in boats, in the night of the 14th, with 
between twenty and thirty volunteers from 
Norfolk. We landed within four miles of the 
bridge, and arrived there a little after daylight ; 
but, to our great mortification, fonnd the birds 
had flown the evening before. But hearing 
that a body, between 2 and 300, of our rebels 
were within about ten miles of us, we deter- 
mined to beat up their quarters, and accord- 
ingly proceeded about eight miles, when they 



288 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



fired on our advanced guards from the woods : 
on which I immediately ordered our people to 
rush upon them, and at the same time sent a 
party of the regulars, with the volunteers, to 
out-flank them. The enemy immediately fled 
on all quarters, and our people pursued them 
for a mile or more, killed a few, drove others to 
a creek, where they were drowned, and took 
nine prisoners, among whom is one of their 
colonels. We only had one man wounded, 
who is recovering. I immediately upon this 
issued the enclosed proclamation ; which has 
had a wonderful effect, as there are no less 
than 300 who have taken and signed the 
enclosed oath. The blacks are also flocking 
from all quarters, which I hope will oblige the 
rebels to disperse, to take care of their families 
and property, and had I but a few more men 
here, I would immediately march to Williams- 
burg, my former place of residence, by which 
I should soon compel the whole colony to sub- 
mit. We are in great want of small arms ; and 
if two or three field pieces and their carriages 
could be spared, they would be of great service 
to us ; also some cartridge paper, of which not 
a sheet is to be got in this country, and all our 
cartridges are expended. — Since the 19th of May 
last I have not received a single line from any 
one in administration, though I have wrote 
volumes to them, in each of which I have 
prayed to be instructed, but to no purpose. I 
am therefore determined to go on doing the 
best of my power for his majesty's service. I 
have accordingly ordered a regiment, called 
the Queen's own loyal regiment, of 500 men, 
to be raised immediately, consisting of a lieu- 
tenant-colonel commandant, major, and ten 
companies, each of which is to consist of one 
captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, and fitty 
privates, with non-commissioned officers in 
proportion. You may observe, by my procla- 
mation, that I offer freedom to the blacks of all 
rebels that join me, in consequence of which 
there are between 2 and 300 already come in, 
and those I form into corps as fast as they 
come in, giving them white officers and non- 
commissioners in proportion. And from these 
two plans, I make no doubt of getting men 
enough to reduce this colony to a proper sense 
of their duty. My next distress will be the 
want of arms, accoutrements and money, all 
of which you may be able to relieve me from. 
The latter I am sure you can, as there are 
many merchants here who are ready to supply 
me, on my giving them bills on you, which you 
will have to withdraw, and give your own in 
their room. I hope this mode will be agreeable 
to you ; it is the same that general Gage pro- 



posed. I have now, in order to carry on the 
recruiting business, victualling, clothing, etc. 
drawn on you for ^5000 sterling, and have 
appointed a pay-master, who will keep exact 
accounts. I wish you would inform me, by 
the return of the sloop, what bounty money 
may be given to those who enlist. — Having 
heard that 1000 chosen men belonging to the 
rebels, a great part of whom were riflemen, 
were on their march to attack us here, or to 
cut off our provisions, I determined to take 
possession of the pass at the Great-Bridge, 
which secures us the greatest part of two 
counties, to supply us with provisions. I 
accordingly ordered a stockade to be erected 
there, which was done in a few days ; and I 
put an officer and 25 men to garrison it, with 

some volunteers and , who have defended 

it against all the efforts of the rebels for these 
eight days past. We have killed several of 
their men, and I make no doubt we shall now 
be able to maintain our ground there ; but 
should we be obliged to abandon it, we have 
thrown up an intrenchment on the land side of 
Norfolk, which I hope they never will be able 
to force. Here we are contending, with only 
a very small part of a regiment, against the 
extensive colony of Virginia. If you could but 
spare me, for a few months, the 64th regiment 
now in the castle, and the remaining part of 
the 14th, I really believe we should reduce this 
colony to a proper sense of their duty." 



PROCEEDINGS 



In the convention of Virginia re- 
lating TO THE PROCLAMATION OF LORD 
DUNMORE. 

Williamsburg, Virginia, January 25, 1776. 

Resolved, unanimously, that this convention 
do highly approve of col. Woodford's conduct, 
manifested, as well in the success of the troops 
under his command, as in the humane treat- 
ment of, and kind attention to, the unfortunate, 
though brave officers and soldiers, who were 
made prisoners in the late action near the Great 
Bridge, and that the president communicate to 
col. Woodford the sense of his country on this 
occasion. 

Whereas lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, 
dated on board the ship William, the 7th day 
of November, 1775, hath presumed, in direct 
violation of the constitution, and the laws of 
this country, to declare martial law in force, 
and to be executed throughout this colony, 
whereby our lives, our liberty, and our property, 



VIRGINIA. 



289 



are arbitrarily subjected to his power and di- 
rection : and whereas the said lord Dunmore, 
assuming powers which the king himself can- 
not exercise, to intimidate the good people of 
this colony into a compliance with his arbi- 
trary will, hath declared those who do not 
immediately repair to his standard, and submit 
in all things to a government not warranted by 
the constitution, to be in actual rebellion, and 
thereby to have incurred the penalties inflicted 
by the laws for such offences ; and hath offered 
freedom to the servants and slaves of those he 
is pleased to term rebels, arming them against 
their masters, and destroying the peace and 
happiness of his majesty's good and faithful 
subjects, whose property is rendered insecure, 
and whose lives are exposed to the dangers of 
a general insurrection. We, as guardians of 
the lives and liberty of the people, our consti- 
tuents, conceived it to be indispensably our 
duty to protect them against every species of 
despotism, and to endeavor to remove those 
fears with which they are so justly alarmed. 

If it were possible the understandings of men 
could be so blinded, that every gleam of reason 
might be lost, the hope, his lordship says, he 
hath ever entertained of an accommodation 
between Great Britain and this colony, might 
pass unnoticed ; but truth, justice, and common 
sense, must ever prevail, when facts can be 
appealed to in their support. It is the peculiar 
happiness of this colony, that his lordship can 
be traced as the source of innumerable evils, 
and one of the principal causes of the misfor- 
tunes under which we now labor. A particular 
detail of his conduct, since his arrival in this 
colony, can be considered only as a repetition. 
it having been already fully published to the 
world by the proceedings of the general assem- 
bly, and a former convention ; but the un- 
remitting violence with which his lordship 
endeavors to involve this country in the most 
dreadful calamities, certainly affords new matter 
for the attention of the public, and will remove 
every imputation of ingratitude to his lordship, 
or of injustice to his character. His lordship 
is pleased to ascribe the unworthy steps he 
hath taken against this colony to a necessity 
arising from the conduct of its inhabitants, 
whom he hath considered in a rebellious state, 
but who know nothing of rebellion except the 
name. Ever zealous in support of tyranny, he 
hath broken the bonds of society, and trampled 
justice under his feet. Had his lordship been 
desirous of effecting an accommodation of these 
disputes, he hath had the most ample occasion 
of exerting both his interest and abilities ; but 
that he never had in view any such salutary 

19 



end, most evidently appears from the whole 
tenor of his conduct. The supposed design of 
the Canada bill having been to draw down 
upon us a merciless and savage enemy, the 
present manoeuvres amongst the Roman Cath- 
olics in Ireland, and the schemes concerted 
with Doctor Connelly, and other vile instru- 
ments of tyranny, which have appeared by the 
examination of the said Connelly, justify the 
supposition, and most fully evince his lordship's 
inimical and cruel disposition towards us, and 
can best determine whether we have been 
wrong in preparing to resist, even by arms, 
that system of tyranny adopted by the ministry 
and parliament of Great Britain, of which he is 
become the rigid executioner in this colony. 
The many depredations committed also upon 
the inhabitants of this colony, by the tenders 
and other armed vessels employed by his lord- 
ship for such purposes ; the pilfering and plun- 
dering the property of the people, and the actual 
seduction and seizure of their slaves, were truly 
alarming in their effects, and called aloud for 
justice and resistance. The persons of many 
of our peaceable brethren have been seized and 
dragged to confinement, contrary to the prin- 
ciples of liberty, and the constitution of our 
country : yet have we borne this injurious treat- 
ment with unexampled patience, unwilling to 
shed the blood of our fellow-subjects, who, 
prosecuting the measures of a British parlia- 
ment, would sacrifice our lives and property to 
a relentless fury and unabating avarice. If a 
governor can be authorized, even by majesty 
itself, to annul the laws of the land, and to in- 
troduce the most execrable of all systems, the 
law martial ; if, by his single fiat, he can strip 
us of our property, can give freedom to our 
ser\'ants and slaves, and arm them for our 
destruction, let us bid adieu to every thing 
valuable in life ; let us at once bend our necks 
to the galling yoke, and hug the chains prepared 
for us and our latest posterity ! 

It is with inexpressible concern we reflect 
upon the distressed situation of some of our 
unhappy countrymen, who had thought them- 
selves too immediately within the power of 
lord Dunmore, and have been induced thereby 
to remain inactive. We lament the advantage 
he hath taken of their situation, and at present 
impute their inactivity, in the cause of freedom 
and the constitution, not to any defection or 
want of zeal, but to their defenceless state ; and 
whilst we endeavor to afford them succor, 
and to support their rights, we expect they will 
contribute every thing in their deliverance : 
yet if any of our people, in violation of their 
faith plighted to this colony, and the duty they 



290 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



owe to society, shall be found in arms, or con- 
tinue to give assistance to our enemies, we shall 
think ourselves justified, by the necessity we 
are under, in executing upon them the law of 
retaliation. 

Impressed with a just and ardent zeal for 
the welfare and happiness of our countrymen, 
we trust they will, on their part, exert them- 
selves in defence of our common cause, and 
that we shall all acquit ourselves like freemen, 
being compelled by a disagreeable, but abso- 
lute necessity, of repelling force by force, to 
maintain our just rights and privileges, and we 
appeal to God, who is the Sovereign Disposer 
of all events, for the justice of our cause, trust- 
ing to his unerring wisdom to direct our coun- 
cils, and give success to our arms. 

Whereas lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, 
dated on board the ship William off Norfolk, 
the 7th day of November, 1775, hath offered 
freedom to such able bodied slaves as are will- 
ing to join him, and take up arms against the 
good people of this colony, giving thereby en- 
couragement to a general insurrection, which 
may induce a necessity of inflicting the severest 
punishments upon those unhappy people 
already deluded by his base and insidious arts, 
and whereas, by an act of the general assembly 
now in force in this colony, it is enacted, that 
all negro, or other slaves, conspiring to rebel 
or make insurrection, shall suffer death, and be 
excluded all benefit of clergy — we think it pro- 
per to declare, that all slaves who have been, 
or shall be, seduced by his lordship's proclama- 
tion, or other arts, to desert their master's ser- 
vice, and take up arms against the inhabitants 
of this colony, shall be liable to such punishment 
as shall hereafter be directed by the convention. 
And to the end that all such, who have taken 
this unlawful and wicked step, may return in 
safety to their duty, and escape the punishment 
due to their crimes, we hereby promise pardon 
to them, they surrendering themselves to colo- 
nel William Woodford or any other comman- 
der of our troops, and not appearing in arms 
after the publication hereof. And we do fur- 
ther earnestly recommend it to all humane 
and benevolent persons in this colony, to explain 
and make known this our offer of mercy to 
those unfortunate people. 

And whereas, notwithstanding the favorable 
and kind dispositions shewn by the convention 
and the natives of this colony, and the extraor- 
dinary and unexampled indulgence by them 
held out to the natives of Great Britain, resid- 
ing in this colony, (the Scotch who gave them- 
selves this title in their petition) many of these 
have lately become strict adherents to the lord 



Dunmore and the most active promoters of all 
his cruel and arbitrary persecutions of the good 
people of this colony, not only by violadng the 
continental association, to which they had 
solemnly subscribed, in many the most flagrant 
instances ; not merely by giving intelligence to 
our enemies and furnishing them with provi- 
sions, but by propagating, as well in Great 
Britain as in this colony, many of the most mis- 
chievous falsehoods, to the great prejudice and 
dishonor of this countr)' : And moreover, many 
of these natives of Great Britain, instead of 
giving their assistance in suppressing insurrec- 
tions, have contrary to all faith, solemnly 
plighted in their petition, excited our slaves to 
rebellion, and some of them have daringly led 
those slaves in arms against our inhabitants ; 
the committee having these things in full proof, 
and considering their alarming and dangerous 
tendency, do give it as their opinion, and it is 
accordingly resolved, that the former resolution 
in their favor ought from henceforth to be 
totally abrogated and rescinded ; that none 
of the freemen, inhabitants of this country, 
wherever born, ought to exempted from any 
of the burthens or dangers to which the colony 
is exposed : but that, as good citizens, it is in- 
cumbent on them to use every exertion of their 
power and abilities in the common defence ; 
and should any persons of ability decline or 
shrink from so necessary a duty to the com- 
munity, that all such, except those who have 
taken u p arms against our inhabitants, or shewn 
themselves to us, may be permitted, under a 
license of the committee of safety, to leave the 
country. 



OUTRAGES 



Committed by British troops, 1776. 

One of lord Dunmore's tenders went to a 
place called Mulberry -island, in Warwick 
county, and landed her men, who went to Mr. 
Benjamin Wells's house, with their faces blacked 
like negroes, whose companions they are, and 
robbed the house of all the furniture, four ne- 
groes, a watch, and stock-buckle. The inhu- 
man wretches even took the bed on which lay 
two sick infants. 



OATH 

Extorted from the people of Norfolk 
AND Princess Anne, by lord Dunmore, 

1776. 

" We the inhabitants of being fully sen- 



VIRGINIA. 



2gi 



sible of the errors and guilt into which this 
colony hath been misled, under color of seeking 
redress of grievances, and that a set of factious 
men styling themselves committees, conven- 
tions, and congresses, have violently, and under 
various pretences, usurped the legislative and 
executive powers of government, and are there- 
by endeavoring to overturn our most happy 
constitution, and have incurred the guilt of 
actual rebellion against our most gracious sov- 
ereign : We have therefore taken an oath ab- 
juring their authority, and solemnly promising 
in the presence of Almighty God, to bear faith 
and true allegiance to his sacred majesty 
George the third ; and that we will, to the ut- 
most of our power and ability, support, main- 
tain, and defend his crown and dignity, against 
all traitorous attempts and conspiracies what- 
soever. And whereas armed bodies of men 
are collected in various parts of this colony, 
without any legal authority, we wish them to 
be informed, that however unwilling we should 
be to shed the blood of our countrymen, we 
must, in discharge of our duty to God and the 
king, and in support of the constitution and 
laws of our country, oppose their marching into 
this county, where their coming can answer no 
good end, but, on the contrary, must expose us 
to the ravages and horrors of a civil war ; and 
for that purpose, we are determined to take 
advantage of our happy situation, and will de- 
fend the passes into our countr)-, and neighbor- 
hood to the last drop of our blood." 



INSTRUCTIONS 



Of the Virginia Convention to their 
delegates in congress. 

Jn tke Virginia Convention — present 1 1 2 
members. 

Williamsburg, Wednesday^ May 15, 1776. 

Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the uni- 
ted COLONIES, by the most decent representa- 
tions and petitions to the king and parliament 
of Great Britain, to restore peace and security 
to America under the British government, and 
a re-union with that people upon just and libe- 
ral terms, instead of a redress of grievances, 
have produced, from an imperious and vindic- 
tive administration, increased insult, oppres- 
sion, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total 
destruction. By a late act, all these colo- 
nies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of 
the protection of the British crown, our proper- 
ties subject to confiscation, our people, when 



captivated, compelled to join in the murder and 
plunder of their relations and countrymen, and 
all former rapine and oppression of Americans 
declared legal and just. Fleets and armies 
are raised, and the aid of foreign troops en- 
gaged to assist these destructive purposes. 
The king's representative in this colony hath 
not only withheld all the powers of govern- 
ment from operating for our safety, but, having 
retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on 
a practical and savage war against us, tempt- 
ing our slaves, by every artifice, to resort to 
him, and training and employing them against 
their masters. In this state of extreme dan- 
ger, we have no alternative left but an abject 
submission to the will of those over-bearing ty- 
rants, or a total separation from the crown and 
government of Great Britain, uniting and ex- 
erting the strength of all America for defence, 
and forming alliances with foreign powers for 
commerce and aid in war. Wherefore, appeal- 
ing to the Searcher of hearts for the sincerity 
of former declarations, expressing our desire to 
preserve the connection with that nation, and 
that we are driven from that inclination by 
their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of 
self-preservation : 

Resohied, unan. That the delegates ap- 
pointed to represent this colony in general 
congress be instructed to propose to that re- 
spectable body to declare the United Colonies 
free and independent states, absolved from all 
allegiance to, or dependence upon, the crown 
or parliament of Great Britain ; and that they 
give the assent of this colony to such declara- 
tion, and to whatever measures may be thought 
proper and necessary by the congress for form- 
ing foreign alliances, and a confederation 
OF the colonies, at such time, and in the 
manner, as to them shall seem best. Pro- 
vided, that the power of forming government 
for, and the regulations of the internal con- 
cerns of each colony, be left to the respective 
colonial legislatures. 

Resolved, unan. That a committee be ap- 
pointed to prepare A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, 
and such a plan of government as will be most 
likely to maintain peace and order in this col- 
ony, and secure substantial and equal liberty tc 
the people. 

Edmund Pendleton, President. 

(A copy) 
John Tazewell, Clerk of the Convention. 



292 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATIONS 

Of the members of the convention. 
Toasts drank, and the Union flag 
unfurled. 

Williamsburg, May 15, 1776. 

In consequence of the above resolution, uni- 
versally regarded as the only door which will 
lead to safety and prosperity, some gentlemen 
made a handsome collection for the purpose of 
treating the soldiery, who next day were 
paraded in Waller's grove, before brigadier 
general Lewis, attended by the gentlemen of 
the committee of safety, the members of the 
general convention, the inhabitants of this 
city, etc., etc. The resolution being read 
aloud to the army, the following toasts were 
given, each of them accompanied by a discharge 
of the artillery and small arms, and the accla- 
mations of all present : 

1. The American independent states. 

2. The grand congress of the United States, 
and their respective legislatures. 

3. General Washington, and victory to the 
American arms. 

The UNION flag of the American states 
waved upon the capitol during the whole of 
this ceremony, which being ended, the soldiers 
partook of the refreshment prepared for them 
by the affection of their countrymen, and the 
evening concluded with illuminations, and 
other demonstrations of joy; every one seem- 
ing pleased that the domination of Great Bri- 
tain was now _at an end, so wickedly and 
tyrannically exercised for these twelve or thir- 
teen years past, notwithstanding our repeated 
prayers and remonstrances for redress. 



have levied against America, and that I will, 
from time to time, declare and make known all 
traitorous conspiracies and attempts against 
the peace and safety of Virginia, which shall 
come to my knowledge ; So help me God." 



TEST OATH 

Prescribed bv the Committee of Vir- 
ginia TO BE TAKEN BY THE INHABITANTS 
THEREOF, 1776, AND PUBLISHED BY ITS 
ORDER. 

" I, A. B. in the presence of Almighty God, 
do solemnly swear, that I will, to the utmost of 
my power, support, maintain, and defend the 
government of Virginia, in the present just and 
necessary war, against all powers whatever, 
who do, or may le\'y or carry on any hostility 
of war against the same, and that I will not in 
any manner aid, or assist, comfort, countenance, 
correspond with or abet any person whatever, 
whom I know, or have cause to suspect, have 
designs to further, aid, or assist the tyrannical 
and cruel war, which the British pariiament 



VIRGINIA— CALLED TO ARMS. 

The following address was issued to the peo- 
ple of Virginia, at the time when the gov- 
ernor, Patrick Henry, issued his proclamation 
on the 14/// of May, 1779, announcing the 
arrival of a British fleet in the Chesapeake, 
and noticing some of the ravages they had 
committed. 

Friends and countrymen. — When our country 
is invaded by the avowed enemies to the com- 
mon rights of mankind ; when it is threatened 
with all those calamities which barbarity and 
cruelty can inflict, it is no longer time to pause. 
We have not an enemy to oppose who can 
claim the common pretension for war. We 
have to combat those who seek not for a retal- 
iation of injuries done them, but who would be 
our tyrants. Tyrants of the blackest nature, 
who would rob us not only of those privileges 
which are dearest to us, but would bring our 
grey hairs down with sorrow to the grave. To 
be the base slaves of arbitrary power, to be in- 
sulted, trampled under foot by a soldiery, the 
outcastsof jails, to be stripped of your property, 
to behold your wives and children the victims 
of bruta! lust, or nobly to resist the torrent of 
despotism, nobly to stand forth and to wreak 
your vengeance upon an enemy the most 
barbarous and cruel, is the only alternative 
which now awaits you. They have already 
commenced the horrid war. Your houses are 
already devoted to the flames ; your wives have 
been driven with the flocks and herds to their 
ships. To the Hessian, and the still more 
barbarous Highlander, let them now offer up 
their prayers for mercy. But what mercy are 
they to hope from those whose avowed 
design is conquest, ruin, and misery! Indigna- 
tion usurps the place of reflection. Indigna- 
tion should hurry us to action, should fire our 
souls with the noble emulation, who first should 
have the immortal glory of plunging his dag- 
ger in the breast of such an enemy. 

Fortunately for us, we have men to com- 
mand, beloved, respected, and admired for 
their intrepidity, activity, and good conduct ; 
men who, if supported by their fellow citizens, 
will soon bafile the designs of our enemy ; will 
soon rescue this country from the disgrace of 
being plundered and ravaged by a merciless 



VIRGINIA. 



293 



banditti. Virginia stands foremost for public 
spirit. Her sons have now the most glorious 
opportunity of gaining immortal fame. They 
have a commander to lead them to the field, 
whose experience and bravery will ensure them 
victory. They may now have the satisfaction 
not only of saving their country but of revenge 
— of revenge for attempts, which, if carried 
into execution, will entail shame and ruin upon 
us to the latest ages. 

Activity, vigor, a determination to conquer 
or to die, will soon expel those invaders of our 
rights ; torpor and inactivity will confirm them 
in their conquest. Example will create heroes. 
The body of the people must be put in motion 
by the influence of those whom they respect 
and esteem. Follow then the conduct of our 
brave brethren to the north, remember what 
gave a favorable cast to the melancholy pros- 
pect they had before them. Men of fortune 
and distinction were the first to oppose the 
enemy. Success crowned their efforts, and 
patriotism received eternal honor. Similar 
example here will ensure similar success. The 
progress of the enemy in our country may 
carry along with it the most dangerous conse- 
quences. What accessions will they not gain 
from those among us who feel every day the 
yoke of slavery ! We shall supply them with 
the certain means of our own destruction, 
unless our activity and vigor arrest them in 
their progress. The possession of sufficient 
ground for their encampment is not only dis- 
graceful to us, but ruinous. It will be an asy- 
lum for our slaves ; they will flock to their 
standards, and form the flower of their army. 
They will rival the Hessian or Highlander, if 
possible, in cruelty and desolation. It is said 
that at present their army does not consist of 
more than two thousand. This circumstance, 
which may lull us into security, seems big with 
the most fatal consequences, unless we resolve 
to anticipate the evil. They doubtless expect 
reinforcements from our slaves ; not to mention 
from tories and the disaffected. 

In a word, the means of our salvation are 
difficult, but certain and glorious, if we will 
seize them in time. Delay and inactivity will 
bring along with them infamy, disgrace, and 
certain perdition. 



BATTLE OF YORKTOWN, VA. 

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis, 
Va., Oct. 19, 1781. 

FROM THE VILLAGE RECORD, NOVEMBER 7, 1821. 

This week the Journal of capt. Davis is 
brought to a close. The event to which it 



particularly relates is the most important in 
our military annals. It is not recollected that 
the general orders, issued during the invest- 
ment of Cornwallis, were ever before published. 

JOURNAL OF CAPT. DAVIS. 

Oct. 12. — A tremendous fire from both sides. 

Head-qitartcrs, Oct. 12, 1 78 1. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. M. La Fayette, 
B. G. Muhlenburgh. 
The Marquis' division will mount in the 
trenches to-morrow. The superintendent of 
the deposite of the trenches, is required to 
have the quality of saucisson, fascines and 
gabions brought to the deposite, accurately 
inspected ; to reject such as are not fit for use, 
and report the corps that offer them. 

17 — Two Hessian deserters came in; every 
thing favorable. 

Head-quarters, Oct. 13, 178 1. 
For to-morrow. 
B. G. Wayne and 
Gist's brigade. 
14. — This morning a deserter says the in- 
fanti-y refuse doingduty. That Cornwallis pro- 
mised them they would be relieved from New- 
York, and give each reg. a pipe of wine. 

The marquis, at dark, stormed their river 
battery, and baron viscount Viomnel stormed 
another on their extreme, to the left, with little 
loss. We run our second parallel complete. 

Head-quarters Oct 14, 1 78 1. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. Lincoln, 
B. G. Clmton. 
Maj. general Lincoln's division will mount 
the trenches to-morrow. 

The effects of the late col. Scammel will be 
disposed of at public sale, to-morrow at 3 
o'clock. P. M. at maj. Rice's tent, in gen. 
Hayne's Brigade. 

15. — This night the enemy made a sally and 
imposed themselves on the French for Ameri- 
cans ; forced their works and made themselves 
masters of an American battery which they 
spiked. Imposition being found out, they re- 
tired, with eight men killed on the spot. 

Head-quarters, Oct. 15, 1 78 1. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. M. La Fayette, 
B. G. Muhlenburg and 
Hayne's brigade. 
Maj. gen. La Fayette's division will mount 
the trenches to-morrow. 



294 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



The commander in chief congratulates the 
army on the success of the enterprise against the 
two important works on the left of the enemy's 
lines. He requests the baron Viomnel, who 
commanded the French grenadiers and chas- 
seurs, and marquis La Fayette, who com- 
manded the American light infantry, to accept 
his warmest acknowledgments for the excel- 
lency of their dispositions and their own gal- 
lant conduct on the occasion ; and he begs 
them to present his thanks to every individual 
officer, and to the men of their respective com- 
mands, for the spirit and rapidity with which 
they advanced to the attacks assigned them, 
and for the admirable firmness with which they 
supported them, under the fire of the enemy, 
without returning a shot. 

The general reflects with the highest degree 
of pleasure on the confidence which the troops 
of the two nations must hereafter have in each 
other. — Assured of mutual support, he is con- 
vinced there is no danger which they will not 
cheerfully encounter — no difficulty which they 
will not bravely overcome. 

The troops will be supplied with fresh beef to 
Thursday ne.\t, inclusive ; they will receive 3 
pints of salt to every 100 rations, for their 
allowance of Wednesday and Thursday. 

16. — Our batteries completing very fast. 

Head-qtiarters, Oct. 16, 1781. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. B. Steuben, 
B. G. Wayne and 
Gist's brigade. 

Maj. gen. baron Steuben's division will mount 
in the trenches to-morrow. 

The commander in chief having obstr\-ed 
that the trenches are constantly crowded with 
spectators, who, by passing and repassing pre- 
vent the men from working, and thereby 
greatly impede the operations of the siege. 
He therefore orders that no officer, who is not 
on duty, shall hereafter enter the trenches, 
except gen. officers and their aids, and that no 
inhabitant, or person not belonging to the army, 
be suffered to enter the trenches, at any time, 
without permission from the maj. general of 
the trenches. 

In future the relief for the trenches are not 
to beat their drums after they pass the mill 
dam ; they are from that place to march silently, 
with trailed arms and colors furled, until they 
arrive at their posts in the trenches. 

Lieut, col. Dehart being relieved from his 
arrest, the court martial, of which col. Cortland 
is president, will proceed to the trial of the 
prisoners confined in the provost. 

17.— At II o'clock, his lordship closes the 



scene by propositions for deputies from each 
army, to meet at Moore's house, to agree on 
terms for the surrender of York and Gloster. 
An answer was sent by 3 o'clock, when a ces- 
sation of arms took place. 

Head-quarters, Oct. 17, 1 78 1. 
For the trenches to-morrow. 
Maj. gen. Lincoln's Division. 
18. — Flags alternately passing this day. 

Head-quarters, Oct. 18, 1 78 1. 
For the trenches to-morrow. 
Maj. gen. marquis La Fayette's division. 
19. — At I o'clock this day, our troops marched 
in and took possession of their horn-works, 
and the British marched out. The American 
and French armies form a lane through which 
the British pass and ground their arms. 

Head-quarters, Oct. 19, 1781. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. Lincoln, 
Col. Butler, 
Maj. Woodson, 
B. M. Blake. 
Gen. Muhlenburg's brigade will hold itself in 
readiness for duty to-morrow. 

20. — Lay quiet this day cleaning our arms. 
Head-quarters, Oct. 20, 1781. 
For to-morrow. 
M. G. M. La Fayette, 
Col. Stewart, 
Maj. Bird, 
M. M. Co.'c. 
Brig, general Hayne's brigade for duty to- 
morrow, to parade at 10 o'clock on their own 
parade. 

The general congratulates the army upon 
\\\e. glorious event of yesterday : the generous 
proofs which his most Christian majesty has 
given of his attachment to the cause of Ameri- 
ca, must force conviction in the minds of the 
most deceived among the enemy, relative to 
the decisive good consequences of the alliance ; 
and inspire every citizen of these states with 
sentiments of the most unalterable gratitude. 
His fleet, the most numerous and powerful 
that ever appeared in those seas, commanded 
by an admiral whose fortune and talents insure 
success ; an army of the most admirable com- 
position, both in officers and men, are the 
pledges of his friendship to the United States, 
and their co-operation has secured us the pre- 
sent signal success. 

The general, upon this occasion, entreats his 
excellency count Rochambeau, to accept his 
most grateful acknowledgments for his counsel 
and assistance at all times. He presents his 
warmest thanks to the generals baron de Vi- 
omnel, chevalier Chastelleu.x, marquis de St. 



VIRGINIA. 



295 



Simon, count de Viomnel, and to brig, de 
Choisey (who had a separate command), for 
the ilkistrious manner in which they have 
advanced the interest of the common cause. 
He requests the count de Rochambeau will be 
pleased to communicate to the army under his 
immediate command, the high sense he enter- 
tains of the distinguished merits of the officers 
and soldiers of every corps, and that he will 
present, in his name, to the regiment of Arge- 
nois and Deaponts, the pieces of brass ord- 
nance captured by them, as a testimony of their 
gallantry in storming the enemy's redoubts, on 
the night of the 14th inst. when officers and 
men so universally vied with each other in the 
exercise of every soldierly virtue. 

The general's thanks to each individual of 
merit, would comprehend the whole army : but 
he thinks himself bound however by affection, 
duty and gratitude, to express his obligation to 
maj-gens. Lincoln, La Fayette and Steuben, 
for their dispositions in the trenches — to gen. 
Duportail and col. Carney for the vigor and 
knowledge which were conspicuous in their 
conduct of the attacks; and to gen. Knox and 
col. de Abberville for their great attention and 
fatigue in bringing forward the artillery and 
stores ; and for their judicious and spirited 
management of them in the parallels. He 
requests the gentlemen above mentioned, to 
communicate his thanks to the officers and 
soldiers of their commands. Ingratitude, 
which the general hopes never to be guilty of, 
would be conspicuous in him, was he to omit 
thanking in the warmest terms his excellency 
governor Nelson, for the aid he has derived 
from him, and from the militia under his com- 
mand : to whose activity, emulation and cour- 
age such applause is due ; the greatness of the 
acquisition would be ample compensation for 
the hardships and hazards which they en- 
countered with so much patriotism and firm- 
ness. 

In order to diffuse the general joy in every 
breast, the general orders those men belonging 
to the army, who may now be in confinement, 
shall be pardoned, and join their respective 
corps. 

21. — British marched out for their canton- 
ments under militia guards. 

22. — York affords very good Port-wine. 

23. — Orders for the troops to hold themselves 
in readiness to march at the shortest notice. 

24. — Marquis de St. Simon's troops embark 
their cannon. 

25. — Demolish our works by brigades. 

26. — Expectations of a supply of necessaries 
from the merchants of York and Gloster. 



27. — Report says sirH. Clinton has embarked 
from New-York for Virginia. 

28. — The American cannon put on board ves- 
sels for the head of Elk. 

29. — Nothing material. 

30. — I was on duty at Gloster. 

31. — Col. Tarlton dismounted from his horse 
by an inhabitant, who claimed him in the 
midst of the street. 

Nov. I. — A supply of clothing purchased by 
agents, appointed for that purpose. 

2. — Distribution of the supplies. 

3. — Orders for Pennsylvania and Maryland 
troops to march to-morrow for South Carolina. 

4. — General beat at 8 o'clock. Tents struck 
and loaded. Troops march at 9. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of the Surrender at Yorktown. 

As every incident connected with our revolu- 
tionary history is interesting to the great mass 
of the people, I shall solicit a niche in your 
paper to answer an inquiry in a late Compiler, 
concerning the surrender of the British army at 
Yorktown, Virginia ; and hope that your readers 
will experience the same pleasure in reading the 
account, that I enjoy in the narration : 

"At two o'clock in the evening Oct. 19th, 
1781, the British army, led by general O'Hara, 
marched out of its lines, with colors cased and 
drums beating a British march. 

" It will be seen in the sequel, that O'Hara, 
and not Cornwallis, surrendered the British 
army to the allied forces of France and America. 
In this affair, lord Cornwallis seemed to have 
lost all his former magnanimity and firmness 
of character, — he sunk beneath the pressure of 
his misfortunes, and for a moment gave his soul 
up to chagrin and sorrow. The road through 
which they marched was lined with spectators, 
French and American. On one side the com- 
mander in chief, surrounded by his suite and 
the American staffs, took his station ; on the 
other side opposite to him, was the count de 
Rochambeau, m like manner attended. The 
captive army approached, moving slowly in 
column, with grace and precision. 

" Universal silence was observed amidst 
the vast concourse, and the utmost decency 
prevailed, exhibiting in demeanor an awful 
sense of the vicissitudes of human life, mingled 
with commiseration for the unhappy. The 
head of the column approached the com- 
mander in chief — O'Hara, mistaking the circle, 



296 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



turned to that on his left for the purpose of 
paying his respects to the commander in chief, 
and requesting further orders ; when quickly 
discovering his error, with embarrassment in 
his countenance, he flew across the road, and 
advancing up to Washington, asked pardon for 
his mistake, apologized for the absence of lord 
Cornwallts, and begged to know his further 
pleasure. 

"The general feeling his embarrassment, 
relieved it by referring him, with much polite- 
ness, to general Lincoln for his government. 
Returning to the head of the column, it again 
moved, under the guidance of Lincoln, to the 
field selected for the conclusion of the ceremony. 

•' Every eye was turned, searching for the 
British commander in chief, anxious to look at 
that man heretofore so much their dread. All 
were disappointed. 

" Cornwallis held himself back from the 
humiliating scene ; obeying sensations which 
his great character ought to have stifled. He 
had been unfortunate, not from any false step 
or deficiency of exertion on his part, but from 
the infatuated policy of his superior, and the 
united power of his enemy brought to bear 
upon him alone. There was nothing with 
which he could reproach himself; there was 
nothing with which he could reproach his brave 
and faithful army ; why not then appear at its 
head in the day of misfortune, as he had always 
done in the day of triumph .-' 

" The British general in this instance deviated 
from his usual line of conduct, dimming the 
splendor of his long and brilliant career. 

"Thus ended the important co-operation of 
the allied forces. Great was the joy diffused 
throughout our infant empire." 

I cannot end this interesting detail as 
recorded by Henry Lee, without giving you his 
panegyric on the father of our country. 

" This wide acclaim of joy and confidence, as 
rare as sincere, sprung not only from the con- 
viction that our signal success would bring in 
its train the blessings of peace, so wanted by 
our wasted country. And from the splendor 
with which it encircled our national name, but 
from the endearing reflection that the mighty 
exploit had been achieved by our faithful, 
beloved Washington. We had seen him strug- 
gling throughout the war with inferior force 
against the best troops of England, assisted by 
her powerful navy ; surrounded by difficulties, 
oppressed by want ; never dismayed, never ap- 
palled, nroer despairing of the commonwealth. 

" We have seen him renouncing his fame as 
a soldier, his safety as a man ; in his unalloyed 
love of country, weakening his own immediate 



force to strengthen that of his lieutenants ; 
submitting with equanimity to his own conse- 
quent inability to act, and rejoicing in their 
triumphs, become best calculated to uphold the 
great cause entrusted to his care ; at length, by 
one great and final exploit, under the benign 
influence of Providence, lifted to the pinnacle 
of glory, the rewards of his toil, his sufferings, 
his patience, his heroism, and his virtue. 
Wonderful man ! rendering it difficult by his 
conduct throughout life to decide whether he 
most excelled in goodness or in greatness." 



ANECDOTE 



Connected with the surrender of 
yorktown. 

Baron Steuben commanded in the trenches 
at the moment Lord Cornwallis made his over- 
ture for capitulation. The proposals were im- 
mediately despatched to the commander-in- 
chief, and the negotiation, as we say, pro- 
gressed. — The marquis de la Fayette, whose 
tour it was next to mount guard in the tren- 
ches, marched to relieve the Baron, who, to 
his astonishment, refused to be relieved. He 
informed General de la Fayette, that the cus- 
tom of European war was in his favor, and 
that it was a point of honor which he could 
neither give up for himself, nor deprive his 
troops of— that the offer to capitulate had been 
made during his guard, and that in the tren- 
ches he would remain until the capitulation 
was signed or hostilities commenced. The 
marquis immediately galloped to head quar- 
ters : — general Washington decided in favor of 
the baron — to the joy of one, and to the morti- 
fication of the other of those brave and valua- 
ble men. The baron remained till the business 
was finished. I should not have sent you this 
recollection, had I not seen in your paper of 
this morning an extract from Lee's memoirs 
relative to the surrender. My anecdote may 
not be worth much now, but such as it is, it is 
at your service. 

One who was in the trenches. 



EFFECT 

Of the INTELLIGENCE OF THE SURRENDER 

OF Lord Cornw.^llis when received 
IN London, England. 

From sir N. IV. IVraxalFs inemoirs of his 
own time. 

November, 1781. — During the whole month 



VIRGINIA. 



297 



of November, the concurring accounts trans- 
mitted to government, enumerating lord Corn- 
wallis's embarrassments, and the positions 
taken by the enemy, augmented the anxiety of 
the cabinet. Lord George Germain, in partic- 
ular, conscious that on the prosperous or 
adverse termination of that expedition, must 
hinge the fate of the American contest, his 
own stay in office, as well as probably the 
duration of the ministry itself, felt, and even 
expressed to his friends, the strongest uneasi- 
ness on the subject. The meeting of parlia- 
ment meanwhile stood fixed for the 27th of 
November. On Sunday the 25th, about noon, 
official intelligence of the surrender of the 
British forces at Yorktovvn, arrived from Fal- 
mouth, at lord Germain's house in Pall-mall. 
Lord \Valsingham,.who, previous to his father 
sir William de Grey's elevation to the peerage, 
had been under secretary of state in that de- 
partment, and who was selected to second the 
address in the house of peers, on the subse- 
quent Tuesday, happened to be there when 
the messenger brought the news. Without 
communicating it to any other person, lord 
George, for the purpose of despatch, immedi- 
ately got with him into a hackney-coach and 
drove to lord Stormount's residence in Portland- 
place. Having imparted to him the disastrous 
information, and taken him into the carriage, 
they instantly proceeded to the Chancellor's 
house in Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, 
whom they found at home ; when, after a short 
consultation, they determined to lay it them- 
selves, in person before lord North. He had 
not received any intimation of the event when 
they arrived at his door, in Downing-street, 
between i and 2 o'clock. The first minister's 
firmness, and even his presence of mind gave 
way for a short time, under this awful disaster. 
I asked lord George afterwards, how he took 
the communication, when made to him .' " As 
he would have taken a ball in his breast," 
replied lord George. For he opened his arms, 
exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and down 
the apartment during a few minutes, " Oh 
God ! it is all over ! " Words which he 
repeated many times, under emotions of the 
deepest agitation and distress. 

When the first agitation of their minds had 
subsided, the four ministers discussed the 
question, whether or not it might be expedient 
to prorogue parliament for a few days ; but, as 
scarcely an interval of forty-eight hours re- 
mained before the appointed time of assemb- 
ling, and as many members of both houses were 
already either arrived in London, or on the road, 
that proposition was abandoned. It became, 



however, indispensable to alter, and almost 
model anew the king's speech, which had been 
already drawn up, and completely prepared for 
delivery from the throne. This alteration was 
therefore made without delay ; and at the same 
time, lord George Germain, as secretary for the 
American department, sent off a despatch to 
his majesty, who was then at Kew, acquainted 
him with the melancholy termination of lord 
Cornwallis's expedition. Some hours having 
elapsed, before these different, but necessary 
acts of business could take place, the ministers 
separated, and lord George Germain repaired 
to his office in Whitehall. There he found a 
confirmation of the intelligence, which arrived 
about two hours after the first communication ; 
having been transmitted from Dover, to which 
place it was forwarded from Calais with the 
French account of the same event. 

I dined on that day at lord George's ; and 
though the information, which had reached 
London in the course of the morning, from two 
different quarters, was of a nature not to admit 
of long concealment ; j'et it had not been com- 
municated either to me, or to any individual of 
the company, as it might naturally have been 
through the channel of common report, when 
I got to Pall-mall, between five and six o'clock. 
— Lord Walsingham, who likewise dined there, 
was the only person present, except lord 
George, who was acquainted with the fact. — 
The party, nine in number, sat down to table. 
I thought the master of the house appeared 
serious, though he manifested no discompos- 
ure. Before the dinner was finished, one of 
his servants delivered him a letter, brought 
back by the messenger who had been de- 
spatched to the king. Lord George opened 
and perused it : then looking at lord Walsing- 
ham, to whom he exclusively directed his 
observation, " The king writes " said he, "just 
as he always does, except that I observe he has 
omitted to mark the hour and the minute of 
his writing with his usual precision." This 
remark, though calculated to awaken some 
interest, excited no comment ; and while the 
ladies, lord George's three daughters, remained 
in the room, we repressed our curiosity. But 
they had no sooner withdrawn, than lord 
George having acquainted us, that from Paris 
information has just arrived of the old Count 
de Maurepas, first minister, lying at the point 
of death: "It would grieve me," said I, "to 
finish my career, however far advanced in 
years, were I first minister of France, before 
I had witnessed the termination of this great 
contest between England and America." " He 
has survived to see that event," replied lord 



298 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



George, with some agitation. Utterly unsus- 
picious of the fact which had happened beyond 
the Atlantic, I conceived him to allude to the 
indecisive naval action fought at the mouth of 
the Chesapeake, early in the preceding month 
of September, between admiral Graves and 
count de Grasse ; which, in its results, might 
prove most injurious to Lord Comwallis. 
Under this impression, "my meaning," said I, 
" is that if I were the Count de Maurepas, I 
should wish to live long enough, to behold the 
final issue of the war in Virginia." " He has 
survived to witness it completely," answered 
lord George. — " The army has surrendered, 
and you may peruse the particulars of the cap- 
itulation in that paper," taking at the same 
time one from his pocket, which he delivered 
into my hand, not without visible emotion. 
By his permission I read it aloud, while the 
company listened in profound silence. ' We 
then discussed its contents, as it affected the 
ministr)'. the country and the war. It must 
be confessed that they were calculated to 
diffuse a gloom over the most convivial society, 
and that they opened a wide field for political 
speculation. 

After perusing the account of lord Cornwal- 
lis's surrender at Yorktown, it was impossi- 
ble for all present not to feel a lively curiosity to 
know how the king had received the intelligence, 
as Veil as how he had expressed himself in his 
note to lord Germain, on the first communica- 
tion of so painful an event. He gratified our 
wish by reading it to us, observing at the same 
time, that it did the highest honor to his maj- 
esty's fortitude, firmness and consistency of 
character. The words made an impression on 
my memory which the lapse of more than 
thirty years has not erased ; and I shall here 
commemorate its tenor, as serving to show 
how that prince felt and wrote, under one of 
the most afflicting, as well as humiliating 
occurrences of his reign. The billet ran nearly 
to this effect : " I have received, with senti- 
ments of the deepest concern, the communica- 
tion which lord George Germain had made me, 
of the unfortunate result of the operations in 
Virginia. I particularly lament it, on account 
of the consequences connected with it, and the 
difficulties which it may produce in carrying on 
the public business, or in repairing such a mis- 
fortune, — But I trust that neither lord George 
Germain, nor any member of the cabinet, will 
suppose that it makes the smallest alteration 
in those principles of my conduct which have 
directed me in past times, and which will 
always continue to animate me under every 
event, in the prosecution of the present con- 



test." Not a sentiment of despondency or of 
despair was to be found in the letter ; the very 
hand-writing of which indicated composure of 
mind. — Whatever opinion we may entertain 
relative to the practicability of reducing Amer- 
ica to obedience by force of arms, at the end 
of 1781, we must admit that no sovereign could 
manifest more calmness, dignity or self-com- 
mand than George III: displayed in this reply. 
Severely as the general effect of the blow 
received in Virginia was felt throughout the 
nation, yet no immediate symptoms of minis- 
terial dissolution, or even of pariiamentary 
defection became visible in either house. All 
the animated invectives of Fo.\, aided by the 
contumelious irony of Burke, and sustained by 
dignified denunciations of Pitt, enlisted on the 
same side, made little apparent impression on 
their hearers, who seemed stupefied by the dis- 
astrous intelligence. Yet never probably, at 
any period of our history, was more indignant 
language used by the opposition, or sup- 
ported by administration. In the ardor of his 
feelings at the recent calamity beyond the 
Atlantic, Fo.x not only accused ministers of 
being virtually in the pay of France, but 
menaced them with the vengeance of an un- 
done people, who would speedily compel them 
to expiate their crimes on the public scaffold. 
Burke, with inconceivable warmth of color- 
ing, depicted the folly and impracticability of 
taxing America by force, or, as he describes it, 
'• shearing the wolf." The metaphor was 
wonderfully appropriate, and scarcely admitted 
of denial. Pitt leveled his observations princi- 
pally against the cabinet, whom he represented 
as destitute of principle, wisdom or union of 
design. All three were sustained, and I had 
almost said, outdone by Mr. Thomas Pitt, who, 
in terms of gloomy despondency, seemed to 
regard the situation of the country as scarcely 
admitting of a remedy, under such a parlia- 
ment, such ministers and such a sovereign. 
Lord North, in this moment of general depres- 
sion, found resources within himself. — He 
scornfully repelled the insinuations of Fox, as 
deserving only contempt, justified the principle 
of the war, which did not originate in a des- 
potic wish to tyrannize over America, but from 
the desire of maintaining the constitutional 
authority of parliament over the colonies ; 
deplored in common with the opposition, the 
misfortunes which had marked the progress 
of the contest ; defied the threat of punish- 
ment ; and finally adjured the house not to 
aggravate the present calamity by dejection or 
despair, but, by united exertions, to secure our 
national extrication. 



VIRGINIA. 



299 



GEN. WASHINGTON. 

Important Letter from him. 

It has been controverted whether the capture 
of gen. Cornwallis was the result of a plan 
preconcerted between gen. Washington and 
count de Grasse ; or rather whether the arrival 
of the count in the Chesapeake, was pre-de- 
termined and expected by gen. Washington, 
and consequently all the preparations to attack 
New York, a mere finesse to deceive the enemy, 
or whether the real intention was against New 
York, and the siege of Yorktown planned upon 
the unexpected arrival of the French fleet in 
the bay. The following letter will set the mat- 
ter in its true light. — Carey's Museum. 

Mount Vernon, July 13, 1788. 

Sir — I duly received your letter of the 14th 
inst. and can only answer you briefly and gen- 
erally from memory : that a combined operation 
of the land and naval forces of France in Amer- 
ica, for the year 1781, was preconcerted the 
year before ; that the point of attack was not 
absolutely agreed upon,* because it could not 
be foreknown where the enemy would be most 
susceptible of impression ; and because we 
(having the command of the water with suffi- 
cient means of conveyance) could transport 
ourselves to any spot with the greatest celerity ; 
that it was determined by me, nearly twelve 
months before hand, at all hazards, to give out, 
and cause it to be believed by the highest mili- 
tary as well as civil officers, that New- York 
was the destined place of attack, for the impor- 
tant purpose of inducing the eastern and middle 
states to make greater exertions in furnishing 
specific supplies, than they otherwise would 
have done, as well as for the interesting pur- 
pose of rendering the enemy less prepared 
elsewhere ; that, by these means, and these 
alone, artillery, boats, stores, and provisions, 
were in seasonable preparation to move with 
the utmost rapidity to any part of the continent ; 
for the difficulty consisted more in providing, 
than knowing how to apply the military appa- 
ratus ; that, before the arrival of the count de 
Grasse, it was the fixed determination to strike 
the enemy in the most vulnerable quarter, so as 
to insure success with moral certainty, as our 
affairs were then in the most ruinous train 
imaginable ; that New-York was thought to be 
beyond our effort, and consequently, that the 
only hesitation that remained, was between an 
attack upon the British army in Virginia, and 

* Because it would be easy for count de Grasse, in 
good time before his departure from the West Indies, to 
give notice, by express, at what place he could most con- 
veniently first touch to receive advice. 



that in Charleston : and finally, that, by the 
intervention of several communications, and 
some incidents which cannot be detailed in a 
letter, the hostile post in Virginia, from being a 
prffinsional atid strongly expected, became 
the definitive and certain, object of the cam- 
paign. 

I only add, that it never was in contempla- 
tion to attack New- York, unless the garrison 
should first have been so far degarnished, to 
carry on the southern operations, as to render 
our success in the siege of that place, as infalli- 
ble as any future military event can ever be 
made. For I repeat it, and dwell upon it again, 
some splendid advantage (whether upon a 
larger or smaller scale was almost immaterial) 
was so essentially necessary, to revive the ex- 
piring hopes and languid exertions of the 
country, at the crisis in question, that I never 
would have consented to embark in any enter- 
prise wherein, from the most rational plan and 
accurate calculations, the favorable issue 
should not have appeared to my view as a ray 
of light. The failure of an attempt against the 
posts of the enemy, could, in no other possible 
situation during the war, have been so fatal to 
our cause. 

That much trouble was taken, and finesse 
used, to misguide and bewilder sir Henry Clin- 
ton, in regard to the real object, by fictiti^ous 
communications, as well as by making a decep- 
tive provision of ovens, forage, and boats in 
his neighborhood, is certain ; nor were less 
pains taken to deceive our own army ; for I 
had always conceived, where the imposition 
does not completely take place at home, it 
would never sufficiently succeed abroad. 

Your desire of obtaining truth, is very lauda- 
ble ; I wish I had more leisure to gratify it, as 
I am equally solicitous the undisguised verity 
should be known. Many circumstancesL^Will 
unavoidably be misconceived, and misrepre- 
sented. Notwithstanding most of the papers, 
which may properly be deemed official, are 
preserved ; yet the knowledge of innumerable 
things of a more delicate and secret nature, is 
confined to the perishable remembrance of 
some few of the present generation. 

With esteem, I am, sir, your most obedient 
humble servant, 

George Washington. 



300 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



GEORGE MASON, OF VIRGINIA, 

Author of the celebrated bill of 
rights the first adopted in america, 
and one of the most distinguished 
patriots in the colonies. 

Mr. Niles, 

5z>: The emancipation of the states of North 
America must ever be regarded as one of the 
most memorable events recorded in the annals of 
the human race. The revolutions, which have 
embroiled and desolated the great nations from 
which they sprang, are acknowledged to have 
received their first impulse from the principles 
and events of the American struggle. The 
grave has closed upon a great majority of the 
leaders in the American revolution ; and the 
characters of the founders of our independence 
and freedom are beginning to be contemplated 
with the severe impartiality of a distant pos- 
terity. The passions which buoyed, annoyed, 
or infested their individual fame have subsided. 
Each is receiving a settled and mellow lustre ; 
and a just judgment is already busily engaged 
in assigning the decree of estimation and re- 
spect which a grateful posterity should continue 
to render to the memory of each of those whose 
efforts have obtained so many blessings and 
such everlasting glory for this nation. 

Among the conductors of those important 
events, the name of George Mason, must always 
hold a distinguished place. An exhibition of 
character, in a public station, may be calcula- 
ted to give an impression of the profoundest 
respect ; but, the sincerest, and best affections 
of the heart can only be won by those traits, 
which are developed when the individual has 
been divested of the imposing forms and cir- 
cumstances of place and office. It is for these 
reasons, as well as for the rays of light which 
they shed upon the most interesting portion of 
the history of our country, that I send you the 
following papers. 

George Mason, their author, was an inde- 
pendent planter, resident in Fairfax county, 
Virginia, his native state, when the revolution 
commenced. He was a man endowed by na- 
ture with a vigorous understanding, which had 
been well cultivated by a liberal education. He 
was a sound constitutional lawyer, although he 
had not practiced or been bred to the profes- 
sion. His mind had, evidently, been well stored 
from the best political writers of his time. In 
temperance he was, like the younger Cato, 
constitutionally stern, firm, and honest ; and in 
all the affairs of life, in which he was engaged, 
as well private as public, he was habitually, 



minutely, and critically clear, punctual, exact, 
and particular. He was a member of the first 
conventions and assemblies elected by the peo- 
ple independently of the colonial authorities. 
He chose and valued most, the station of a 
representative of the people ; because he thought 
it most honorable, and one where he could be 
most useful ; nor did he ever consent to accept 
of any other, but once, when he acted as a 
commissioner to adjust the navigation and 
boundary, between Maryland and Virginia. He 
was a man of the people in spirit and in truth ; 
and every act of his life incontestibly evinces, 
that in their cause he never once, or for a sin- 
gle moment, trembled, hesitated, or wavered. 

Many intelligent foreigners, and some of our 
own countrymen, whose judgments have been 
confused or ■ per\'erted by aristocratic princi- 
ples, entertain a belief, and propagate the 
opinion, that our liberties were principally es- 
tablished by the integrity, wisdom, and for- 
bearance of our military leaders. To such it 
will be particularly instructive to attend to the 
first of the following letters from this venerable 
patriot ; written at a time, and under circum- 
stances singularly impressive and affecting. In 
a ripe old age, chastened by experience, when 
the hand of Providence had visited his house- 
hold with such an affliction as to induce him 
to desire no more the return of hilarity to his 
heart, he seats himself in his closet to unbosom 
himself to his friend ; to tell him of his political 
op'.nions and principles and to speak of the sen- 
timents, feelings, and probable fortunes of his 
country. This letter, which is so highly honor- 
able to its author, furnishes conclusive proof, 
that all the chiefs, as well military as civil, 
were guided and controlcd by the people, and 
bears ample testimony to their virtue and their 
glory. 

He was a member of the convention which 
formed the present constitution of the United 
States, and appears to have been deeply, and 
sincerely impressed with the magnitude of the 
undertaking. He was afterwards a member of 
the convention of Virginia by which it was 
ratified, which he actively and firmly opposed, 
without previous amendments. He was a 
most decided enemy to all constructive and 
implied powers. And it is remarkable, that he 
was the author of some, and the warm advocate 
of every amendment since made to it. His 
friend and coadjutor, the illustrious Henry, 
poured forth the boundless wealth of his im- 
passioned eloquence in opposition ; he charmed, 
enchanted, or won over many of his auditors to 
withhold their assent from the proposed plan 
of government. But, when Mason spoke, he 



VIRGINIA. 



301 



seemed to cite his hearers severally to the bar 
of reason and truth, and imperatively to demand 
of them to produce the reason and grounds 
upon which they proposed to tolerate the per- 
nicious principles he denounced. Henry de- 
lighted, astonished, and captivated. Mason 
stirred the house, and challenged every friend 
of the new constitution to stand forth ; at the 
same time, that he made them feel, they would 
have to meet an antagonist whom it was diffi- 
cult to vanquish, and impossible to put to 
flight ; such was the clear, condensed, and 
dauntless vigor he displayed. 

George Mason was a member of that conven- 
tion of Virginia, which, on the fifteenth day of 
May, 1776, declared that state independent and 
formed the constitution by which it is still gov- 
erned. And to him belongs the honor of having 
draughted the first declaration of rights ever 
adopted in America, of which the following is 
a copy. The few alterations made by the con- 
vention, which adopted it unanimously on the 
twelfth day of June, 1776, and made it a part 
of the constitution of Virginia, where it yet re- 
mains, are noted. This declaration contains 
principles more extensive, and much more 
perspicuously expressed than any then to be 
found in the supposed analogous instruments 
of any other age or country. 

The English magna charta was, strictly 
speaking, a contract between an assemblage of 
feudal lords and a king, not a declaration of 
the rights of man, and the fundamental princi- 
ples on which all government should rest. " It 
was not so much their intention to secure the 
liberties of the people at large, as to establish 
the privileges of a few individuals. A great 
tyrant on the one side, and a set of petty 
tyrants on the other, seem to have divided the 
kingdom ; and the great body of the people, 
disregarded and oppressed on all hands, were 
beholden for any privileges bestowed upon 
them, to the jealousy of their masters ; who, by 
limiting the authority of each other over their 
dependents, produced a reciprocal diminution 
of their power." 

The articles drawn up by the Spanish junta, 
in the year 1522, under the guidance of the 
celebrated Padilly, are much more distinct and 
popular in their provisions than those of the 
English magna charta. But, although it is 
admitted, that the principles of liberty were ably 
defended, and better understood, at that time 
in Spain, than they were for more than a cen- 
tury after, in England, the power of Charies 5th 
proved to be irresistible, the people failed in 
their attempt to bridle his prerogative, and their 
liberties were finally crushed. 



The famous English bill of rights sanctioned 
by William and Mary on their ascending the 
throne, and which, under the name of the peti- 
tion of rights, appears to have been projected 
many years before by that profound lawyer, sir 
Edward Coke, like magna charta, and the 
articles of the Spanish junta, is a contract with 
nobility and royalty, a compromise with despot- 
ism, in which the voice of the people is heard 
in a tone of disturbed supplication and prayer. 
But in this declaration of Mason's, man seems 
to stand erect in all the majesty of his nature 
— to assert the inalienable rights and equality 
with which he has been endowed by his Creator, 
and to declare the fundamental principles by 
which all rulers should be controled, and on 
which all governments should rest. The con- 
trast is striking, the difference prodigious. 
And when I read, at the foot of this curious 
original, the assertion of its author, that " This 
Declaration of Rights was the first in Amer- 
ica ; " I see a manly mind indulging its feelings 
under a consciousness of having done an act so 
permanently and extensively useful. And what 
feeling can be so exquisitely delightful ? what 
pride more truly virtuous and noble .' 

The principles of hberty filled and warmed 
the bosom of this venerable patriot in that last 
hour, which is an awful, and an honest one to 
us all ; in his last will, he speaks in his dying 
hour, and charges his sons, on a father's bless- 
ing, to be true to freedom and their country. 
He was indeed and in truth one of the fathers 
of this nation. Therefore, let every son of free 
America, as he enters upon the busy scenes of 
life, hear and solemnly beseech Heaven to 
fortify him in the faithful observance of this 
sacred charge of one of the most worthy fathers 
of this country. 



DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 

(Co/ry of the first draught by George Mason.) 

A declaration of rights made by the representa- 
tives of the good people of Virginia, assem- 
bled in full and free convention ; which rights 
do pertain to them and their posterity, as 
the basis and foundation of government, 
unanimously adopted by the convention of 
Virginia, June 12th, 1776. 

I. That all men are created tquaWy free and 
independent, and have certain inherent natural 
rights of which, they cannot, by any compact, 
deprive, or divest their posterity ; (a) among 
■which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, 
with the means of acquiring and possessing 



302 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



property, and pursuing and obtaining happi- 
ness and safety. 

2. That all power is 6y God and nature vesitA 
in and consequently derived from the people ; 
that magistrates are their trustees and servants, 
and at all times amenable to them. 

3. That government is, or ought to be, in- 
stituted for the common benefit, protection and 
security of the people, nation or community. 
Of all the various modes and forms of govern- 
ment, that is best, which is capable of produc- 
ing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, 
and is most effectually secured against the 
danger of administration ; and that whenever 
any government shall be found inadequate or 
contrary to these purposes, a majority of the 
community hath an indubitable, unalienable 
indefeasible right, to reform, alter, or abolish it, 
in such manner as shall be judged most condu- 
cive to the public weal. 

4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled 
to exclusive or separate emoluments or priv- 
ileges from the community, but in considera- 
tion of public ser\'ices ; which not being de- 
scendible, neither ought the offices of magis- 
trate, legislator, or judge, to be hereditary. 

5. That the legislative and executive powers 
of the state should be separate and distinct 
from \.\ie.jtiduial\ and that the members of the 
two first may be restrained from oppression, 
by feeling and participating the burthens of the 
people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced 
to a private station, and return unto that body 
from which they were originally taken, and 
vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain and 
regular election, (a) — 

6. That elections of members, to serve as 
representatives of the people in /he legislaticre, 
ought to be free, and that all men having suffi- 
cient evidence of permanent common interest 
with, and attachment to the community, have 
the right of suffrage ; and cannot be taxed, or 
deprived of their property for public uses 
without their own consent, or that of their re- 
presentatives so elected, nor bound by any law 
to which they have not, in like manner, as- 
sented for the common good. 

7. That all power of suspending laws, or the 
execution of laws, by any authority, without 
consent of the representatives of the people, is 
injurious to their rights, and ought not to be 
exercised. 

8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions, 
a man hath a right to demand the cause and 
nature of his accusation, to be confronted with 
the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence 
in his favor, and to a speedy trial by an 
impartial jury of his vicinage, without unani- 



mous consent he cannot be found guilty, nor 
can he be compelled to give evidence against 
himself ; and that no man be deprived of his 
liberty, except by the law of the land, or the 
judgment of his peers. 

9. That excessive bail ought not to be re- 
quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel 
and unusual punishments inflicted. 

10. (This article was inserted by the con- 
vention.) 

11. That in controversies respecting prop- 
erty, and in suits between man and man, the 
ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, 
and ought to be held sacred. 

12. That the freedom of the press is one of 
the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be 
restrained but by despotic governments. 

13. That a well regelated militia, composed 
of the body of the people trained to arms, is the 
proper, natural, and safe defence of a free 
state ; that standing armies in time of peace, 
should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty ; 
and that, in all cases, the military should be 
under strict subordination to, and governed by 
the civil power. 

14. (This article also was inserted by the 
convention.) 

15. That no free government, or the bless- 
ing of liberty, can be preserved to any people, 
but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, 
temperance, frugality and virtue, and by fre- 
quent recurrence to fundamental principles. 

16. That religion, or the duty which we owe 
to our Creator, and the manner of discharging 
it, can be directed only by reason and convic- 
tion, not by force or violence, and, therefore 
that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration 
in the exercise of religion, according to the 
dictates of conscience, unpunished and unre- 
strained by the magistrate ; tmless under 
color of religion, any man disturb the peace, 
the happiness, or the safety of society. And 
that it is the mutual duty of all to practise 
Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward 
each other. 



" This declaration of rights was the first in 
America ; it received few alterations or addi- 
tions in the Virginia convention, (some of them 
not for the better,) and was afterwards closely 
imitated by the other United States." 



The foregoing was copied verbatim from the 
original, the hand-writing of the author, col. 
George Mason, of Virginia, left in the posses- 
sion of his son, gen. John Mason of Georgetown. 
In order to facilitate the comparison of it with 



VIRGINIA. 



303 



that which was adopted by the convention, and is 
still in force, it has been thought proper to num- 
ber the articles as in the adopted declaration, 
omitting the tenth and fourteenth which were 
inserted entire by the convention ; and to place 
those words in italics, which were either ex- 
punged or altered, and to put a caret where 
others were added. 



Letter from George Mason. 

*' Virginia, Gunston-Hall, Oct. 2. 1778. 

" My dear sir. — It gave me great pleasure, 
upon receipt of your favor of the 23d of April, 
(by Mr. Digges) to hear that you are alive and 
well, in a country, where you can spend your 
time agreeably ; not having heard a word from 
you, or of you, for two years before. I am 
much obliged, by the friendly concern you take 
in my domestic affairs, and your kind enquir)' 
after my family ; great alterations have hap- 
pened in it. About four years ago I had the 
misfortune to lose my wife : to you, who knew 
her, and the happy manner in which we lived, 
I will not attempt to describe my feelings : I 
was scarce able to bear the first shock, a de- 
pression of spirits, a settled melancholy fol- 
lowed, from which I never e.xpect, or desire to 
recover. I determined to spend the remain- 
der of my days in privacy and retirement with 
my children, from whose society alone, I could 
expect comfort. Some of them are now grown 
up to men and women ; and I have the satis- 
faction to see them free from vices, good-na- 
tured, obliging and dutiful : they all still live 
with me, and remain single, except my second 
daughter, who is lately married to my neigh- 
bor son. My eldest daughter (who is 

blessed with her mother's amiable disposition) 
is mistress of my family, and manages my lit- 
tle domestic matters, with a degree of prudence 
far above her years. My eldest son engaged 
early in the American cause, and was chosen 
ensign of the first independent company formed 
in Virginia, or indeed on the continent ; it was 
commanded by the present general Washing- 
ton as captain, and consisted entirely of gen- 
tlemen. In the year 1775, he was appointed a 
captain of foot, in one of the first minute-regi- 
raents raised here ; but was soon obliged to 
quit the service, by a violent rheumatic dis- 
order ; which has followed him ever since, and, 
I believe will force him to tr)' the climate of 
France or Italy. My other sons have not yet 
finished their education : as soon as they do, 
if the war continues, they seem strongly in- 
clined to take an active part. 



In the summer of '75, I was, much against 
my inclination, drag'd out of my retirement, by 
the people of my county and sent a delegate to 
the general convention at Richmond ; where I 
was appointed a member of the first committee 
of safety ; and have since, at different times, 
been chosen a member of the privy-council, 
and of the American congress ; but have con- 
stantly declined acting in any other public 
character than that of an independent repre- 
sentative of the people, in the house of dele- 
gates ; where I still remain, from a conscious- 
ness of being able to do my country more ser- 
vice there, than in any other department, and 
have ever since devoted most of my time to 
public business ; to the no small neglect and 
injury of my private fortune ; but if I can only 
live to see the American union firmly fixed, 
and free governments well established in our 
western world, and can leave to my children 
but a crust of bread and liberty, I shall die 
satisfied ; and say, with the psalmist, " Lord 
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." 
— To show you that I have not been an idle 
spectator of this great contest, and to amuse 
you with the sentiments of an old friend upon 
an important subject, I enclose you a copy of 
the first draught of the declaration of rights, 
just as it was drawn and presented by me, to 
the Virginia convention, where it received few 
alterations ; some of them I think not for the 
better ; this was the first thing of the kind 
upon the continent, and has been closely imi- 
tated by all the states. There is a remarkable 
sameness in all the forms of government 
throughout the American union, except in the 
states of South Carolina and Pennsylvania ; 
the first having three branches of legislature, 
and the last only one ; all the other states 
have two : this difference has given general 
disgust, and it is probable an alteration will 
take place, to assimilate these to the constitu- 
tions of the other states. We have laid our 
new government upon a broad foundation, and 
have endeavored to provide the most effectual 
securities for the essential rights of human 
nature, both in civil and religious liberty; the 
people become every day more and more at- 
tached to it ; and I trust that neither the pow- 
er of Great Britain, nor the power of hell will 
be able to prevail against it. 

There never was an idler or a falser notion, 
than that which the British ministry have 
imposed upon the nation, that this great revo- 
lution has been the work of a faction, of a jun- 
to of ambitious men against the sense of the 
people of America. On the contrary, nothing 
has been done without the approbation of the 



304 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



people, who have indeed outrun their leaders : 
so that no capital measure hath been adopted 
until they called loudly for it : to any one who 
knows mankind, there needs no greater proof 
than the cordial manner in which they have co- 
operated, and the patience and perseverance 
with which they have struggled under their 
sufferings ; which have been greater than you, 
at a distance can conceive, or I describe. 
Equally false is the assertion that independ- 
ence was originally designed here : things have 
gone such lengths, that it is a matter of moon- 
shine to us, whether independence was at first 
intended, or not, and therefore we may now be 
believed. The truth is, we have been forced 
into it, as the only means of self-preservation, 
to guard our country and posterity from the 
greatest of all evils, such another infernal gov- 
ernment (if it deserves the name of govern- 
ment) as the provinces groaned under, in the 
latter ages of the Roman commonwealth. To 
talk of replacing us in the situation of 1763. 
as we first asked, is to the last degree absurd, 
and impossible : they obstinately refused it, 
while it was in their power, and now, that it is 
out of their power, they offer it. Can they 
raise our cities out of their ashes .' Can they 
replace, in ease and affluence ; the thousands 
of families whom they have ruined .' Can they 
restore the husband to the widow, the child to 
the parent, or the father to the orphan ? In a 
word, can they reanimate the dead ? — Our 
country has been made a scene of desolation 
and blood — enormities and cruelties have been 
committed here, which not only disgrace the 
British name, but dishonor the human kind, we 
can never again trust a people who have thus 
used us ; human nature revolts at the idea ! — 
The die is cast — the Rubicon is passed — and a 
reconciliation with Great Britain, upon the 
terms of returning to her government is im- 
possible. 

No man was more warmly attached to the 
Hanover family and the whig interest of 
England, than I was, and few men had 
stronger prejudices in favor of that form of 
government under which I was born and bred, 
or a greater aversion to changing it ; it was 
ever my opinion that no good man would wish 
to try so dangerous an experiment upon any 
speculative notions whatsoever, without an 
absolute necessity. 

The ancient poets, in their elegant manner 
of expression, have made a kind of being of 
necessity, and tell us that the Gods themselves 
are obliged to yield to her. 

When I was first a member of the convention, 
I exerted myself to prevent a confiscation of 



the and although I was for putting the 

country immediately into a state of defence, 
and preparing for the worst ; yet as long as we 
had any well founded hopes of reconciliation, I 
opposed to the utmost of my power, all violent 
measures, and such as might shut the door to 
it ; but when reconciliation became a lost hope, 
when unconditional submission, or effectual 
resistance were the only alternatives left us, 
when the last dutiful and humble petition from 
congress received no other answer than declar- 
ing us rebels, and out of the king's protection, 
I, trom that moment, looked forward to a revo- 
lution and independence, as the only means of 
salvation ; and will risk the last penny of my 
fortune, and the last drop of my blood upon 
the issue : for to imagine that we could resist 
the efforts of Great Britain, still professing our- 
selves her subjects, or support a defensive war 
against a powerful nation, without the reins of 
government in the hands of America (whatever 
our pretended friends in Great Britain may say 
of it) is too childish and futile an idea to enter 
into the head of any man of sense. I am not 
singular in my opinions ; these arc the senti- 
ments of more than nine tenths of the best men 
in America. 

God has been pleased to bless our endeavors, 
in a just cause, with remarkable success. To 
us upon the spot, who have seen step by step 
the progress of this great contest, who know 
the defenceless state of America in the begin- 
ning, and the numberless difficulties we have 
had to struggle with, taking a retrospective 
view of what is passed, we seem to have been 
treading upon enchanted ground. The case is 
now altered. American prospects brighten, 
and appearances are strongly in our favor. 
The British ministry must and will acknowledge 
us independent states." 



George Mason to his Son. 

An extract from the copy of a letter from col. 
George Mason to his son, Mr. George Mason, 
then in France, dated 1 78 1, the original of 
which was put into the hands of the Count de 
Vergennes by Dr. Franklin. 

" Our affairs have been, for some time, grow- 
ing from bad to worse. The enemy's fleet 
commands our rivers, and puts it in their 
power to remove their troops, from place to 
place, when and where they please without 
opposition ; so that we no sooner collect a force 
sufficient to counteract them in one part of the 
country, but they shift to another, ravaging, 
plundering, and destroying every thing before 



vIRGI^aA. 



305 



them. Our militia turn out with great spirit, 
and have, in several late actions, behaved 
bravely; but they are badly armed and ap- 
pointed. General Greene with about 1200 
regular troops and some militia, is in South 
Carolina : where he has taken all the enemy's 
posts, except Charleston. The enemy's capital 
object, at this time, seems to be Virginia. Gen- 
eral Phillips died lately in Petersburg ; upon 
wHich the command of the British troops then 
devolved upon Arnold. But lord Cornwallis, 
quitting North Carolina, has since joined 
Arnold, with about 1200 infantry and 300 
cavalry, and taken the chief command of their 
army in Virginia, now consisting of about 
5000 men. They have crossed James river, 
and by the latest accounts were at Westover ; 
their light horse having advanced as far as 
Hanover court house. They have burnt Page's 
warehouses, where the greatest part of the 
York River tobacco was collected ; they had 
before burned most of the tobacco upon James 
river, and have plundered great part of the 
adjacent country. The Marquis de la Fayette 
is about twenty miles below Fredericksburg 
with about 1 200 regulars and 3000 militia, wait- 
ing the arrival of general Wayne, with about 
1500 regular troops of the Pennsylvania line. 

" We have had various accounts of the sail- 
ing of a French fleet, with a body of land forces, 
for America ; should they really arrive it would 
quickly change the face of our affairs, and infuse 
fresh spirits and confidence ; but it has been so 
long expected in vain, that little credit is now 
given to reports concerning it. 

" You know, from your own acquaintance in 
this part of Virginia, that the bulk of the people 
here are staunch whigs ; strongly attached to 
the American cause, and well affected to the 
French alliance ; yet they grow uneasy and 
restless, and begin to think that our allies are 
spinning out the war, in order to weaken 
America, as well as Great Britain, and thereby 
leave us at the end of it, as dependent as possi- 
ble upon themselves. 

" However unjust this opinion may be, it is 
natural enough for planters and farmers, bur- 
thened with heavy taxes, and frequently drag- 
ged from their families upon military duty on 
the continual alarms occasioned by the supe- 
riority of the British fleet. They see their 
property daily exposed to destruction, they see 
with what facility the British troops are re- 
moved from one part of the continent to 
another, and with what infinite charge and 
fatigue ours are, too late, obliged to follow ; 
and they see too, very plainly, that a strong 
French fleet would have prevented all this. 
ao 



" If our allies had a superior fleet here, I 
should have no doubt of a favorable issue to the 
war: but, without it, I fear we are deceiving 
both them and ourselves, in expecting we shall 
be able to keep our people much longer firm, 
in so unequal an opposition to Great Britain. 

" France surely intends the separation of 
these states, forever, from Great Britain. It is 
highly her interest to accomplish this ; but by 
drawing out the thread too fine and long, it 
may unexpectedly break in her hands. 

" God bless you, my dear child ; and grant 
that we may again meet, in your native coun- 
try, as freemen, — otherwise that we may never 
see each other more, is the prayer of 
Your affectionate father, 

G. Mason." 



George Mason to his son then in France, 
DATED Jan. 8, 1783. 

" As to the money you have spent in Europe, 
provided you can satisfy me that it has not 
been spent in extravagance, dissipation or idle 
parade, I don't regard it. It is true, I have a 
large family to provide for ; and that I am 
determined from motives of morality and duty 
to do justice to them all ; it is certain also that 
I have not lost less than ;^io,ooo sterling by 
the war, in the depreciation of paper money 
and the loss of the profits of my estate ; but 
think this a cheap purchase of liberty and 
independence. I thank God, I have been able, 
by adopting principles of strict economy and 
frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my 
country estate, unimpaired, and I have suffered 
little by the depredations of the enemy. I have 
at this time, two years' rents (you know mine 
are all tobacco rents) in arrear and two crops 
uninspected ; so that if a peace happens, it will 
find me plentiful handed in the article of to- 
bacco, which will then be very valuable. The 
money it has cost you to relieve the distresses 
of your unfortunate countrymen was worthily 
expended, and you will receive retribution, with 
large interest, in heaven — but in order to 
shorten the time of credit and also to entitle 
myself to some proportion of the merit, I shall 
insist upon replacing to you every shilling of it 
here. I hope you will therefore keep an exact 
account of it. 

" I beg you will freely communicate to me 
the situation of your affairs ; and if there 
should be a necessity of making you remit- 
tances, I will endeavor to do it at all events, 
though it must be by selling some of the 
produce of my estate at an undervalue. I am 



3o6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



now pretty far advanced in life, and all my 
views are centred in the happiness and welfare 
of my children — you will therefore find from 
me every indulgence which you have a right to 
expect from an affectionate parent. 

I have been for some time in retirement and 
shall not probably return again to public life ; 
my anxiety for my country, in these times of 
danger, makes me sometimes dabble a little in 
politics, and keep up a correspondence with 
some men upon the public stage. You know 
I am not apt to form opinions lightly and with- 
out due examination. And I can venture to 
say that the French court and nation, may 
confide in the honor and good faith of America. 
We reflect with gratitude on the important aids 
France has given us ; but she must not, and I 
hope will not attempt to lead us into a war of 
ambition or conquest, or trail us around the 
mysterious circle of European politics. We 
have little news worth communicating — nothing 
of consequence has happened here this cam- 
paign ; the enemy having generally kept close 
within their lines, and the American army not 
strong enough to force them. We have a long 
time expected the evacuation of Charlestown ; 
the enemy have dismantled their out works and 
embarked their heavy artillery and some of 
their troops. — However, by the last accounts 
(in December) they had still a garrison there. 
By late accounts from Kentucky, we are 
informed that general Clarke with 1200 volun- 
teers had crossed the Ohio river and destroyed 
six of the Shawnese towns, destroying also about 
2,000 barrels of their corn and bringing off furs 
and other plunder to the value of £3,000, which 
was sold and the money divided among his 
men ; this will probably drive these savages 
near the Lakes or the Mississippi. Upon 
Clarke's return the Chickasaws sent deputies 
to him to treat for peace. Every thing was 
quiet in the new settlements, and upwards of 
5,000 souls have been added to them since last 
September. The people there are extremely 
uneasy lest the free navigation of the river Mis- 
sissippi to the sea should not be secured to them 
upon a treaty of peace ; if it is not, it will occa- 
sion another war in less than seven years : the 
inhabitants think they have a natural right to 
the free, though not the exclusive navigation 
of that river ; and in a few years they will be 
Strong enough to enforce that right." 



George Mason to a Friend. 

Extract of a letter from colonel George Mason, 
of Virginia (while serving in the general 
convention), to a friend in that state. 

Philadelphia, yune 1st, 1787. 

" The idea I formerly mentioned to you, be- 
fore the convention met, of a great national 
council, consisting of two branches of the 
legislature, a judiciary and an executive, upon 
the principle of fair representation in the legis- 
lature, with powers adapted to the great objects 
of the union, and consequently a control in 
these instances, on the state legislatures, is 
still the prevalent one. Virginia has had the 
honor of presenting the outlines of the plan, 
upon which the convention is proceeding ; but 
so slowly, that it is impossible to judge when 
the business will be finished ; most probably 
not before Ang}is\.—festina lente may very well 
be called our motto. When I first came here, 
judging from casual conversations with gentle- 
men from the different states, I was very ap- 
prehensive that, soured and disgusted with the 
unexpected evils we had experienced from the 
democratic principles of our governments, we 
should be apt to run into the opposite extreme, 
and in endeavoring to steer too far from Scylla, 
we might be drawn into the vortex of Charyb- 
dis, of which I still think, there is some 
danger ; though I have the pleasure to find in 
the convention, many men of fine republican 
principles. America has certainly, upon this 
occasion, drawn forth her first characters ; 
there are upon this convention many gentle- 
men of the most respectable abilities ; and, so 
far as I can yet discover, of the purest inten- 
tions ; the eyes of the United States are turned 
upon this assembly, and their expectations 
raised to a very anxious degree. 

" May God grant, we may be able to gratify 
them by establishing a wise and just govern- 
ment. For my own part, I never before felt 
myself in such a situation ; and declare, I 
would not, upon pecuniary motives, serve in 
this convention for a thousand pounds per day. 
The revolt from Great Britain, and the forma- 
tions of our new governments at that time, 
were nothing compared with the great business 
now before us ; there was then a certain 
degree of enthusiasm, which inspired and sup- 
ported the mind ; but to view, through the 
calm sedate medium of reason, the influence 
which the establishments now proposed may 
have upon the happiness or misery of millions 
yet unborn, is an object of such magnitude, as 
absorbs, and in a manner suspends the opera- 
tions of the human understanding." 



VIRGINIA. 



307 



" P. S. All communications of the proceed- 
ings are forbidden during the sitting of the 
convention ; this I think was a necessary pre- 
caution to prevent misrepresentations or mis- 
takes ; there being a material difference be- 
tween the appearance of a subject in its first 
crude and indigested shape, and after it shall 
have been properly matured and arranged." 



An extract from the last will and 

TESTAMENT OF COLONEL GEORGE MaSON, 

OF Virginia. 

" I recommend it to my sons, from my own 
experience in hfe, to prefer the happiness of 
independence and a private station to the 
troubles and vexation of public business : but 
if either their own inclinations or the necessity 
of the times should engage them in public 
affairs, I charge them on a father's blessing, 
never to let the motives of private interest or 
ambition induce them to betray, nor the terrors 
of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger 
or of death, deter them from asserting the 
liberty of their country, and endeavoring to 
transmit to their posterity those sacred rights 
to which themselves were born." 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARKE, 

Commander of the Western Depart- 
ment OF Virginia. Interesting no- 
tice OF him. 

[While his countrymen on the sea-board were 
contending with the British regulars, col. 
George Rogers Clarke was the efficient pro- 
tector of the people of the frontiers of Virginia 
and Pennsylvania from the inroads of the 
savage allies of the " defender of the faith." 
The history of his exploits would fill a yolume 
— and for hair-breadth 'scapes and hardy 
enterprise, would hardly have a parallel. The 
character of this veteran is well developed in 
the following extract, recently published in the 
(Philadelphia) " National Gazette," from " the 
note of an old officer."] 

" The Indians came into the treaty at Fort 
Washington in the most friendly manner, 
except the Shawnees — the most conceited 
and most warlike of the aborigines ; the first in 
at a battle — the last at a treaty. Three hund- 
red of their finest warriors, set off in all their 
paint and feathers, filed into the council house. 
Their number and demeanor, so unusual at an 
occasion of this sort, was altogether unexpected 
and suspicious. The United States stockade 
nwistered seventy men. 



" In the centre of the hall, at a little table, 
sat the commissary general ClarKe, the inde- 
fatigable scourge of these very marauders, 
general Richard Butler, and the hon. Mr. Par- 
sons — there was present, also, a captain Denfry, 
who I believe is still alive, and can attest this 
story. On the part of the Indians an old coun- 
cil sachem and a warrior chief took the lead : 
the latter, a tall, raw boned fellow with an 
impudent and villainous look, made a boister- 
ous and threatening speech, which operated 
effectually on the passions of the Indians, who 
set up a prodigious whoop at every pause. He 
concluded by presenting a black and white 
wampum, to signify they were prepared for 
either event, peace or war. Clarke exhibited the 
same unaltered and careless countenance he had 
shown during the whole scene, his head lean- 
ing on his left hand and his elbow resting on 
the table : he raised his little cane and pushed 
the sacred wampum off the table, with very lit- 
tle ceremony — every Indian at the same mo- 
ment started from his seat with one of those 
sudden, simultaneous and peculiarly savage 
sounds which startle and disconcert the stout- 
est heart, and can neither be described nor for- 
gotten. 

" Parsons, more civil than military in his 
habits, was poorly fitted for an emergency that 
probably embarrassed even the hero of Sara- 
toga — the brother and father of soldiers. At 
this juncture Clarke rose — the scrutinizing eye 
cowered at his glance ; he stamped his foot on 
the prostrate and insulted symbol, and ordered 
them to leave the hall — they did so appar- 
ently involuntarily. 

" They were heard all that night debating in 
the bushes near the fort. The raw-boned 
chief was for war, the old sachem for peace : 
the latter prevailed, and next morning they 
came back and sued for peace." 



JOHN CHAMPE, 

A gallant soldier OF Virginia, who 
attempted the seizure of the traitor 
Arnold, having been selected for 

THAT PURPOSE BY MAJOR LeE AT THE IN- 
STANCE OF General Washington. 

[Some person in a late Compiler having 
asked, with at least the semblance of sincerity, 
whether Slaughter or Champe was sent to 
arrest the traitor Arnold ? I beg leave to 
inform him, upon the testimony of Henry Lee, 
that Champe was the distinguished soldier se- 
lected for this highly honorable, and most 
confidential business, by major Lee, at the 



308 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



request of General Washington. Lee, in his 
memoirs of the war in the southern states, 
thus describes the hero, and his adventure : — ] 

" He was a native of Loudon county, in Vir- 
ginia, about twenty-three or twenty-four years 
of age ; that he had enlisted in '76 — rather 
above the common size — full of bone and mus- 
cle ; with a saturnine countenance ; grave, 
thoughtful and taciturn — of tried courage and 
inflexible perseverance, and as lilcely to reject 
an offer coupled with ignominy, as any officer 
in the corps ; a commission being the goal of 
his long and anxious exertions, and certain on 
the first vacancy." 

[It will be proper here to premise, that 
although Champe was young, ardent, and de- 
voted to his country's cause, and thirsting for 
military fame ; yet his noble and magnanimous 
soul revolted at the idea of doing any thing 
underhanded, or that had even the shadow of 
a deviation from the paths of chivalry, and the 
high notions of honor which glowed in every 
American bosom. — At last, however, Champe, 
convinced that no action stamped with the ap- 
probation of the commander-in-chief, could be 
other than laudable and worthy of a soldier's 
best exertions, engaged in the enterprise with 
alacrity and zeal ; and alter all the plans of 
Washington were fully explained to him by 
Major Lee, it was determmed, to give a greater 
chance of success, that Champe should enter 
the enemy's lines as a deserter ! and accord- 
ingly he did desert.] — " Evidently discerni- 
ble as were the difficulties in the way, no 
relief could be administered by major Lee, lest 
it might induce a belief that he was privy to 
the desertion, which opinion getting to the 
enemy, would involve the life of Champe. 
The sergeant was left to his own resources and 
to his own management, with th« declared de- 
termination that, in case his departure should 
be discovered before morning, Lee would take 
care to delay pursuit as long as was practicable. 

" Giving to the sergeant three guineas, and 
presenting his best wishes, he recommended 
him to start without delay, and enjoined him to 
communicate his arrival in New-York as soon 
thereafter as might be practicable. Champe 
pulling out his watch, compared it with the . 
major's, reminding the latter of the import- 
ance of holding back pursuit, which he was 
convinced would take place during the night, 
and which might be fatal, as he knew that he 
should be obliged to zig-zag in order to avoid 
the patroles, which would consume time. It 
was now eleven o'clock : He returned to camp,* 

* From Lee's marque, where they had been consulting 
on the best plan of the proposed desertion. 



and taking his cloak, valise, and orderly book, 
he drew his horse from the picket, and mount- 
ing him, put himself upon fortune. Lee, 
charmed with his expeditious consummation 
of the first part of his enterprise, retired to 
rest. Useless attempt ! The past scene 
could not be obliterated ; and, indeed, had 
that been practicable, the interruption which 
ensued would have stopped repose. 

•' Within half an hour. Captain Carnes, offi- 
cer of the day, waited upon the major, and, 
with considerable emotion, told him that one 
of the patrole had fallen in with a dragoon, 
who, being challenged, put spur to his horse 
and escaped, though instantly pursued. Lee, 
complaining of the interruption, and pretending 
to be extremely fatigued by his ride to and 
from head-quarters, answered as if he did not 
understand what had been said, which com- 
pelled the captain to repeat it. Who can the 
fellow that was pursued be.' enquired the 
major ; adding, a countr)'man, probably. No, 
replied the captain, the patrole sufficiently dis- 
tinguished him to know that he was a dra- 
goon ; probably one from the army, if not cer- 
tainly of our own. This idea was ridiculed 
from its improbability, as during the whole 
war but a single dragoon had deserted from 
the legion. This did not convince Carnes, so 
much stress was it now the fashion to lay on 
the desertion of Arnold, and the probable 
effect of his example. The captain withdrew 
to examine the squadron of horse, whom he 
had ordered to assemble in pursuance of es- 
tablished usage on such occasions. Very 
quickly he returned, stating that the scoundrel * 
was known, and no other person than the ser- 
geant major, who had gone off with his horse, 
baggage, and orderly book — so presumed, as 
neither the one nor the other could be found. 
Sensibly affected at the supposed baseness of a 
soldier extremely respected, the captain added 
that he had ordered a party to make ready for 
pursuit, and begged the major's written 
orders. 

" Occasionally this discourse was interrupted, 
and every idea suggested which the excellent 
character of the sergeant warranted, to induce 
the suspicion that he had not deserted, but 
had taken the liberty to leave camp with a 
view to personal pleasure ; an example, said 
Lee, too often set by the officers themselves, 
destructive as it was of discipline, opposed as it 
was to orders, and disastrous as it might prove 
to the corps in the course of the service. 

* The reader will understand, that Washington and 
Lee were the only persons acquainted with the facts in 
this case. 



VIRGINIA. 



309 



" Some little delay was thus interposed, but 
it being now announced that the pursuing party 
was ready, major Lee directed a change in the 
officer, saying that he had a particular service 
in view, which he had determined to entrust to 
the lieut. ready for duty, and which probably 
must be performed in the morning. He there- 
fore directed him to summon cornet Middleton 
for the present command. Lee was induced 
thus to act, first to add to the delay, and next 
from his knowledge of the tenderness of Mid- 
dleton's disposition, which he hoped would 
lead to the protection of Champe, should he 
be taken. — Within ten minutes Middleton ap- 
peared to receive orders, which were delivered 
to him made out in the customary form, and 
signed by the major. ' Pursue so far as you 
can with safety, sergeant Champe, who is sus- 
pected of deserting to the enemy, and has taken 
the road leading to Pauler's Hook. Bring him 
aUve that he may suffer in the presence of the 
army ; but kill him if he resists or escapes after 
being taken.' 

" Detaining the cornet a few minutes longer 
in advising him what course to pursue, urging 
him to take care of the horse and accoutre- 
ments, if recovered — and enjoining him to be 
on his guard, lest he might, by his eager pur- 
suit, improvidently fall into the hands of the 
enemy, the major dismissed Middleton, wish- 
ing him success. A shower of rain fell soon 
after Champe's departure, which enabled the 
pursuing dragoons to take the trail of his 
horse ; knowing, as officer and trooper did, 
the make of their shoes, whose impression was 
an unerring guide. 

" When Middleton departed, it was a few min- 
utes past twelve ; so that Champe had only the 
start of rather more than an hour — by no means 
as long as was desired. Lee became very un- 
happy, not only because the estimable and 
gallant Champe might be injured, but lest the 
enterprise might be delayed ; and he spent a 
sleepless night. The pursuing party during 
the night, was, on their part, delayed by the 
necessary halts to examine the road, as the 
impression of the horse's shoes directed their 
course ; this was unfortunately too evident, no 
other horse having passed along the road since 
the shower. When the day broke, Middleton 
was no longer found to halt, and he pressed on 
with rapidity. Ascending an eminence before 
he reached the three Pidgeons, some miles on 
the north of the village of Bergen, (Jersey) as 
the pursuing party reached its summit, Champe 
was discovered not more than half a mile in 
front, resembling an Indian in his vigilance. 
The sergeant at the same moment discovered 



the party, (whose object he was no stranger to,) 
and giving spur to the horse, he determined to 
outstrip his pursuers. Middleton, at the same 
instant put his horses to the top of their speed ; 
and being (as the legion all were) well acquaint- 
ed with the country, he recollected a short route 
through the woods to the bridge below Bergen, 
which diverged from the great road just after 
you gain the three Pidgeons. — Reaching the 
point of separation he halted, and dividing his 
party, directed a sergeant with a few dragoons 
to take the near cut, and possess, with all pos- 
sible despatch the bridge, while he with the 
residue followed Champe ; not doubting but 
that Champe must deliver himself up, as he 
would be closed between himself and his ser- 
geant. Champe did not forget the short cut, 
and would have taken it himself, but he knew 
it was the usual route of our parties when 
returning in the way from the neighborhood of 
the enemy, properly preferring the woods to 
the road. — He consequently avoided it, and 
persuaded that Middleton would avail himself 
of it, wisely resolved to relinquish his intention 
of getting to Pauler's Hook, and to seek refuge . 
from two British galleys, lying a few miles to 
the west of Bergen. 

" This was a station always occupied by one 
or more galleys, and which it was known now 
lay there. Entering the village of Bergen, 
Champe turned to his right, and disguised his 
change of course as much as he could by taking 
the beaten streets, turning as they turned ; he 
passed through the village and took the road 
towards Elizabeth town Point. Middleton's 
sergeant gained the bridge, when he conceived 
himself ready to pounce upon Champe when 
he came up ; and Middleton pursuing his course 
through Bergen, soon got also to the bridge, 
when to his extreme mortification he found 
that the sergeant had slipped through his fin- 
gers. Returning up the road, he enquired of 
the villagers of Bergen, whether a dragoon had 
been seen that morning preceding his party .' 
He was answered in the affirmative, but could 
learn nothing satisfactory as to the route he 
took. While engaged in enquiries himself, he 
spread his party through the village to take 
the trail of Champe's horse, a resort always 
recurred to. Some of his dragoons hit it just 
as the sergeant, leaving the village, got in the 
road leading to the Point. Pursuit was re- 
newed with vigor, and again Champe was dis- 
covered. He, apprehending the event, had 
prepared himself for it, by lashing his valise, 
(containing his clothes and orderly book) on 
his shoulders, and holding a drawn sword in 
his hand, having thrown away its scabbard. 



3IO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



This he did to save what was indispensable to 
him and to prevent any interruption to swim- 
ming by the scabbard, should Middleton, as he 
presumed, when disappointed at the bridge, take 
the measures adopted by him. The pursuit 
was rapid and close, as the stop occasioned by 
the sergeant's preparation for swimming had 
brought Middleton within two or three hundred 
yards. As soon as Champe got abreast of the 
galleys, he dismounted, and running through the 
marsh to the river, plunged into it, calling upon 
the galleys for help. This was readily given ; 
they fired upon our horse, and sent a boat to 
meet Champe, who was taken on board, and 
conveyed to New- York, with a letter from the 
captain of the galley stating the past scene, all 
of which he had seen." 

Washington was highly pleased with the 
result of his adventure. The eagerness of the 
pursuit he thought would be decisive evidence 
to the British commander, that this was a real 
and not a feigned desertion. Champe was im- 
mediately brought before sir Henr)' Clinton, 
and questioned by him on a variety of subjects, 
and amongst the rest, if any American officers 
were suspected of desertion, and who those 
officers 'cvere. The sergeant was forewarned on 
this point, and gave such answers as would 
more effectually mislead. After this examina- 
tion he was consigned to the care of general 
Arnold, and by him retained in his former rank. 
Washington hoped and believed, that the trial 
of Andre would occupy much time, and enable 
Champe to accomplish his designs. That gal- 
lant officer disdaining all subterfuge, com- 
pletely foiled this hope, by broadly confessing 
the nature of his connection with Arnold. The 
commander in chief offered to exchange Andre 
for Arnold, a proposal sir Henry Clinton, for 
obvious motives, declined. Had this gallant 
officer protracted his trial, and the plot proved 
successful, the life of Andre would have been 
saved, not by the intrigues of sir Henry Clinton, 
but of Washington in his favor. The honest 
and precipitate intrepidity of the British officer 
defeated this benevolent project, and no alter- 
native remained but a speedy death. The ser- 
geant, unfortunate as he was in this, was more 
successful in obtaining evidence the most full 
and satisfactory, that the suspicions resting on 
several American officers were foul calumnies, 
and a forgery of the enemy. He now deter- 
mined on making a bold attempt for the seizure 
of Arnold. Having been allowed, at all times, 
free access to Arnold, marked all his habits and 
movements, he awaited only a favorable oppor- 
tunity for the execution of his project. He had 
ascertained that Arnold usually retired to rest 



about twelve, and that previous to this, he 
spent some time in a private garden, adjoining 
his quarters. He was there to have been 
seized, bound and gagged, and under the pre- 
text that he was a soldier in a state of intoxi- 
cation, to have been conveyed through bye 
paths, and unsuspected places to a boat lying 
in readiness, in the river Hudson. Champe 
engaged two confederates, and major Lee, who 
co-operated in the plan, received timely intelli- 
gence of the night fixed on for its execution. 
At the appointed time that officer, attended 
by a small parcy well mounted, laid in wait on 
the other side of the Hudson with two spare 
horses, one for Champe, and the other for 
Arnold. The return of daylight announced the 
discomfiture of the plan, and Lee and his party 
retired to the camp with melancholy forebod- 
ings that the life of the gallant sergeant had 
been sacrificed to his zeal in the service of his 
country. Consoling was the intelligence, 
shortly after received from the confederates, 
that on the night preceding the one fixed for 
Arnold's arrest, that officer had shifted his 
quarters. It appeared that he was employed 
to superintend the embarkation of certain troops 
composed chiefly of American deserters, and it 
was apprehended that unless they were removed 
from their barracks, which were adjacent to 
the shore, many might seize that opportunity to 
escape. This attempt was never afterwards 
renewed. On the junction of Arnold with lord 
Cornwallis, in Virginia, the sergeant found 
means to elude the vigilance of the British lines, 
and to reach in safety the army of general 
Greene. Having been furnished by that officer 
with the means of escaping to Washington's 
camp, he arrived there to the astonishment and 
joy of his old confederates in arms. 

When Washington assumed the command of 
the army under president Adams, he caused 
strict enquiry to be made for the man who had 
so honorably distinguished himself, intending 
to honor such tried fidelity with military pro- 
motion, and heard to his great sorrow that he 
died but a short time before, in the state of 
Kentucky. These facts are taken and con- 
densed from the interesting manuscript of major 
general Lee. 



SKETCH OF GEN. JOHN CROPPER, 

A DISTINGUISHED OFFICER OF THE VIR- 
GINIA CONTINENTAL LINE. 

Died — At his seat on Bowman's Folly, at 
sixteen minutes past two o'clock on the morn- 



VIRGINIA. 



3" 



ing of Monday, 15th of January, 1821, general 
'John Cropper, in the 66th year of his age, after 
an illness of eleven days. He embarked early 
in the cause of his country, and was chosen a 
captain, in the 9th Virginia regiment on conti- 
nental establishment, when only nineteen or 
twenty years of age, and marched in December 
1776, to the north to join the army under the 
command of the illustrious Washington. Gen- 
eral Cropper was promoted from a captaincy 
in the 9th Virginia regiment to a major in the 
5th Virginia regiment. Gen. C. was at the 
battle of Brandywine, when the 5th Virginia 
regiment was nearly cut to pieces, and from 
which, during the action, his colonel and lieu- 
tenant both ran away. Gen. C. then retreated 
with the remainder of the regiment, and lay 
concealed in some bushes on the battle ground, 
until near day-break of the same night of the 
engagement — between mid-night and day- 
break, he stole off and marched to Chester, 
with a red handkerchief lashed to a ramrod for 
colors. On Chester Bridge, general C. was 
met by the illustrious George Washington and 
general Woodford. The latter alighted from 
his horse, embraced gen. Cropper, and pressed 
him to his bosom and said, " He whom we 
thought was lost, is found."— Gen. C. was then 
promoted to a lieutenant colonel in the 7th 
Virginia regiment, and was at the battles 
of Germantown and Monmouth Courthouse. 
From the 7th Virginia regiment he was pro- 
moted to the command of the eleventh Virginia 
regiment, by the Marquis De La Fayette, which 
regiment he commanded until his return to 
Virginia on the 30th of November, 1782. The 
day on which the preliminary articles of peace 
were signed at Paris, Gen. Cropper was en- 
gaged with com. Whaley, in the barge Victory, 
in the Chesapeake Bay, against five British 
barges, under the command of com. Perry. At 
the commencement of this engagement, there 
were attached to com. Whaley 's squadron three 
other American barges, all of which ran off as 
soon as the engagement commenced, and left 
com. Whaley alone to contend with five British 
barges, full manned. — Com. W. had on board 
his barge 69 men, principally citizens of the 
counties of Accomack and Northampton. 



About the middle of the engagement, com. W's 
magazine took fire, at which time several of 
his men were overboard hanging by the rig- 
ging — 29 men out of 69 men were killed on 
board of com. W's barge, together with the 
commodore himself. In this engagement gen- 
eral Cropper had to contend with two white 
men and one negro, all armed with cutlasses, 
and boarding pikes, and defended himself with 
a musket and bayonet. — One of the general's 
antagonists struck him with a cutlass on the 
head, which nearly brought him down. In the 
middle of this individual conflict, the negro dis- 
covering his young master to be the person 
with whom he and the two white men were 
engaged, cried out, " Save him — he is my young 
master ! " — Gen. Cropper afterwards set this 
faithful man free, and settled him in the city of 
Baltimore. — General John Cropper, was in the 
service of his beloved country about 45 years. 
Those who were acquainted with him, know- 
how he discharged his duty in every station in 
which he was placed. Gen. C. retained to the 
last hour of his life the veneration and love he 
bore for the illustrious Washington, the savior 
of his country. He tried to imitate him in his 
conduct as a soldier and citizen. The deeds 
of this great, good, and illustrious American 
was the theme of general Cropper at all times. 
He could not bear to hear the least whisper 
derogatory to the character of the best of men 
— and more than once has gen. Cropper been 
personally engaged to defend his fame. Gen. 
C. had the honor to die possessed with a writ- 
ten document, from the pen of this illustrious 
personage, which evidenced the high opinion 
he entertained of the worth of the deceased as 
an officer. This document was treasured up as 
a miser would treasure his gold, and but few 
persons were permitted to read it, or hear it 
read. It was the more highly prized, because 
this illustrious general and statesman was cau- 
tious in discovering his opinions, or showing 
his attachment to individuals. — Gen. Cropper 
was the soldier's friend. — The deceased has 
left a widow and seven children, and ten grand- 
children, to deplore his loss. The writer of 
this is one who was well acquainted with the 
deceased. 



312 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



ADDRESS 

Of the assembly of North Carolina, 
to governor josiah martin, april 1775. 

To his excellency Josiah Martin, esq., captain 

general, governor, and conimander in chief, 

in and over the province of North Carolina. 

Sir : — We, his majesty's most dutiful and 

loyal subjects, the members of the assembly of 

North Carolina, have taken into consideration 

your excellency's speech, at the opening of this 

session. 

We met in general assembly, with minds 
superior to private dissension, determined 
calmly, unitedly, and faithfully, to discharge 
the sacred trust reposed in us by our constitu- 
ents. Actuated by sentiments like these, it 
behoves us to declare, that the assembly of this 
colony have the highest sense of their allegi- 
ance to the king of Great Britain, to whom 
alone, as our constitutional sovereign, we ac- 
knowledge allegiance to be due, and to whom 
we so cheerfully and repeatedly have sworn it, 
that to remind us of the oath was unnecessary. 
This allegiance, all past assemblies have, upon 
every occasion, amply expressed ; and we, the 
present representatives of the people, shall be 
always ready, by our actions, with pleasure to 
testify ; sensible, however, that the same con- 
stitution which established that allegiance, and 
enjoined the oath in consequence of it, hath 
bound his majesty under as solemn obliga- 
tions, to protect subjects inviolate in all their 
just rights and privileges, wisely intending, by 
reciprocal dependence, to secure the happiness 
of both. 

We contemplate, with a degree of horror, 
the unhappy state of America, involved in the 
most embarrassing difficulties and distresses, 
by a number of unconstitutional invasions of 
their just rights and privileges ; by which, the 
inhabitants of the continent in general, and of 
this province in particular, have been precipi- 
tated into measures, extraordinary perhaps in 
their nature, but warranted by necessity, from 
whence, among many other measures, the 
appointment of committees, in the several 
towns and counties, took its birth, to prevent, 
as much as in them lay, the operations of such 
unconstitutional encroachments. And the 
assembly remain unconvinced of any steps 
taken by those committees, but such as they 



were compelled to take for that salutary 
purpose. 

It is not to be controverted, that his ma- 
jesty's subjects have a right to petition for a 
redress of grievances, or to remonstrate 
against them ; and as it is only in a meeting of 
the people, that their sense, respecting such 
petition and remonstrance, can be obtained, 
that the right of assembling is as undoubted. 
— To attempt, therefore, under the mask of 
authority, to prevent or forbid a meeting of the 
people for such purposes, or to interrupt their 
proceedings when met, would be a vain effort, 
unduly to exercise power in direct opposition 
to the constitution. 

Far be it from us, then, sir, even to wish to 
prevent the operations of the convention now 
held at Newbern, or to agree with your excel- 
lency in bestowing upon them the injurious 
epithet of an illegal meeting. They are, sir, 
the respectable representatives of the people, 
appointed for a special and important purpose, 
to which, though our constituents might have 
thought us adequate, yet, as our meeting de- 
pended upon the pleasure of the crown, they 
would have been unwise to have trusted to so 
precarious a contingence, especially as the 
frequent and unexpected prorogations of the 
assembly, one of them in particular, as if all 
respect and attention to the convenience of 
their representatives hath been lost, was pro- 
claimed but two or three days before the time 
which had been appoinied for the meetings, 
gave the people not the least reason to expect 
that their assembly would have been permitted 
to sit till it was too late to appoint delegates to 
attend the continental congress at Philadel- 
phia ; a measure which they joined the rest of 
America in thinking essential to its interest. 

The house, sir, neither know, nor believe 
that any base arts have been practised upon 
the people in order to lead them from their 
duty ; but we know with certainty, that the 
steps they have taken proceeded from a full 
conviction, that the parliament of Great Britain 
had, by a variety of oppressive and unconstitu- 
tional proceedings, made those steps absolutely 
necessary. We think it, therefore, a duty we 
owe the people, to assert, that their conduct 
has not been owing to base arts, practised 
upon them by wicked and designing men ; and 
have it much to lament, that your excellency 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



should add your sanction to such groundless 
imputations, as it has a manifest tendency to 
weaken the influence which the united petition 
of his majesty's American subjects might oth- 
erwise have, upon their sovereign, for a redress 
of those grievances of which they so justly 
complain. 

We should feel inexpressible concern at the 
information, given us by your excellency, of your 
being authorized to say, that the appointment 
of delegates, to attend the congress at Phila- 
delphia, now in agitation, will be highly offen- 
sive to the king, had we not recently been 
informed, from the best authority, that his 
majesty has been pleased to receive, very gra- 
ciously, the united petition of his American 
subjects, addressed to him by the continental 
delegates, lately convened at Philadelphia. 
We have not, therefore, the least reason to 
suppose, that a similar application to the 
throne, will give offence to his majesty, or pre- 
vent his receiving a petition for the redress of 
grievances, which his American subjects have 
a right to present, either separately or unitedly. 

We shall always receive, with pleasure, the 
information of any marks of loyalty to the king, 
given to your excellency, by the inhabitants of 
this colony ; but we are greatly concerned, lest 
the manner in which you have thought proper 
to convey this information, should excite a 
belief, that a great number of the people of this 
province are disaffected to their sovereign, to 
prevent which, it is incumbent upon us, in this 
manner, solemnly to testify to the world, that 
his majesty has no subjects more faithful than 
the inhabitants of North Carolina, or more 
ready, at the expense of their lives and fortunes, 
to protect and support his person, crown, and 
dignity. If, however, by the signal proofs your 
excellency speaks of, you mean those addresses 
lately published in the North Carolina Gazette, 
and said to be presented to you, the assembly 
can receive no pleasure from your congratula- 
tions thereupon, but what results from the con- 
sideration that so few have been found in so 
populous a pro\ince, weak enough to be 
seduced from their duty, and prevailed upon by 
the base arts of wicked and designing men, to 
adopt principles so contrary to the sense of all 
America, and so destructive of those rights and 
privileges, it was their duty to maintain. 

We take this opportunity, sir, the first that 
has been given us, to express the warm attach- 
ment we have to our sister colonies in general, 
and the heart-felt compassion we entertain for 
the deplorable state of the town of Boston in 
particular, and also to declare the fixed and 
determined resolution of this colony, to unite 



with the other colonies in every effort to retain 
those just rights and liberties which, as subjects 
to a British king, we possess, and which it is 
our absolute and indispensable duty, to hand 
down to posterity, unimpaired. 

John Harvey, Speaker. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

FROM THE RALBIGH REGISTER. 

It is not probably known to many of our read- 
ers, that the citizens of Mecklenburg county, 
in this state, made a declaration of inde- 
pendence more than a year before congress 
7nade theirs. The following document on 
the subject has lately come to the hands of 
the editor from unquestionable authority, and 
is published that it may go down to posterity. 



[As yhs genuineness of this declaration of In- 
dependence has been recently questioned in 
different sections of the country, reference is 
particularly requested to an extract from a let- 
ter written by Sir James Wright. Governor of 
Georgia, to the home government, of date June 
20th, 1775,* one month after the date of that 
declaration (May 20th, 1775,) in which he states 
that " by the enclosed paper your lordship will 
see the extraordinary resolves by the people in 
Charlotte Town, Mecklenburgh county." This 
statement settles for all time, the authenticity 
of that declaration. The extract was recently 
furnished to the reriser of this work, March 
7, 1876, by the Historical Society of Georgia.] 



North Carolina, Mecklenburg county. May 20, 1775. 
In the spring of 1775, the leading characters 
of Mecklenburg county, stimulated by the en- 
thusiastic patriotism which elevates the mind 
above considerations of individual aggran- 
disement, and scorning to shelter themselves 
from the impending storm, by submission to 
lawless power, etc. etc., held several detached 
meetings, m each of which the individual senti 
ments were •' that the cause of Boston was the 
cause of all ; that their destinies were indissolu- 
bly connected with those of their eastern fel- 
low-citizens — and that they must either submit 
to all the impositions which an unprincipled 
and to them an unrepresented parliament might 
impose — or support their brethren who were 
doomed to sustain the first shock of that power, 
which, if successful there, would ultimately 
overwhelm all in the common calamity. Con- 
formably to these principles, col. Adam Alex- 

• See Georgia, p. 390. 



314 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ander, through solicitation, issued an order to 
each captain's company in the county of Meck- 
lenburg, (then comprising the present county 
of Cabarrus) directing each militia company to 
elect two persons, and delegate to them ample 
power to devise ways and means to aid and 
assist their suffering brethren in Boston, and 
also generally to adopt measures to extricate 
themselves from the impending storm, and to 
secure, unimpaired, their inalienable rights, 
privileges and liberties, from the dominant 
grasp of British imposition and tyranny. 

In conforming to said order, on the 19th of 
May, 1775, the said delegation met in Char- 
lotte, vested with unlimited powers ; at which 
time official news, by express, arrived of the 
battle of Lexington on that day of the preceding 
month. Every delegate felt the value and 
importance of the prize, and the awful and 
solemn crisis which had arrived — every bosom 
swelled with indignation at the malice, invete- 
racy, and insatiable revenge developed in the 
late attack at Lexington. The universal senti- 
ment was — let us not flatter ourselves that 
popular harangues — or resolves ; that popular 
vapor will avert the storm, or vanquish our 
common enemy — let us deliberate — let us cal- 
culate the issue — the probable result : and 
then let us act with energy as brethren leagued 
to preserve our property — our lives, — and what 
is still more endearing, the liberties of America. 
Adam Alexander was then elected chairman, 
and John M'Kiiitt Alexander, clerk. After a 
free and full discussion of the various objects 
for which the delegation had been convened, it 
was unanimously ordained — 

1. Resolved, That whosoever directly or in- 
directly abetted, or in any way, form or man- 
ner, countenanced the unchartered and dan- 
gerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by 
Great Britain, is an enemy to this country — to 
America — and to the inherent and inalienable 
rights of man. 

2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Meck- 
lenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political 
bands which have connected us to the mother 
country, and hereby absolve ourselves from al- 
legiance to the British crown, and abjure all 
political connection, contract, association with 
that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our 
right and liberties — and inhumanly shed the 
innocent blood of American patriots at Lex- 
ington. 

3. Resolved, That we do hereby declare our- 
selves a free and independent people ; are, and 
of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-gov- 
erning association, under the control of no 
power other than that of God and the general 



government of the congress : to the mainte- 
nance of which independence, we solemnly 
pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, 
our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred 
honor. 

4. Resolved, That, as we now acknowledge 
the existence and control of no law or legal 
officer, civil or military within this county, 
we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of 
life, all, each, and every of our former laws — 
wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Bri- 
tain never can be considered as holding rights, 
privileges, immunities, or authority therein. 

5. Resolved, That it is also further decreed, 
that all, each, and every military officer in this 
county is hereby reinstated to his former com- 
mand and authority, he acting conformably to 
these regulations. And that every member 
present of this delegation shall henceforth be a 
civil officer, viz., a justice of the peace, in the 
character of a ' Comviittee man,' to issue pro- 
cess, hear and determine all matters of contro- 
versy, according to said adopted laws, and to 
preserve peace, and union, and harmony, in 
said county ; and to use every exertion to spread 
the love of country and fire of freedom through- 
out America, until a more general and orga- 
nized government be established in this 
province. 

Incidents relating to the Declara- 
tion OF Independence. 

A number of by-laws were also added, merely 
to protect the association from confusion, and 
to regulate their general conduct as citizens. 
After sitting in the court-house all night, nei- 
ther sleepy, hungry or fatigued, and after dis- 
cussing every paragraph, they were all passed, 
sanctioned, and decreed, unanimously, about 
2 o'clock, A. M. May 20. In a few days, a dep- 
utation of said delegation convened, when capt. 
James Jack, of Charlotte, was deputed as 
express to the congress at Philadelphia, with a 
copy of said resolves and proceedings, to- 
gether with a letter addressed to our three 
representatives, viz., Richard Caswell, IVm. 
Hooper, and Joseph Hughes, under express in- 
junction, personally, and through the state rep- 
resentation, to use all possible means to have 
said proceedings sanctioned and approved by 
the general congress. On the return of capt. 
Jack, the delegation learned that their proceed- 
ings were individually approved by the mem- 
bers of congress, but that it was deemed pre- 
mature to lay them before the house. A joint 
letter from said three members of congress was 
also received, complimentary of the zeal in the 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



315 



common cause, and recommending persever- 
ance, order and energy. 

The subsequent harmony, unanimity, and 
exertion, in the cause of hberty and independ- 
ence, evidently resulting from these regulations, 
and the continued e.\ertion of said delegation, 
apparently tranquilized this section of the 
state, and met with the concurrence and high 
approbation of the council of safety, who held 
their sessions at Newbem and Wilmington, and 
who confirmed the nomination and acts of the 
delegation in their official capacity. 

From this delegation originated the court of 
enquiry of this county, who constituted and 
held their first session in Charlotte ; they then 
held their meetings regularly at Charlotte, at 
col. James Harris's, and at col. Phifer's, alter- 
nately, one week at each place. It was a civil 
court founded on military process. Before this 
judicature all suspicious persons were made 
to appear, who were formally tried, and ban- 
ished or continued under guard. Its jurisdic- 
tion was as unlimited as toryism, and its decrees 
as final as the confidence and patriotism of the 
county. Several were arrested and brought 
before them from Lincoln, Rowan, and the 
adjacent counties. 

[The foregoing is a true copy of the papers 
on the above subject, left in my hands by John 
Matthew Alexander, deceased. I find it men- 
tioned on file, that the original book was 
burned in April, 1800; that a copy of the pro- 
ceedings was sent to Hugh Williamson, in 
New York, then writing a history of North 
Carolina, and that a copy was sent to gen. 
W. R. Davie. 

J. M'Knitt.] 

THE MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS. 

Statements as to Authenticity of 

SAME. 

Declaration of Independence. — The follow- 
ing paragraph appears in the Essex Register 
of the 24th ult., in relation to the declaration of 
independence made by the citizens of Mecklen- 
burg county, in this state, as early as May, 1775, 
which was originally published in this paper on 
the 30th of April, 1818, and which has been 
copied into most of the newspapers printed in 
the United States. 

" The Mecklenburg resolutions, as copied 
from the Raleigh Register, have not had uni- 
versal credit. It has been surprising that they 
had been so long unknown. Though the pub- 
lisher says they rest upon high authority, the 
public would be pleased to know more about 



them. If they are forgeries, they are highly 
criminal, and we agree, that " fictions of this 
kind, five and forty years after the pretended 
fact, ought to be discountenanced by every man 
of honor, and this in particular ought to be 
hunted from the dark cavern from which it 
originated. The more ingenious the invention, 
the more detestable." We can only say that, 
from the specious form in which they appeared, 
we were induced to copy them. They had so 
many circumstances that they could easily be 
exposed, if fictions ; and, being printed in the 
state in which the resolutions are said to have 
been taken, they originated where these circum- 
stances might be explained. We know not 
what part the representatives of North Caro- 
lina took in congress, and how far they availed 
themselves of the spirit they found in their con- 
stituents. With us, it was no objection that 
they were not published. We know the state 
of the press at that time, and the general ina- 
bility to take a fair estimate of local opinions. 
As some doubts have arisen respecting the 
documents, it is of the greatest importance that 
the documents be examined and traced to their 
true history. These doubts involve some se- 
rious questions. We copied them from the 
press, and they have no object in northern 
policy. They are, if true, favorable to the south 
in which they appear. As they regard a period 
of our history in which every thing should be 
clear and certain, we hope the publisher will 
assist to more satisfactory knowledge of their 
true character." 

For the satisfaction of the respectable editor 
of the Essex Register, we are desirous of giving 
him, and others, who may have doubts as to 
the correctness of these documents, all the in- 
formation in our power ; and we feel confident, 
after we shall have done so, no longer doubt 
will remain as to the truth and reality of the 
proceedings in question. 

It appears, this Mecklenburg declaration of 
independence had, during last winter, been the 
subject of conversation at Washington, amongst 
members of congress ; and that, in order to put 
the matter out of dispute, one of our senators, 
and the representative from the Mecklenburg 
district, in congress, wrote to gentlemen in that 
part of the country, most likely to give it, for 
satisfactory information in relation to this 
matter. 

Our senator received the following answer 
to the letter which he wrote on this ocasion : 



^'Alexandria, Mecklenburg county, N. C. 

February 7, i8ig. 

'Sir — Your application to gen. JosepH 



3i6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Graham, of Lincoln county for information 
respecting the declaration of independence by 
the county of Mecklenburg, previous to the dec- 
laration by the United States, induced him to 
forward your letter to me for the like purpose, 
with a request to furnish you from my father's 
old papers, every thing on that subject that 
could be found ; but, previous to the reception 
of your letter, William Davidson* had addressed 
my brother on the same subject, and he has 
furnished all that could be found amongst my 
father's papers on that subject. But, on look- 
ing again, I found an old proclamation,! which 
I herein enclose to you — if it should be of any 
service, you can use it. 

" Nearly all my father's papers were burned 
in the spring of 1800; which destroyed the 
papers now wanting, as I believe he acted as 
secretary to the committee that declared inde- 
pendence for this county in 1775. 
•'I am, sir, with respect and esteem, yours, etc. 
"Wm. B. Alexander." 

*' Hon. Nathaniel Macon. 

The declaration and resolutions published, 
were received by Mr. Davidson from J. M'Knitt 
(brother of Mr. Ale.xander, the writer of the 
above letter) accompanied with the following 
certificate : 

" The foregoing is a true copy of the papers 
on the above subject, left in the hands of John 
M'Knitt Alexander, deceased. I find it men- 
tioned on file, that the original book was burned 
April, 1800; that a copy of the proceedings 
was sent to Hugh Williamson, in New York, 
then writing the history of North Carolina, and 
that a copy was sent to gen. W. R. Davie. 
" J. M'Knitt." 

And the papers, thus certified, were sent to 
us for publication, by the senator who had col- 
lected the information. We trust, therefore, 
that the most sceptical will no longer entertain 
a doubt of the authenticity of this declaration of 
independence of Mecklenburg county. If fur- 
ther evidence of these facts were wanting, it is 
believed, the testimony of one the most respect- 
able inhabitants of this city, who was present 
when the declaration was resolved upon, might 
be added. 

• Mr. Davidson is the representative in congress from 
that district. 

t This was the proclamation of George 3d, published 
with the declaration. 



ADDRESS 

Of the Provincial Congress of North 
Carolina, to the British Empire, 
September 3, 1775. 

Mr. Hooper laid before the house an address 
to the inhabitants of the British empire ; and 
the same being read was unanimously received, 
and is as follows, viz. 

Friends and fellow-citizens — "The fate of 
the contest which at present subsists between 
these American colonies and the British minis- 
ters who now sit at the helm of public affairs, 
will be one of the most important epochs which 
can mark the annals of the British history. 

" Foreign nations with anxious expectation 
wait the result, and see with amazement the 
blind infatuated policy which the present ad- 
ministration pursues to subjugate these colo- 
nies, and reduce them from being loyal and 
useful subjects, to an absolute dependence and 
abject slavery ; as if the descendants of those 
ancestors who have shed rivers of blood, and 
expended millions of treasure, in fixing upon a 
lasting foundation the liberties of the British 
constitution, saw with emy the once happy 
state of this western region, and strove to ex- 
terminate the patterns of those virtues which 
shone with a lustre which bids fair to rival and 
eclipse their own. 

"To enjoy the fruits of our own honest in- 
dustry ; to call that our own which we earn 
with the labor of our hands, and the sweat of 
our brows ; to regulate that internal policy by 
which we, and not they, are to be affected ; 
these are the mighty boons we ask. And 
traitors, rebels, and every harsh appellation 
that malice can dictate, or the violence of lan- 
guage express, are the returns which we re- 
ceive to the most humble petitions and earnest 
supplications. We have been told that inde- 
pendence is our object ; that we seek to shake 
off all connection with the parent state. Cruel 
suggestion ! do not all our professions, all our 
actions, uniformly contradict this ? 

" We again declare, and we invoke that Al- 
mighty Being who searches the recesses of the 
human heart and knows our most secret in- 
tentions, that it is our most earnest wish and 
prayer to be restored, with the other United 
Colonies, to the state in which we and they 
were placed before the year 1763, disposed to 
glance over any regulations which Britain had 
made previous to this, and which seem to be 
injurious and oppressive to these colonies, 
hoping that at some future day she will be- 
nignly interpose, and remove from us every 
cause of complaint. 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



317 



"Whenever we have departed from the 
forms of the constitution, our own safety and 
self-presen'ation have dictated the expedient ; 
and if in any instances we have assumed 
powers which the laws invest in the sovereign 
or his representatives, it has been only in 
defence of our persons, properties, and those 
rights which God and the constitution have 
made unalienably ours. As soon as the cause 
of our fears and apprehensions are removed, 
with joy will we return these powers to their 
regular channels ; and such institutions formed 
from mere necessity, shall end with that neces- 
sity which created them. 

" These expressions flow from an affection, 
bordering upon devotion, to the succession of 
the house of Hanover, as by law established, 
from subjects who view it as a monument that 
does honor to human nature ; a monument 
capable of teaching kings how glorious it is to 
reign over a free people. — These are the heart- 
felt effusions of men ever ready to spend their 
blood and treasure, when constitutionally called 
upon, in support of that succession of his ma- 
jesty King George the third, his crown and 
dignity, and who fer\'ently wish to transmit his 
reign to future ages as the sera of common 
happiness to his people. Could these our sen- 
timents reach the throne, surely our sovereign 
would forbid the horrors of war and desolation 
to intrude into this once peaceful and happy 
land, and would stop that deluge of human 
blood which now threatens to overflow this 
colony ; blood too precious to be shed but in a 
common cause, against the common enemy of 
Great Britain and her sons. 

"This declaration we hold forth as a testi- 
mony of loyalty to our sovereign, and affection 
to our parent state, and as a sincere earnest 
of our present and future intentions. 

" We hope, thereby, to remove those impres- 
sions which have been made by the represen- 
tation of weak and wicked men to the preju- 
dice of this colony, who thereby intended that 
the rectitude of our designs might be brought 
into distrust, and sedition, anarchy, and confu- 
sion, spread through this loyal province. 

" We have discharged a duty which we owe 
to the world, to ourselves, and posterity ; and 
may the Almighty God give success to the 
means we make use of, so far as they are 
aimed to produce just, lawful, and good pur- 
poses, and the salvation and happiness of the 
whole British empire." 



ROYAL PROCLAMATION 

Of Governor JosiAH Martin, to the peo- 
ple OF North Carolina, October 3, 1780. 

The following ROYAL proclamation was 
communicated at the same time, and published 
as a curiosity : 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

By his excellency Josiah Martin, his majesty's 
captain general and governor in chief of 
the said province, etc., etc., etc. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas the king, ever anxious for the wel- 
fare and happiness of all his people, and sensible 
to the representations which have been con- 
stantly made to him of the steady and unshaken 
loyalty, and of the inviolable fidelity and attach- 
ment of his faithful subjects in this province to 
his person and government, and confiding 
entirely in their repeated assurances to his 
majesty of their own uttermost exertions in 
co-operation with his arms whenever they 
should be directed to their support. And 
whereas his majesty, moved by these considera- 
tions, by every the most tender and paternal 
feeling of concern and regard for the sufferings 
and misery of his faithful people, under the 
intolerable yoke of arbitrary power, which his 
majesty, with indignation, sees imposed by the 
tyranny of the rebel congress upon his free- 
born subjects, hath been pleased to send an 
army to their aid and relief — I have, therefore, 
thought it proper, by this proclamation, to 
inform his majesty's loyal and faithful subjects 
in this province, of this great proof and instance 
of his majesty's gracious attention to them, 
and at the same time to advertise them that the 
royal army, under the command of lieut. gen. 
earl Cornwallis, is thus far -\dvanced to their 
support, leaving it to themselves to compute 
its power and superiority from the great, signal, 
and complete victory which it obtained when 
in force very inferior to its present strength, 
over the rebel army on the i6th of August. 
And whereas, while his majesty, on the one 
hand, holds forth grace and mercy to his de- 
luded subjects who shall immediately, and with 
good faith, return to their duty, to which they 
have been invited, in vain by every reason and 
argument, and by every consideration of inter- 
est, of freedom, and happiness, he is deter- 
mined, on the other, to employ, in the most 
vigorous and effectual manner, the force of his 
arms, and the united strength of his faithful 
people, to restore and maintain to them that 
genuine liberty, peace, and prosperity, which 



318 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



they formerly enjoyed in such full security, 
under the mild government and protection of 
Great Britain, and to compel the disobedient 
to submission to the laws, and to a participa- 
tion of those blessings of a free constitution, 
which, through ignorance, infatuation, delusion, 
blindness, and fraud, they have been hitherto 
led to resist, notwithstanding his majesty's 
most gracious and merciful endeavors to 
reclaim them. Having thus signified to the 
king's loyal and faithful subjects the arrival and 
progress of his majesty's army to their aid and 
support, which they have so long and eagerly 
wished for, it becomes my duty to remind them 
that the time is now arrived in which they are 
to evince the sincerity of their professions of 
loyalty and attachment to his majesty's person 
and government ; they are to consider them- 
selves in this hour most seriously and solemnly 
called upon by every duty of the subject to the 
sovereign, and by every tie and consideration 
of family, liberty, and property, of present and 
future welfare and interest, with heart and 
hand, to join and unite their strength with that 
of his majesty's forces, in order to deliver 
themselves from that intolerableyoke of slavery 
and arbitrary power, (which the tyranny of the 
rebel congress, lost to every sense of truth and 
virtue, is evidently aiming to rivet upon them, 
by calling in the aid of the two Roman Catholic 
powers of France and Spain, whose policy and 
incessant labor it has been for ages to subvert 
the civil and religious liberties of mankind) and 
to restore themselves to that state of perfect 
freedom which is acknowledged thoughout the 
world to be found only in the envied rights and 
condition of British subjects. 

And whereas I have the entire confidence, 
that it is the wish, inclination, and ardent 
desire of his majesty's faithful and loyal sub- 
jects in this province, to employ their strength 
on this great occasion for the redemption of 
every thing that can be dear to men, in the 
way that is likely most effectually and certainly 



to accomplish the great objects of peace and 
happiness which they have in view : I do here- 
by exhort and invite all the young and able- 
bodied men to testify the reality of their loyalty 
and spirit, by enlisting in the provincial corps, 
which are forthwith to be raised and put under 
my command, as his majesty's governor of the 
province, hereby informing and assuring them 
that they are and will be required to serve only 
during the rebellion, and within the provinces 
of North and South Carolina and Virginia, 
under officers of their own recommendation ; 
that each man will receive the bounty of three 
guineas at the time of enlisting, and all the 
pay, clothing, appointments, allowances, and 
encouragements of soldiers of his majesty's 
army ; and will be entitled, at the end of the 
rebellion, when they are to be discharged, to 
free grants of land. And I have such full as- 
surance that his majesty's loyal and faithful 
subjects of this province will so clearly see the 
propriety and necessity of forming their 
strength upon this plan, which experience hath 
proved can alone render it useful and effectual, 
to the speedy suppression of the tyranny which 
has for years past deprived them of every bles- 
sing, right, and enjoyment of life, that I am 
confident their honest zeal will lead them to 
contend and vie with each other in filling the 
respective battalions in which they shall choose 
to enlist, from a just sense of the merit and 
applause that will be due to such as are soonest 
completed. 

Given under my hand, and the great seal of 
the said province at head quarters, in 
Charlottetown, this third day of October 
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty, and in the twentieth 
year of his majesty's reign. 

Jo. Martin.. 

By his excellency's command : 
RiGDON Brice, p. Secy. 

God save the king ! 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



319 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



ACTION 

Of the inhabitants of Charleston, 
South Carolina, to resist the Stamp 
Act. 

FROM DRAYTON MEMOIRS, I775. 

Among other extracts made from this work, 
and published in the Charleston Courier, we 
have selected the following : 

The proceedings at Charleston to resist the 
operations of the stamp-act are ver>' interest- 
ing. The commons house of assembly, having 
been assured of the stamp-act from Great 
Britain, endeavored to prevent it from being en- 
forced by denying it official promulgation. This 
furnishes additional evidence that the colonists 
resorted to the chances of war, after having in- 
effectually tried every mode of redress. But fate, 
for wise purposes, had rendered remonstrance, 
argument, and even entreaty, unavailing. 

" Having received the stamp-act, the lieut. 
governor, (in the absence in England of Thomas 
Boone, the governor), manifested a desire of 
complying with its requisitions, in causing it to 
be executed, (the governor of the province 
being, by the terms of the act, sworn with its 
due execution) ; but his powers at that time 
were insufficient to effectuate the same. 

" Encouraged by this weakness, and by the 
public opinion which was hostile to the act, 
the members of assembly deliberated in what 
manner they might most embarrass and elude 
its operations. And, as the best mode they 
could devise, they addressed the lieutenant 
governor on the occasion, requesting to be 
informed whether the stamp-act, said to have 
been passed in parliament, had been transmit- 
ted to him, and if it had through what chan- 
nel ; and whether he had received it from a 
secretary of state, the lords of trade, or from 
any other authentic source ? These were 
questions of a singular nature — however, his 
honor, from a desire to soften as much as pos- 
sible the fermentations which existed, answered, 
he had received it from Thomas Boone, the 
governor of the province. The assembly replied, 
that, while Mr. Boone was out of the bounds 
of his government they could not consider him 
in any other light than as a private gentleman ; 
and the act being received through such a 



channel, was not sufficiently authentic, to place 
the lieutenant governor under the obligation 
of enforcing it. 

"The stamps soon reached Charleston, and 
were deposited at Fort Johnson. The people 
finding the lieutenant governor and crown 
officers determined to circulate them, resolved 
to counteract all their movements, and obtain 
possession of the stamp paper. 

"About one hundred and fifty volunteers 
were soon organized and armed for the pur- 
pose ; and two nights after, boats being pro- 
vided at LamboU's bridge, on the west end of 
South Bay, they formed and marched towards 
that place for embarkation. From thence, 
they proceeded in boats across Ashley river, 
and landed after twelve o'clock at night, on 
James Island, between Style's plantation and 
the fort. They then proceeded towards the 
fort, and halting at a small distance from it, a 
reconnoitering party was sent forward. This 
party proceeded to the draw-bridge unnoticed, 
or challenged by sentries ; and finding it down, 
through the omission of the garrison, they 
immediately returned and reported the same. 

" The whole body of volunteers then ad- 
vanced upon the fort; and arriving at the 
bridge, they crossed it without opposition — 
pressed through the inner gate, which was not 
secured, and immediately possessed them- 
selves of the fort. Only one soldier was found 
awake ; and before he could give the alarm, 
the remainder of the garrison was secured 
except Lloyd, its commander, who had not 
slept there that night. The garrison was 
then placed under a guard — the bridge was 
drawn up — and a search commenced for the 
obnoxious stamped paper. This, to the great 
joy of the volunteers, was at length found in 
one of the rooms of the barracks, and a guard 
was placed over it. Preparations were then 
made for maintaining the fort against any 
attack which might be made upon it by the 
sloop-of-war, when day light should arrive ; 
and for this purpose, the cannon on the plat- 
form were loaded with ball and grape shot, 
matches were provided, and a number of men 
were stationed at each gun ; and a flag, show- 
ing a blue field, with three white crescents, 
which the volunteers had brought with them 
for the purpose, was hoisted on the flag staff 
of the fort." 



320 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ADDRESS 

Of the Provincial Congress to Lord 
William Campbell, Governor of the 

Province, June 20, 1775. 

Charleston, ynnc 21, 1775. 
Ordered — That the hon. William Henry 
Drayton, the hon. Bernard Elliot, colonel 
Charles Pinckney, col. James Parsons, col. Isaac 
Motte, col. Stephen Bull, col. William Moultrie, 
major Owen Roberts, captain Thomas Savage, 
captain John Huger, Miles Brewton, Thomas 
Ferguson, and Gabriel Capers, esquires, be a 
deputation to present his excellency the gov- 
ernor, the address of this congress. 

To his excellency the right honorable lord 
William Campbell, governor and commander 
in chief over the province aforesaid. 

The humble address and declaration of the 
provincial congress. 

May it please your excellency — We, his ma- 
jesty's loyal subjects, the representatives of the 
people of this colony, in congress assembled, 
beg leave to disclose to your excellency, the 
true cause of our present proceedings ; not only 
that upon your arrival among us, you may re- 
ceive no unfavorable impression of our conduct, 
but that we may stand justified to the world. 

When the ordinary- modes of application for 
redress of grievances, and the usual means of 
defence against arbitrary impositions have 
failed, mankind generally have had recourse to 
those that are extraordinary. Hence, the origin 
of the continental congress — and hence the 
present representation of the people in this 
colony. 

It is unnecessary to enumerate the grievances 
of America ; they have been so often represen- 
ted, that your excellency cannot be a stranger 
to them. — Let it, therefore, suffice to say, that 
the hands of his majesty's ministers, having 
long lain heaNy, now press with mtolerable 
weight. We declare, that no love of innovation 
— no desire of altering the constitution of gov- 
ernment — no lust of independence has h.ad the 
least influence upon our councils : but, alarmed 
and roused by a long succession of arbitrary 
proceedings, by wicked administrations — im- 
pressed with the greatest apprehension of in- 
stigated insurrections — and deeply affected by 
the commencement of hostilities by the British 
troops against this continent, — solely for the 
preservation and defence of our lives, liberties, 
and properties, we have been impelled to asso- 
ciate and take up arms. 

We sincerely deplore those slanderous infor- 
mations and wicked councils, by which his | 



majesty has been led into measures, which, if 
persisted in, must inevitably have involved 
America in all the calamities of a civil war, 
and rend the British empire. We only desire 
the secure enjoyment of our invaluable rights, 
and we wish for nothing more ardently, than a 
speedy reconciliation with our mother country, 
upon constitutional principles. 

Conscious of the justice of our cause, and the 
integrity of our views, we readily profess our 
loyal attachment to our sovereign, his crown, 
and dignity ; and, trusting the event to Provi- 
dence, we prefer death to slavery. These 
things, we have thought it our duty to declare, 
that your excellency, and through you, our 
august sovereign — our fellow subjects — and the 
whole world — may clearly understand, that 
our taking up arms, is the result of dire neces- 
sity, and in compliance with the first law of 
nature. 

We entreat and trust, that your excellency 
will make such a representation of the state of 
this colony, and of our true motives, as to as- 
sure his majesty, that in the midst of all our 
complicated distresses, he has no subjects in 
his wide dominions, who more sincerely desire 
to testify their loyalty and affection, or who 
would be more willing to devote their lives and 
fortunes to his real service. 

By order of the provincial congress, at 
Charleston, June 20, 1775. 

Henry Laurens, President. 



RESOLUTIONS 



Passed by the Provincial Congress. 

Charleston, Wednesday ^ June 21, 1775. 
" Whereas, the inhabitants of Poole, a sea- 
port in the English Channel, lost to all sense 
of honor, humanity and gratitude, have, by their 
late petition to parliament, manifested them- 
selves not only inimical to America, but desi- 
rous to add to the heavy oppressions under 
which the unfortunate and virtuous inhabitants 
of the four New England governments labor, 
in consequence of their laudable conduct in 
defence of the liberties of America and of man- 
kind : to testify our just resentment to so base 
and cruel a conduct in the inhabitants of Poole, 
it is hereby resolved. That this colony will not 
use or employ any shipping belonging to that 
port, or owned by any inhabitant there, or carry 
on any transactions, or hold any communication 
with that people. 

Thursday, yune 33. 

" Resolved, That all absentees, holding estates 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



321 



in this colony, except the sick, those above 60, 
and those under 21 years of age, ought, forth- 
with to return to this colony. 

" Resolved, That no persons, holding estates 
in this colony, ought to withdraw from its 
service, without giving good and sufficient rea- 
sons for so doing to this congress, or, during 
its recess, to the general committee. 

Peter Timothy, Secretary. 



ASSOCIATION 



Formed for resistance to the aggres- 
sions OF Great Britain, June, 1775. 

The actual commencement of hostilities 
against this continent, by the British troops, in 
the bloody scene on the 19th of April last, near 
Boston ; the increase of arbitrary' impositions, 
from a wicked and despotic ministry, and the 
dread of instigated insurrections in the colonies, 
are causes sufficient to drive an oppressed peo- 
ple to the use of arms : — We, therefore, the 
subscribers, inhabitants of South Carolina, 
holding ourselves bound, by that most sacred 
of all obligations, the duty of good citizens 
towards an injured country, and thoroughly 
convinced, that, under our present distressed 
circumstances, we shall be justified before God 
and man, in resisting force by force, do unite 
ourselves under every tie of religion and honor, 
and associate as a band in her defence, against 
every foe ; hereby solemnly engaging that 
whenever our continental and provincial coun- 
cils shall decree it necessary, we will go forth, 
and be ready to sacrifice our lives, and for- 
tunes, to secure her freedom and safety. — This 
obligation to continue in full force until a re- 
conciliation shall take place between Great 
Britain and America, upon constitutional prin- 
ciples ; an event which we most ardently desire. 
And we will hold all those persons inimical to 
the liberties of the colonies, who shall refuse to 
subscribe to this association. 

Subscribed by every member present, and 
certified by Henry Laurens, President. 

June, 1775. 



LETTER 

From Charleston, South Carolina, 
August 5, 1775. 

The determination of the people to resist tke 
aggression of Grvat Britain. 

"Be assured, peace will never be firmly 
established between Great Britain and America, 



until the latter receives an ample recognition 
of her rights, and full satisfaction for the blood 
that has or may be shed. The inhabitants of 
this vast continent would give up all their sea- 
coast towns, retire into the interior country, 
and contentedly subsist on the bare necessaries 
of life, rather than submit to the implicit subju- 
gation of a British parliament. But don't ap- 
prehend they will suffer this distress like docile 
animals. No ; depend, they will protect their 
property to the last extremity, and although 
they have hitherto acted only on the defensive, 
believe me, unless there is an evident prospect 
of accommodation this winter, hostilities will 
commence on their part, by and with the assist- 
ance of a foreign power, and with a spirit that 
will alarm all Europe. And then farewell to 
Great Britain." 



RESOLUTIONS 

Of the Provincial Congress of South 
Carolina, and Complimentary Ad- 
dress OF THE President to the Rep- 
resentatives of the Province in the 
Continental Congress for their 
patriotic services. 

From the Journal of the Provincial congress 
of South Carolina. 

In Congress, Feb. 8, 1776. 

Resolved, That Mr. President do signify the 
approbation of this congress, and present their 
thanks to the hon. Henry Middleton, and 
John Rutledge, esqrs. now present in congress, 
and to the other delegates of this colony at 
Philadelphia, for their important services in the 
American congress. 

Mr. President accordingly addressed himself 
to the hon. Mr. Middleton, and Mr. Rutledge, 
as follows : 

Gentletnen — When the hand of tyranny, 
armed in hostile manner, was extended from 
Great Britain to spoil America of whatever she 
held most valuable, it was for the most im- 
portant purposes, that the good people of this 
colony delegated you to represent them in 
the continental congress, at Philadelphia. It 
became your business to ascertain the rights of 
America, to point out her violated franchises, 
to make humble representation to the king for 
redress, and he, being deaf to the cries of his 
American subjects, to appeal to the King of 
kings, for the recovery of the rights of an infant 
people, by the majesty of Heaven formed for 
future empire. 

In this most important business you engaged, 



322 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



as became good citizens ; and, step by step, 
you deliberately advanced through it, with a 
regret and sorrow, and with a resolution and 
conduct, that bear all the characters of ancient 
magnanimity. Your constituents, with a steady 
eye, beheld your progress. They saw the 
American claim of rights, the association for 
the recovery of American franchises, and the 
humble petition to the king for redress of griev- 
ances. They saw the American appeal to the 
King of kings ; and a second humble petition 
to the British monarch, alas ! as unavailing as 
the first. They have also seen the establish- 
ment of an American naval force, a treasury, a 
general post-office, and the laying on a conti- 
nental embargo: in short, they have seen per- 
mission granted to colonies to erect forms of 
government independent of, and in opposition 
to the regal authority. 

Your country saw all these proceedings, the 
work of a body of which you were and are 
members ; proceedings arising from dire ne- 
cessity, and not from choice ; proceedings that 
are the natural consequences of the present 
inauspicious reign ; proceedings just in them- 
selves, and which, notwithstanding the declara- 
tions of the corrupt houses of parliament, the 
proclamation at the court of St. James's, the 
23d of August, and the subsequent royal 
speech in parliament, are exactly as far distant 
from treason and rebellion, as stands the glori- 
ous revolution, which deprived a tyrant of his 
kingdoms, and elevated the house of Brunswick 
to royalty. 

Worthy delegates ! It is the judgment of 
your country that your conduct, of which I 
have marked the grand lines, in the American 
congress, is justifiable before God and man, 
and that, whatever may be the issue of this 
defensive civil war, in which, unfortunately 
though gloriously, we are engaged, whether 
independence or slavery, all the blood, and all 
the guilt, must be imputed to British not to 
American counsels. — Hence your constituents, 
sensible of the propriety of your conduct, and 
of the benefits which, with the blessing of the 
Almighty, it is calculated to shed upon America, 
have constituted me their instrument, as well 
to signify to you their approbation, as to pre- 
sent to you their thanks : and it is in the dis- 
charge of these duties that I now have the 
hxjnor to address you. 

In an important crisis, like the present, to 
receive the public thanks of a free people, is to 
receive the most honorable recompense for past 
sen'ices, and to deserve such thanks is to be 
truly great. I know that it is with pain such 
men hear their commendations. Gentlemen, 



with the public recompense, I mean to pay 
in to you my mite also ; and lest I wound your 
delicacy, when I mean only to do justice to 
your merit, I forbear to particularize what is 
already well known. I therefore confine my- 
self; and I do most respectfully, in the name 
of the congress, present to you, and to each of 
you, the thanks of your country, for your im- 
portant services in the American congress at 
Philadelphia. 



PROCEEDINGS 



Of the general assembly of South 
Carolina. 

At a general assembly begun and holden at 
Charleston, on Tuesday the twenty-sixth day 
of March, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand seven hundred and seventy-six ; and 
from thence continued, by divers adjourn- 
ments, to Thursday the eleventh day of April, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 
hundred a?id seventy-six. 

An act to prment sedition, and punish insur- 
gents and disturbers of the public peace. 

Whereas a horrid and unnatural war is now 
carried on by the ministry and parliament of 
Great Britain, against the united colonies of 
North America in general, and this colony in 
particular, with a cruel and oppressive design 
of robbing tlie colonies and good people of this 
colony of their dearest and most valuable rights 
as freemen, and reducing them to a state of 
the most abject slavery' and oppression : and 
whereas, also, in order further to accomplish 
the said iniquitous and unwarrantable designs, 
every means has been adopted by a wicked ad- 
ministration to sow civil dissensions and ani- 
mosities, and to create disorder, confusion and 
bloodshed amongst the good people of this 
colony, by employing secret emissaries to stir 
up In the minds of wicked and evil-disposed 
persons, persuasions and principles inimical to 
the ties of humanity, and the common rights 
of mankind, and thereby inducing them not 
only to disturb the common peace, safety, and 
good order of this colony, but to take up arms 
and spill the blood of their fellow-citizens, who 
are only acting in the defence of their lives, lib- 
erties, and properties, against the hands of a 
lawless and despotic power: to the intent, 
therefore, and in order the more effectually to 
preserve and secure the peace, order, and good 
government of this colony, and to deter and 
prevent such evil-minded persons from com- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



323 



mitting such offences, and all such other of- 
fences declared in this act, to the great danger 
of the lives, liberties, and properties of the in- 
habitants of this colony: Be it enacted by his 
excellency John Rutledge, esq. president and 
commander in chief in and over the colony of 
South Carolina, and by the honorable the legis- 
lative council and general assembly of this 
colony, and by the authority of the same, that 
if any person or persons within this colony do, 
or shall, from, and immediately after, the pass- 
ing of this act, take up arms with a hostile 
intent, and by force and violence, or by words, 
deeds, or writing, or any other means whatso- 
ever, cause, induce, or persuade, or attempt to 
cause, induce, or persuade any other person or 
persons, with such hostile intent, to take up 
arms, and by force and violence to oppose and 
subvert the authority of the government of this 
colony, established by the constitution, agreed on 
and confirmed in congress at Charleston, on the 
twenty-sixth day of March, one thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-six, or to wound, maim, 
or kill any person or persons, or destroy any of 
the houses, goods, or chattels of any such 
persons who shall under, and by virtue of any 
authority of the said government, be acting in 
support and defence of the same, or the execu- 
tion of any power, authority or office derived 
therefrom, all and every of such person or per- 
sons, and the aider and abettor, or aiders and 
abettors of such person or persons so offend- 
ing, in either of the offences aforesaid, shall, 
on being indicted and convicted of the same, 
by due course of law, be deemed and adjudged 
guilty of felony, and suffer death without 
benefit of clergy. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That if any persons within this colo- 
ny shall, immediately after the passing of this 
act, or at any time thereafter, by letter, writing, 
message, or other means of intelligence, hold 
any correspondence or intercourse, or conspire 
or concert in any manner whatever with, or aid 
or abet any land or naval force, raised or to be 
raised, or which shall be sent by Great Britain, 
in a hostile manner, against this colony, or any 
other force or body of men within this colony, 
who shall, in a hostile intent or manner, oppose 
the power and authority of the present govern- 
ment of this colony, established as aforesaid, 
with an intent to promote the accomplishment 
of any hostile plan of operation, designed by 
such force or forces against the lives, liberties 
and properties of all or any of the inhabitants 
and friends to the constitution of this colony, 
established as aforesaid — every such person or 
persons, so offending in any of the said of- 



fences, shall, on being indicted and convicted 
thereof by due course of law, be deemed and 
adjudged guilty of felony, and suffer death 
without benefit of clergy. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid, that if any person or persons within 
this colony shall, immediately after the passing 
of this act, or at any time thereafter, furnish or 
supply, or cause or procure to be furnished or 
supplied, with any bills of exchange, monies, 
goods, provisions, liquors, or other necessary ar- 
ticles of subsistence, or any military or naval 
stores whatever, to any of the land or naval for- 
ces, raised or to be raised, or sent by Great Bri- 
tain, or any authority derived from that gov- 
ernment, against this colony, or shall, in like 
manner, furnish or supply, or cause to be fur- 
nished or supplied, any force or body of men 
who shall, in a hostile manner, oppose the gov- 
ernment of this colony, established as afore- 
said — ever)' such person or persons, so offend- 
ing in either of the offences aforesaid, and the 
aider or abettor, or aiders and abettors of any 
of the said offences, shall, on being indicted or 
convicted thereof, by due course of law, be 
deemed and adjudged guilty of felony, and suf- 
fer death without benefit of clergy. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid, That if any person or persons with- 
in this colony shall, at any time after the pass- 
ing of this act, compel, induce, persuade, or 
attempt to compel, induce, or persuade any 
white person, or persons, or any free negro, or 
negroes, mulatto or mulattoes, Indian or In- 
dians, to desert from their habitation or habi- 
tations, or any negro or other slave or slaves, 
to desert from his or their master, mistress, or 
owner, and to join any land or naval force, 
raised or to be raised, or sent by Great Bri- 
tain, or any authority derived from that govern- 
ment, against the united colonies of America, 
or this colony, to join any person or persons 
armed in a hostile manner, with intent to op- 
pose or subvert the government of this colony, 
established as aforesaid, or with intent of kill- 
ing any person or persons, or destroying his, 
her, or their goods or property, who shall be 
acting, or ready and willing to act in support 
and defence of such government, or any of the 
inhabitants of this colony and friends to the 
same — every such person or persons, so offend- 
ing in any of the above offences, and all such 
as shall aid and abet the said offender, or of- 
fenders, in the perpetration and execution of any 
of the said offences, shall, on conviction there- 
of, by due course of law, be deemed and 
adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer 
death without benefit of clergy. Provided 



324 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



always, nevertheless, that nothing in this act 
contained shall be construed or taken to pre- 
vent the good people of this colony from arm- 
ing of slaves or negroes, for the better defence 
of this colony against all enemies whatsoever, 
who shall invade or attack the same, or endan- 
ger the safety thereof. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That if any person or persons 
within this colony shall, immediately after the 
passing of this act, or at any time thereafter, col- 
lect or assemble with any body or assembly of 
persons, or cause or procure them to be so col- 
lected and assembled, with intent, in a riotous 
and seditious manner, to disturb the public 
peace and tranquility, and the good order of 
the government, and by words or other- 
wise to create and raise traitorous sedi- 
tions or discontents in the minds of the good 
people of this colony, against the authority of 
the present government established as afore- 
said — every such person or persons, so offend- 
ing in any of the said offences, shall, on convic- 
tion thereof, by due course of law, be deemed 
and adjudged guilty of felony. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That the lands and tenements, 
goods and chattels, and other real and personal 
estate of all such person or persons, who 
shall be duly convicted, by virtue of this act, 
of any of the crimes and offences thereby made 
felony, shall, within one month after such con- 
viction, by the sheriff of each district respec- 
tively, in which such real and personal estate 
of the person or persons so convicted, or any 
part thereof, shall be found, with three free- 
holders of the said distinct, be appraised upon 
oath, and the said appraisement duly returned, 
by the said sheriff of such district, to the secre- 
tary's office in Charleston, within one month 
after such appraisement is made, and the said 
sheriff of such district in which the appraise- 
ment is made, as aforesaid, shall, within one 
month thereafter, expose such estate so ap- 
praised to public sale, first giving twenty-one 
days public notice of the sale ; and shall, 
within three months after such sale, deposite 
the amount of the same, deducting legal 
poundage and charges, in the office of the col- 
ony treasury in Charleston, and the commis- 
sioners of the colony treasury, or any one of 
them, on receipt of such monies from the 
sheriff, as aforesaid, shall give a receipt or 
/oucher for the same. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That if any sheriff or sheriffs, for 
any of the districts in this colony, shall in any 
wise trangress, or disobey, or neglect the put- 



ting in execution, any of the provisions or 
clauses in this act, respecting their duty and 
office — every sheriff so offending, disobeying or 
neglecting the same, shall forfeit his office, and 
incur the penalty of one thousand pounds cur- 
rent money, to be sued for, and recovered by 
bill or plaint in any court of record in this col 
ony, wherein no essoign, privilege, protection 
or wag-er of law, or more than one imparlance, 
shall be allowed. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That the monies arising from the 
sale of all such estates as shall become for- 
feited, by virtue of this act, shall be appro- 
priated for a fund, and shall become a re- 
prisal fund, for reimbursing all such losses 
and damages which have been, or shall be 
sustained by any person or persons who 
have been, are, or shall be, engaged in opposi- 
tion to the oppressive measures of the British 
ministry, or the defence of the present estab- 
lished constitution, and the liberties of this 
colony. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That no person or persons shall be 
reimbursed, by virtue of this act, for any losses 
or damages sustained from persons acting in 
open hostility against the present constitution 
of government, and the liberties of this colony, 
unless the said reimbursement be, on applica- 
tion, and oath made of the damages actually 
sustained, deemed just and reasonable by the 
general assembly of this colony, or such other 
body or persons as the legislative body of this 
colony shall appoint. Pro\ided always, never- 
theless. That such person or persons, to 
whom such reimbursement shall be thought 
reasonable, do first, before the receipt thereof 
take and subscribe the oath of fidelity, ordained 
in the present constitution, if such person or 
persons had not before taken and subscribed 
the same. 

And be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That the fines and penalties to be 
incurred, by virtue of this act, shall upon re- 
covery thereof, be paid into the colony treasury, 
to be applied to, and for such uses and pur- 
poses as are herein mentioned. 

G. G. Powell, speaker of the 

Legislative council. 
James Parsons, speaker of the 
General assembly. 

In the council chamber, the nth day of 
April, 1776 — Assented to, 

J. RUTLEDGE. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



325 



ADDRESS 

Of the Assembly to John Rutledge, 
April 3. 1776. 

To his excellency John Rutledge, esq. president 
and conmander in chief in and oaier the 
colony of South Carolina. 

The address of the legislative council and gen- 
eral assembly. 

May it please your excellency — 

We, the legislative council and general as- 
sembly of South Carolina, convened under the 
authority of the equitable constitution of govern- 
ment established by a free people in congress, 
on the 26th ult. beg leave, most respectfully, 
to address your excellency. 

Nothing is better known to your excellency 
than the unavoidable necessity which induced 
us, as members of congress, on the part of the 
people, to resume the powers of government, 
and to establish some mode for regulating the 
internal polity of this colony ; and, as members 
of the legislative council and general assembly 
to vest you, for a time limited, with the exe- 
cutive authority. Such constitutional proceed- 
ings, on our part, we make no doubt will be 
misconstrued into acts of the greatest crimin- 
ality by that despotism, which, lost to all sense 
of justice and humanity, has already pretended 
that we are in actual rebellion. But, sir, when we 
reflect upon the unprovoked, cruel, and accumu- 
lated oppressions under which America, in gen- 
eral, and this colony in particular, has long con- 
tinued ; oppressions which, gradually increasing 
in injustice and violence, are now, by the 
inexorable tyranny perpetrated against the 
united colonies, under the various forms of rob- 
bery, conflagrations, massacre, breach of public 
faith, and open war ; conscious of our natural 
and unalienable rights, and determined to make 
every effort in our power to retain them, we 
see your excellency's elevation from the midst 
of us, to govern this country', as the natural 
consequence of such outrages. 

By the suffrages of a free people you, sir, 
have been chosen to hold the reins of govern- 
ment, an event as honorable to yourself as bene- 
ficial to the public. We firmly trust that you 
will make the constitution the great rule of 
your conduct ; and, in the most solemn manner, 
we do assure your excellency that, in the dis- 
charge of your duties, under that constitution 
which looks forward to an accommodation with 
Great Britain (an event which though traduced 
and treated as rebels, we still earnestly desire,) 
we will support you with our lives and fortunes. 



In the legislative council, the 3d day of 
April, 1776. 

George Gabriel Powell, speaker. 
In the general assembly, the 3d day of April, 
1776. 

By order of the house, 

James Parsons, speaker. 



Answer OF John Rutledge, April 3, 1776. 

Honorable gentlemen of the legislative council, 

Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the general 

assembly. 

My most cordial thanks are due, and I re- 
quest that you will accept them, for this solemn 
engagement of support, in discharging the 
duty of the honorable station to which, by your 
favor, I have been elected. 

Be persuaded, that no man would embrace a 
just and equitable accommodation with Great 
Britain more gladly than myself; but, until so 
desirable an object can be obtained, the defence 
of my countr)', and preservation of that con- 
stitution which, from a perfect knowledge of 
the rights, and a laudable regard to the hap- 
piness of the people, you have so wisely framed, 
shall engross my whole attention. 

To this country I owe all that is dear and 
valuable, and would, with the greatest pleasure, 
sacrifice every temporal felicity to establish and 
perpetuate her freedom. 

J. Rutledge. 



RESOLUTIONS 



Passed by the General Assembly of 
South Carolina, April 6, 1776. 

Ordered, That the following resolutions be 
forthwith printed and made public. 
By order of the house, 

Peter Timothy, Clerk G. A. 

Whereas, the honorable the continental con- 
gress hath resolved, " that in the present 
situation of affairs, it will be very dangerous to 
the liberties and welfare of America, if any 
colony should separately petition the king or 
either house of parliament :" and whereas no 
step should be left unessayed to promote the 
general welfare : and whereas the sending 
commissioners from Great Britain to treat with 
the different colonies, is dangerous to the 
stability of the liberties of America : There- 
fore — 

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this house< 
that no measure should be left unessayed to 



326 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



establish the liberties of America, and to place 
them as far as may be, out of the reach of 
fraudulent schemes to subvert them by nego- 
tiation ; and that this colony should not enter 
into any treaty or correspondence with the 
court of Great Britain, or with any person or 
persons under that authority, but through the 
medium of the continental congress. 

Resolved also. That it is the opinion of this 
house, that if any person or persons sent from 
Great Britain to treat with the several colonies, 
shall arrive in this colony by water, such per- 
son or persons and their retinue or company, 
should not, upon any pretence, be allowed to 
land, or to remain in the colony longer than 
forty-eight hours, wind and weather permit- 
ting ; or while so remaining, to hold any com- 
munication with any person in this colony, but 
through his excellency the president ; and if any 
such persons shall arrive by land, they should 
be forthwith escorted out of the colony, and not 
permitted to hold conference with any person 
not for that purpose authorized by the president 
and that for the mere purpose of accommoda- 
tion. 



SPEECH 

Of John Rutledge, President, to the 
General Assembly, April ii, 1776. 

Honorable gentlemen of the legislative coun- 
cil — Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the gen- 
eral assembly. 

It has afforded me much satisfaction to 
observe that though the season of the year 
rendered your sitting very inconvenient, your 
private concerns, which must have suffered 
greatly by your long and close application, in 
the late congress, to the affairs of the colony, 
requiring your presence in the county, yet con- 
tinuing to prefer the public weal to ease, and 
retirement, you have been busily engaged in 
framing such laws as our peculiar circum- 
stances rendered absolutely necessary to be 
passed before your adjournment. Having given 
my assent to them, I presume you are now 
desirous of a recess. 

On my part, a most solemn oath has been 
taken for the faithful discharge of my duty ; on 
yours, a solemn assurance has been given to 
support me therein. Thus a public compact 
between us stands recorded. You may rest 
assured that I shall keep this oath ever in 
mind — the constitution shall be the invariable 
rule of my conduct — my ears shall be always 
open to the complaints of the injured, justice. 



in mercy, shall neither be denied, or delayed. 
Our laws and religion, and the liberties of 
America, shall be maintained and defended, to 
the utmost of my power. I repose the most 
perfect confidence in your engagement. 

And now, gentlemen, let me entreat that 
you will, in your several parishes and districts, 
use your influence and authority to keep peace 
and good order, and procure strict observance 
of, and ready obedience to the law. If any 
persons therein are still strangers to the nature 
and merits of the dispute between Great Britain 
and the colonies, you will explain it to them 
fully, and teach them, if they are so unfortunate 
as not to know their inherent rights. Prove to 
them, that the privileges of being tried by a 
jury of the vicinage, acquainted with the parties 
and witnesses ; of being taxed only with their 
own consent, given by their representatives, 
freely chosen by, and sharing the burthen equally 
with themselves, not for the aggrandizing a 
rapacious minister, and his dependent favorites, 
and for corrupting the people, and subverting 
their liberties, but for such wise and salutary 
purposes, as they themselves approve ; and of 
having their internal polity regulated, only by 
laws consented to by competent judges of what 
is best adapted to their situation and circum- 
stances, equally bound too by those laws, are 
inestimable, and derived from that constitution, 
which is the birth-right of the poorest man, 
and the best inheritance of the most wealthy. 
Relate to them the various, unjust and cruel 
statutes, which the British parliament, claiming 
a right to make laws for binding the colonies 
in all cases whatsoever, have enacted ; and the 
many sanguinary measures which have been, 
and are daily pursued and threatened, to 
wrest from them those invaluable benefits, and 
to enforce such an unlimited and destructive 
claim. To the most illiterate it must appear, 
that no power on earth can, of right, deprive 
them of the hardly earned fruits of their honest 
industry, toil and labor — even to them, the 
impious attempt to prevent many thousands 
from using the means of subsistence provided 
for man by the bounty of his Creator, and to 
compel them, by famine, to surrender their 
rights ; will seem to call for Divine vengeance. 
The endeavors, by deceit and bribery, to engage 
barbarous nations to embrue their hands in 
the innocent blood of helpless women and 
children ; and the attempts by fair but false 
promises to make ignorant domestics subser- 
vient to the most wicked purposes, are acts 
at which humanity must revolt. 

Shew your constituents then, the indispensa- 
ble necessity which there was for establishing 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



327 



some mode of government in this colony ; the 
benefits of that, which a full and free represen- 
tation has established ; and that the consent 
of the people is the origin, and their happiness 
the end of government. Remove the appre- 
hensions with which honest and well-meaning, 
but weak and credulous, minds may be alarmed; 
and prevent ill impressions by artful and design- 
ing enemies. Let it be known that this consti- 
tution is but temporary, till an accommodation 
of the unhappy differences between Great 
Britain and America can be obtained ; and that 
such an event is still desired by men who yet 
remember former friendships and intimate 
connections, though for defending their per- 
sons and properties, they are stigmatized and 
treated as rebels. 

Truth, being known, will prevail over artifice 
and misrepresentation. — In such case no man, 
who is worthy of life, liberty, or property, will, 
or can, refuse to join with you, in defending 
them to the last extremity, disdaining every 
sordid view, and the mean paltry considerations 
of private interest and present emolument, 
when placed in competition with the Uberties 
of millions ; and seeing that there is no alter- 
native but absolute, unconditional submission, 
and the most abject slavery, or a defence becom- 
ing men born to freedom, he will not hesitate 
about the choice. Although superior force 
may, by the permission of Heaven, lay waste 
our towns, and ravage our country, it can 
never eradicate from the breasts of freemen, 
those principles which are ingrafted in their 
very nature. — Such men will do their duty, 
neither knowing, nor regarding consequen- 
ces ; but submitting them, with humble confi- 
dence, to the omniscient and omnipotent arbi- 
ter and director of the fate of empires, and trust- 
ing that his Almighty arm, which has been so 
signally stretched out for our defence, will 
deliver them in a righteous cause. 

The eyes of Europe, nay of the whole world, 
are on America. The eyes of every other colony 
are on this ; a colony, whose reputation for 
generosity and magnanimity, is universally 
acknowledged. I trust, therefore, it will not 
be diminished by our future conduct ; that 
there will be no civil discord here ; and that 
the only strife amongst brethren will be, who 
shall do most to serve and to save an oppres- 
sed and injured country. 

John Rutledge. 

April n, 1776. 

In general assembly. South Carolina, April 
II, 1776. 

Ordered, That the speech this day delivered 



to both houses, by his excellency the president, 
and commander in chief of this colony, be 
forthwith printed and made public, as well in 
the newspapers as otherwise. 
By order of the house, 

Peter Timothy, Clerk G. A. 



CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM HENRY 
DRAYTON, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Charges to the Grand Jury, 

Of general sessio?t held at Charleston, 1776 
a7td 1777, commending the constitution as 
established by congress March 26th, 1776/ 
the rise of the Afnerican empire and other 
topics affecting the interests of the people, 
with the Presentments of the Jury ap- 
pended. 

At an adjournment of the court of general 
sessions of the peace, oyer and termi- 
ner, ASSIZE AND general GAOL DELIV- 
ERY, held at Charleston for the district of 
Charleston, on Tuesday, the 23d day of 
April, 1776 — Before the hon. William 
Henry Drayton, esq. chief justice, and 
his associates, justices of the colony of 
South Carolina, 

On motion of Mr. Attorney General, ordered. 
That the charge of his honor, the chief jus- 
tice, delivered to the grand jury, be pub- 
lished together with their presentments. 
By order of the court, 
John Colcock, C. C. S. 
May 2d. 

THE charge to THE GRAND JURY. 

Gentlemen of the grand jury — When, by 
evil machinations tending to nothing less than 
absolute tyranny, trials by jun/ have been dis- 
continued, and juries, in discharge of their 
duty, have assembled, and as soon as met, as 
silently and arbitrarily dismissed without being 
impannelled, whereby, in contempt of magna 
charta, justice has been delayed and denied ; 
it cannot but afford to every good citizen, the 
most sincere satisfaction, once more to see 
juries, as they now are, legally impannelled, to 
the end, that the laws may be duly adminis- 
tered — I do most heartily congratulate you 
upon so important an event. 

In this court, where silence has but too long 
presided, with a direct purpose to loosen the 
bands of government, that this country might 
be involved in anarchy and confusion, you are 
now met to regulate your verdicts, under a 
new constitution of government, independent 



328 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of royal authority : A constitution which arose 
according to the great law of nature and of 
nations, and which was established in the late 
congress, on the 26th of March last — a day 
that will be ever memorable in this country — a 
month, remarkable in our history, for having 
given birth to the original constitution of our 
governraent in the year 1669; for being the 
aera of the American calamities by the stamp 
act, in the year 1765 ; for being the date of the 
repeal of that act in the following year ; and 
for the conclusion of the famous siege of Bos- 
ton, when the American arms compelled gen- 
eral Howe, a general of the first reputation in 
the British service, with the largest, best disci- 
plined, and best provided army in that service, 
supported by a formidable fleet, so precipi- 
tately to abandon the most impregnable for- 
tifications in America, as that he left behind 
him a great part of the bedding, military 
stores, and cannon of the army. And for so 
many important events, in the month of March 
remarkable in our annals — But I proceed to lay 
before you, the principal causes leading to the 
late revolution of our government — the law 
upon the point — and the benefits resulting 
from that happy and necessary establishment. 
The importance of the transaction deserves 
such a state — the occasion demands, — and our 
future welfare requires it: To do this may take 
up some little time, but the subject is of the 
highest moment, and worthy of your particular 
attention : I will therefore confine my discourse 
to that great point ; and, after charging you 
to attend to the due observance of the jury 
law, and the patrol and negro acts, forbearing 
to mention the other common duties of a 
grand jury, I will e.xpound to you the constitu- 
tion of your country. 

The house of Brunswick was yet scarcely 
settled in the British throne, to which it had 
been called by a free people, when, in the year 
1719, our ancestors in this country, finding 
that the government of the lords proprietors 
operated to their ruin, exercised the rights 
transmitted to them by their forefathers of 
England ; and casting off" the proprietary au- 
thority, called upon the house of Brunswick to 
rule over them — a house elevated to royal 
dominion, for no other purpose than to pre- 
serve to a people their unalienable rights. 
The king accepted the invitation, and thereby 
indisputably admitted the legality of that revo- 
lution. And in so doing, by his own act, he 
vested in those our forefathers, and us their 
posterity, a clear right to effect another revolu- 
tion, if ever the government of the house of 
Brunswick should operate to the ruin of the 



people. — So the excellent Roman emperor, 
Trajan, delivered a sword to Saburanus, his 
captain of the Pratorian guard, with this ad- 
mired sentence. " Receive this sword, and 
use it to defend me if I govern well, but 
against me, if I behave ill." 

With joyful acclamations our ancestors, by 
act of assembly passed on the i8th day of 
August, 1721, RECOGNIZED the British mon- 
arch : The virtues of the second George are 
still revered among us — he was the father of 
his people : And it was with ecstacy we saw his 
grandson George the Third, mount the throne 
possessed of the hearts of his subjects. 

But alas ! almost with the commencement 
of his reign, his subjects felt causes to complain 
of government. The reign advanced — the 
grievances became more numerous and intoler- 
able — the complaints more general and loud — 
the whole empire resounded with the cries of 
injured subjects ! At length, grievances being 
unredressed and ever increasing ; all patience 
being borne down ; all hope destroyed ; all 
confidence in royal government blasted ! — 
Behold ! the empire is rent from pole to pole ! 
perhaps to continue asunder forever. 

The catalogue of our oppressions, continen- 
tal and local, is enormous. Of such oppres- 
sions, I will mention only some of the most 
weighty. 

Under color of law, the king and parliament 
of Great Britain have made the most arbitrary 
attempts to enslave America : 

By claiming a right to bind the colonies " in 
all cases whatsoever." 

By laying duties at their mere will and pleas- 
ure upon all the colonies; 

By suspending the legislature of New York ; 

By rendering the American charters of no 
validity, having annulled the most material 
parts of the charter of the Massachusetts- 
Bay; 

By divesting multitudes of the colonists of 
their property, without legal accusation or 
trial ; 

By depriving whole colonies of the bounty 
of Providence on their own proper coasts, 
in order to coerce them by famine ; 

By restricting the trade and commerce of 
America ; 

By sending to, and continuing in America, in 
time of peace, an armed force vnthout and 
against the consent of the people ; 

By granting impunity to a soldiery instigated 
to murder the Americans : 

By declaring, that the people of Massachu- 
setts-Bay are liable for offences, or pretended 
offences, done in that colony, to be sent to, and 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



329 



tried for the same in England ; or in any col- 
ony where they cannot have the benefit of a jury 
of the vicinage. 

By establishing in Quebec the Roman Catholic 
religion, and an arbitrary government ; instead 
of the Protestant religion and a free government. 

And thus America saw it demonstrated, that 
no faith ought to be put in a royal proclama- 
tion ; for I must observe to you that, in the 
year 1763, by such a proclamation, people 
were invited to settle in Canada, and were as- 
sured of a legislative representation, the bene- 
fit of the common law of England, .ind a free 
government. It is a misfortune to the public, 
that this is not the only instance of the ineffi- 
cacy of a royal proclamation. However, hav- 
ing given you one instance of a failure of royal 
faith in the northern extremity of this abused 
continent, let it suffice, that I direct your atten- 
tion to the southern extremity ; respecting 
which, the same particulars were, in the same 
manner promised, but the deceived inhabitants 
of St. Augustine are left by their grand jury in 
vain to complain and lament to the world, and 
yet scarcely permitted to exercise even that 
privilege distinguishing the miserable, that 
royal taith is not kept with them. 

The proceedings which I have enumerated, 
either immediately or in their evident conse- 
quences, deeply affected all the colonies ; ruin 
stared them in the face. They united their 
counsels, and laid their just complaints before 
the throne, praying a redress of grievances. 
But, to their astonishment, their dutiful petition 
for peace and safety, was answered only by an 
actual commencement of war and military 
destruction ! 

In the mean time, the British troops that 
had been peaceably received by the devoted in- 
habitants of Boston, as the troops of their 
sovereign bound to protect them ! fortified that 
town, to imprison the inhabitants, and to hold 
that capital against the people to whom it be- 
longed ! And the British rulers having deter- 
mined to appeal from reason and justice, to 
violence and arms, a select body of those 
troops, being in the night suddenly and pri- 
vately marched from Boston — at Lexington, on 
the 19th day of April, 1775, they by surprise 
drew the sword of civil war, and plunged it 
into the breasts of the Americans ! Against 
this horrid injustice the Almighty gave instant 
judgment : A handful of country militia, badly 
armed, suddenly collected, and unconnectedly, 
and irreg^jlarly brought up to repel the attack, 
discomfited the regular bands of the tyranny ; 
they retreated, and night saved them from 
total slaughter. 



Thus forced to take up arms in our own 
defence, America yet again most dutifully peti- 
tioned the king, that he would " be pleased to 
direct some mode, by which the united appli- 
cations of his faithful colonists to the throne, 
in presence of their common councils, might 
be improved into a happy and permanent re- 
conciliation ; and that in the meantime, meas- 
ures might be taken for preventing the further 
destruction of the lives of his majesty's sub- 
jects : — " — But. it was in vain ! — The petition 
on the part of millions, praying that the effu- 
sion of blood might be stayed, was not thought 
worthy of an answer ! The nefarious war con- 
tinued. The ruins of Charlestown, Falmouth 
and Norfolk, towns not constructed for offence 
or defence, mark the humane progress of the 
royal arms ; So the ruins of Carthage, Corinth, 
and Numantium, proclaimed to the world that 
justice was expelled the Roman senate ! — On 
the other hand, the fortitude with which 
America has endured these civil and military 
outrages ; the union of her people, as astonish- 
ing as unprecedented, when we consider their 
various manners and religious tenets ; their 
distance from each other ; their various and 
clashing local interests, their self denial ; and 
their miraculous success in the prosecution of 
the war : I say, these things all demonstrate 
that the Lord of Hosts is on our side ! So it 
is apparent, that the Almighty Constructor of 
the universe, having formed this continent of 
materials to compose a state pre-eminent in 
the world, is now making use of the tyranny of 
the British rulers, as an instrument to fashion 
and arrange those materials for the end for 
which, in his wisdom, he had formed them. 

In this enlightened age, humanity must be 
particularly shocked at a recital of such vio- 
lences ; and it is scarce to be believed, that the 
British tyranny could entertain an idea of pro- 
ceeding against America by a train of more 
dishonorable machinations. But, nothing less 
than absolute proof has convinced us that, in 
carrying on the conspiracy against the rights of 
humanity, the tyranny is capable of attempting 
to perpetrate whatever is infamous. 

For the little purpose of disarming the im- 
prisoned inhabitants of Boston, the king's 
general. Gage, in the face of day, violated the 
public faith, by himself plighted ; and in con- 
cert with other governors, and with John 
Stuart, he made every attempt to instigate the 
savage nations to war upon the southern colo- 
nies, indiscriminately to massacre man, woman 
and child : The governors in general have de- 
monstrated, that tnith is not in them ; they 
have enveigled negroes from, and have armed 



330 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



them against their masters ; they have armed 
brother against brother — son against father ! 

Oh ! Almighty Director of the universe ! 

What confidence can be put in a government 
ruUng by such engines, and upon such princi- 
ples of unnatural destruction ! — A government 
that upon the 2ist day of December last, made 
a law, ex post facto, to justify what had been 
done, not only without law, but in its nature 
unjust I — a law to make prize of all vessels 
trading in, to, or from the united colonies — a 
law to make slaves of the crews of such vessels, 
and to compel them to bear arms against their 
conscience, their fathers, their bleeding coun- 
try ! — The world, so old as it is, heretofore had 
never heard of so atrocious a procedure ; It 
has no parallel in the registers of tyranny. — 
But to proceed — ^ 

The king's judges in this country refused to 
administer justice ; and the late governor, lord 
William Campbell, acting as the king's repre- 
sentative for him, and on his behalf, having 
endeavored to subvert the constitution of this 
country, by breaking the original contract 
between king and people, attacking the people 
by force of arms ; having violated the funda- 
mental laws ; having carried off the great seal, 
and having withdrawn himselfout of this colony, 
he abdicated the government. 

Oppressed by such a variety of enormous 
injuries, continental and local, civil and military, 
and by divers other arbitrar)- and illegal 
courses ; .ill done and perpetrated by the 
assent, command, or sufferance of the king of 
Great Britain ; the representatives of South 
Carolina, in congress assembled, found them- 
selves under an unavoidable necessity of estab- 
lishing a form of government, with powers 
legislative, executive and judicial, for the good 
of the people ; the origin and great end of all 

just government. For this only end. the 

house of Brunswick was called to rule over us. 
— Oh ! agonizing reflection ! that house ruled 
us with swords, fire and bayonets ! The 
British government operated only to our des- 
truction. Nature cried aloud, self preservation 
is the great law — we have but obeyed. 

If I turn my thoughts to recollect in history, 
a change of government upon more cogent 
reasons, I say I know of no change upon prin- 
ciples so provoking — compelling — justifiable. 
And in this respect, even the famous revo- 
lution in England, in the year 1688, is much 
inferior. — However we need no better authority 
than that illustrious precedent ; and I will 
therefore compare the causes of, and the law 
upon the two events. 

On the 7th of February, 1688, the lords and 



commons of England, in convention, completad 
the following resolution. 

" Resolved that king James the second, hav- 
ing endeavored to subvert the constitution of 
the kingdom, by breaking the original contract 
between king and people ; and, by the advice 
of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having 
violated the fundamental laws, and having with- 
drawn himself out of this kingdom ; has abdi- 
cated the government, and that the throne is 
thereby vacant." 

That famous resolution deprived James of 
his crown ; and became the foundation on 
which the throne of the present king of Great 
Britain is built — it also supports the edifice of 
government which we have erected. 

In that resolve, there are but three facts 
stated to have been done by James : I will 
point them out, and e.xamine whether those 
facts will apply to the present king of Great 
Britain, with regard to the operations of gov- 
ernment, by him or his representative, imme- 
diately or by consequence affecting this colony. 

The first fact is, the having endeavored to 
subvert the constitution of the kingdom by 
breaking the original contract. 

The violation of the fundamental laws is the 
second fact ; and in support of these two 
charges, the lords spiritual and temporal and 
commons, assembled at Westminster, on the 
1 2th day of February, 16S8, declared that James 
was guilty. 

" By assuming, and exercising a power of 
dispensing with, and suspending of laws, and 
the execution of laws, without consent of 
parliament : 

" By committing and persecuting divers 
worthy prelates, for humbly petitioning to be 
excused from concurring to the said assumed 
power : 

" By issuing and causing to be executed a 
commission, under the great seal, for erecting 
a court, called the court of commissioners for 
ecclesiastical causes : 

" By levying money for, and to the use of 
the crown, by pretence of prerogative, for other 
time, and in other manner, than the same was 
granted by parliament : 

" By raising and keeping a standing army 
within this kingdom in time of peace, without 
consent of parliament ; and quartering soldiers 
contrary to law : 

" By causing several good subjects, being 
protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time 
when papists were both armed and employed 
contrary to law : 

" By violating the freedom of election of 
members to ser\'e in parliament : 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



331 



" By prosecutions in the court of king's bench, 
for matters and causes cognizable only in par- 
liament ; and by divers other arbitrary and 
illegal courses." 

This declaration, thus containing two points 
of criminality — breach of the original contract, 
and violation of fundamental laws — I am to 
distinguish one from the other. 

In the first place then, it is laid down in the 
best law authorities, that protection and sub- 
jection are reciprocal ; and that these reciprocal 
duties form the original contract between king 
and people. It therefore follows, that the orig- 
inal contract was broken by James' conduct as 
above stated, which amounted to a not affording 
due protection to his people. And, it is as 
clear, that he violated the fundamental laws, 
by the suspending of laws, and the execution 
of laws ; by levying money ; by violating the 
freedom of election of members to serve in 
parliament ; by keeping a standing army in 
time of peace ; and by quartering soldiers con- 
trary to law, and without consent of parliament ; 
which is as much as to say, that he did those 
things without consent of the legislative assem- 
bly chosen by the personal election of that 
people, over whom such doings were exercised. 

These points, reasonings, and conclusions, 
being settled in, deduced from, and estab- 
lished upon parliamentary proceedings, and the 
best law authorities, must ever remain unshaken . 
I am now to undertake the disagreeable task 
of examining, whether they will apply to the 
violences which have lighted up, and now feed 
the flames of civil war in America. 

James the second suspended the operations 
of laws — George the third caused the charter 
of the Massachusetts Bay to be in effect annihi- 
lated ; he suspended the operation of the law 
which formed a legislature in New York, vest- 
ing it with adequate powers ; and thereby he 
caused the very ability of making laws in that 
colony to be suspended. 

King James levied money without the con- 
sent of the representatives of the people called 
upon to pay it — King George has levied money 
upon America, not only without, but expressly 
against the consent of the representatives of 
the people in America. 

King James violated the freedom of election 
of members to sen-e in parliament — King 
George, by his representative, lord William 
Campbell, acting for him and on his behalf, 
broke through a fundamental law of this coun- 
try, for the certain holding of general assem- 
blies ; and thereby, as far as in him lay, not only 
violated but annihilated the very ability of 
holding a general assembly. 



King James in time of peace kept a standing 
army in England, without consent of the rep- 
resentatives of the people among whom that 
army was kept — king George hath in time of 
peace invaded this continent with a large stand- 
' ing army without the consent, and he hath 
kept it within this continent, expressly against 
the consent of the representatives of the people 
among whom that army is posted. 

All which doings by king George the third 
respecting America are as much contrary to 
our interests and welfare ; as much against law, 
and tend as much, at least, to subvert and 
extirpate the liberties of this colony, and of 
America, as the similar proceedings, by James 
the second, operated respecting the people of 
England. For the same principle of law, 
touching the premises, equally applies to the 
people of England in the one case, and to the 
people of America in the other. And this is 
the great principle. Certain acts done, over, 
and affecting a people, against and ■without 
their consent expressed by themselves, or by rep- 
resentatives of their own election. — Upon this 
only principle was grounded the complaints of 
the people of England — ^upon the same is 
grounded the complaints of the people of 
America. And hence it clearly follows, that if 
James the second violated the fundamental 
laws of England, George the third hath also 
violated the fundamental laws of America. 

Again — 

King James broke the original contract by 
not affordmg due protection to his subjects, 
although he was not charged with having 
seized their towns and with having held them 
against the people — or with having laid them 
in ruins by his arms — or with having seized 
their vessels — or with having pursued the 
people with fire and sword — or with having 
declared them rebels, for resisting his arms lev- 
elled to destroy their lives, liberties and prop- 
erties — But George the third hath done all those 
things against America; and it is therefore un- 
deniable, that he hath not afforded due protec- 
tion to the people. Wherefore, if James the 
second broke the original contract, it is undeni- 
able that George the third has also broken the 
original contract between king and people ; and 
that he made use of the most violent measures 
by which it could be done — Violences, of which 
James was guiltless — Measures, carrying con- 
flagration, massacre and open war amidst a 
people, whose subjection to the king of Great 
Britain, the law holds to be due only as a re- 
turn for protection. And so tenacious and 
clear is the law upon this very principle, that 
it is laid down, subjection is not due even to a 



332 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



king, de jure, or of right, unless he be also 
king de facto, or in possession of the executive 
powers dispensing protection. 

Again — 

The third fact charged against James is, that 
he withdrew himself out of the kingdom — 
And we know that the people of this country 
have declared, that lord William Campbell, the 
king of Great Britain's representative, " having 
used his umost efforts to destroy the lives, 
liberties, and properties of the good people 
here, whom by the duty of his station he was 
bound to protect, withdrew himself out of the 
colony." — Hence it will appear that George the 
third hath withdrawn himself out of this colony, 
provided it be established that exactly the same 
natural consequence resulted from the with- 
drawing in each case respectively : king James 
personally out of England, and king George 
out of Carolina, by the agency of his substitute 
and representative, lord William Campbell. — 
By king James withdrawing, the executive 
magistrate was gone, thereby, in the eye of the 
law, the executive magistrate was dead, and of 
consequence royal government actually ceased 
in England — So by king George's representa- 
tive's withdrawing, the executive magistrate 
was gone, the death, in law, became apparent, 
and of consequence royal government actually 
ceased in this colony. Lord William withdrew 
as the king's representative, carrj'ing off the 
great seal and royal instructions to governors, 
and acting for and on the part of his principal, 
by every construction of law, that conduct 
became the conduct of his principal ; and thus, 
James the second withdrew out of England and 
George the third withdrew out of South Caro- 
lina ; and by such a conduct, respectively, the 
people in each country were exactly in the same 
degree injured. 

The three facts against king James being 
thus stated and compared with similar pro- 
ceedings by king George, we are now to ascer- 
tain the result of the injuries done by the first, 
and the law upon that point ; which being 
ascertained, must naturally constitute the judg- 
ment in law, upon the result of similar injuries 
done by the last : And I am happy that I 
can give you the best authority upon this 
important point. 

Treating upon this great precedent in consti- 
tutional law, the learned judge Blackstone 
declares that the result of the facts "amounted 
to an abdication of the government, which 
abdication did not affect only the person of the 
king himself, but also, all his heirs ; and ren- 
dered the throne absolutely and completely 
vacant." Thus it clearly appears that the gov- 



ernment was not abdicated, and the throne 
vacated by the resolution of the lords and com- 
mons ; but that the resolution was only decla- 
ratory of the law of nature and reason, upon 
the result of the injuries proceeding from the 
three combined facts of mal-administration. 
And thus, as I have on the foot of the best 
authorities made it evident, that George the 
third, king of Great Britain has endeavored to 
subvert the constitution of this country, by 
breaking the original contract between king 
and people ; by the advice of wicked persons, 
has violated the fundamental laws, and has 
withdrawn himself, by withdrawing the consti- 
tutional benefits of the kingly office, and his 
protection out of this country: From such a 
result of injuries, from such a conjuncture of 
circumstances — the law of the land authorizes 
me to declare, and it is my duty boldly to declare 
the law, that George the third, king of Great 
Britain, has abdicated the government, and 
that the throne is thereby vacant ; that is, HE 

HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER US, and WE OWE 

NO OBEDIENCE TO HIM The British minis- 
ters already have presented a charge of mine 
to the notice of the lords and commons in par- 
liament ; and I am nothing loth that they take 
equal resentment against this charge. For, 
supported by the fundamental laws of the con- 
stitution, and engaged as I am in the cause 
of virtue — I fear no consequences from their 
machinations. 

Thus having stated the principal causes of 
our last revolution, it is as clear as the sun in 
meridian, that George the third has injured the 
Americans, at least as grievously as James the 
second injured the people of England ; but that 
James did not oppress these in so criminal a 
manner as George has oppressed the Ameri- 
cans. Having also stated the law on the case, 
I am naturally led to point out to you some of 
the great benefits resulting from that revolution. 

In one word then, you have a form of gov- 
ernment in every respect preferable to the 
mode under the British authority. And this will 
most clearly appear by contrasting the two 
forms of government. 

Under the British authority, governors were 
sent over to us, who were utterly unacquainted 
with our local interests, the genius of the peo- 
ple, and our laws, generally, they were but too 
much disposed to obey the mandates of an 
arbitrary ministry; and if the governor be- 
haved ill, we could not by any peaceable means 
procure redress. But under our present happy 
constitution, our executive m.igistrate arises 
according to the spirit and letterof holy writ — 
" ihez'r governors shall proceed from the midst 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



333 



of thetn." Thus, the people have an opportu- 
nity of choosing a man intimately acquainted 
with their true interests, their genius, and their 
laws : a man perfectly disposed to defend them 
against arbitrary ministers, and to promote the 
happiness of that people from among whom he 
was elevated ; and by whom, without the least 
difficulty, he may be removed and blended in 
the common mass. 

Again, under the British authority it was in 
effect declared, that we had no property ; nay 
that we could not possess any ; and that we 
had not any of the rights of humanity. For 
men who knew us not, men who gained in 
proportion as we lost, arrogated to themselves 
a right io bind us in a// cases whatsoever ! — But, 
our constitution is calculated to free us from 
foreign bondage ; to secure to us our prop- 
erty ; to maintain to us the rights of humanity, 
and to defend us and our posterity against Bri- 
tish authority, aiming to reduce us to the most 
abject slavery ! 

Again, the British authority declared, that 
we should not erect slitting-mills — and, to this 
unjust law, we implicitly and respectfully sub- 
mitted as long as, with safety to our lives, we 
could yield obedience to such authority — but a 
resolution of congress now grants a premium 
to encourage the construction of such mills. 
The British authority discouraged our at- 
tempting to manufacture for our own con- 
sumption — but the new constitution, by author- 
izing the disbursement of large sums of money 
by way of loan, or premium, encourages the 
making of iron, bar-steel, nail-rods, gun-locks, 
gun-barrels, sulphur, nitre, gun-powder, lead, 
woolens, cottons, linens, paper and salt. 

Upon the whole, it has been the policy of the 
British authority to oblige us to supply our 
wants at their market, which is the dearest in 
the known world, and to cramp and confine 
our trade so as to be subservient to their com- 
merce, our real interest being ever out of the 
question. — On the other hand, the new consti- 
tution is wisely adapted to enable us to trade 
with foreign nations, and thereby to supply our 
wants at the cheapest markets in the universe ; 
to extend our trade infinitely beyond what it 
has ever been known ; to encourage manufac- 
turers among us ; and it is peculiarly formed, 
to promote the happiness of the people, from 
among whom, by virtue and merit, the poorest 
man may arrive at the highest dignity. — Oh 
Carolinians ! happy would you be under this 
new constitution, if you knew your happy 
state. 

Possessed of a constitution of government. 
founded upon so generous, equal and natural 



a principle, — a government expressly calculated 
to make the people rich, powerful, virtuous and 
happy, who can wish to change it, to return 
under a royal government ; the vital princi- 
ples of which are the reverse in every particu- 
lar ! It was my duty to lay this happy constitu- 
tion before you, in its genuine light — it is your 
duty to understand — to instruct others — and to 
defend it. 

I might here with propriety quit this truly 
important subject, but my anxiety for the pub- 
lic weal compels me yet to detain your atten- 
tion, while I make an observation or two upon 
one particular part of the constitution. 

When all the various attempts to enslave 
America by fraud, under guise of law ; by mili- 
taiy threats ; by famine, massacre, breach of 
public faith and open war. I say, when these 
things are considered on the one hand, and on 
the other, the constitution, expressing that 
some mode of government should be estab- 
lished, " until an accommodation of the unhappy 
differences between Great Britain and America 
can be obtained, an event which, though tra- 
duced and treated as rebels, we still ardently 
desire." I say when these two points are con- 
trasted, can we avoid revering the magnanimity 
of that great council of the state, who after 
such injuries could entertain such a principle ! — • 
But, the virtuous are ever generous : We do 
not wish revenge : We earnestly wish an 
accommodation of our unhappy disputes with 
Great Britain ; for, we prefer peace to war. 
Nay, there may be even such an accommoda- 
tion as, excluding every idea of revenue by 
taxation or duty, or of legislation by act of par- 
liament, may vest the king of Great Britain 
with such a limited dominion over us as may 
tend, bona fide, to promote our true commer- 
cial interests, and to secure our freedom and 
safety — the only just ends of any dominion. 
But, while I declare thus much on the one 
side, on the other it is my duty also to declare 
that, in my opinion, our true commercial inter- 
ests cannot be provided for but by such a ma- 
terial alteration of the British acts of naviga- 
tion as, according to the resolve of the honora- 
ble the continental congress, will " secure the 
commercial advantages of the whole empire to 
the mother country, and the commercial bene- 
fits of its respective members." And that oui 
liberties and safety cannot be depended upon, 
if the king of Great Britain should be allowed 
to hold our forts and cannon, or to have au- 
thority over a single regiment in America, or a 
single ship of war in our ports. — For if he 
hold our forts, he may turn them against us. as 
he did Boston against her proprietors. If he 



334 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



acquires our cannon, he will effectually disarm 
the colony. If he has a command of troops 
among us, even if we raise and pay them, 
shackles are fixed upon us — witness Ireland 
and her national army. — The most express act 
of parliament cannot give us security, for acts 
of parliament are as easily repealed as made. 
Royal proclamations are not to be depended 
upon, witness the disappointments of the inhabi- 
tants of Quebec and St. Augustine. Even a 
change of ministry will not avail us, because 
notwithstanding the rapid succession of minis- 
ters for which the British court had been famous 
during the present reign, yet the same ruinous 
policy ever continued to prevail against Amer- 
ica. — In short I think it my duty to declare in 
the awful seat of justice and before Almighty 
God, that in my opinion, the Americans can 
have no safety but by the Divine favor, their 
own virtue, and their being so prudent as not 
to leave it hi the power of the British rulers to 
injure them. Indeed, the ruinous and deadly 
injuries received on our side ; and the jealous- 
ies entertained and which, in the nature of 
things, must daily increase against us, on the 
other ; demonstrate to a mind, in the least 
given to reflection upon the rise and fall of em- 
pires, that true reconcilement never can exist 
between Great Britain and America, the latter 
being in subjection to the former. — The Al- 
mighty created America to be independent of 
Britain. Let us beware of the innpiety of 
being backward to act as instruments in the 
Almighty hand, now extended to accomplish 
his purpose ; and by the completion of which 
alone America, in the nature of human affairs, 
can be secure against the craft and insidious 
designs of her enemies who think her prosper- 
ity and power already by far too great. In a 
word, our piety and political safety are so 
blended, that to refuse our labors in this 
Divine work, is to refuse to be a great, a free, 
a pious and a happy people ! 

And now having left the important alterna- 
tive, political happiness or wretchedness, under 
God, in a great degree in your own hands, I 
pray the Supreme Arbiter of the affairs of men, 
so to direct your judgment, as that you may act 
agreeable to what seems to be his will, revealed 
in his miraculous works in behalf of America, 
bleeding at the altar of liberty ! 



THE PRESENTMENTS OF THE JURY. 
At a court of general sessions of the 

PEACE, OYER AND TERMINER, ASSIZE AND 
GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY, begun tO be 
Iwlden in and for the district of Charleston 
at Charleston, in the colony aforesaid, on 
Tuesday, the 22,d day of April, in the year 
of our Lord one thottsattd seven hundred and 
sevejzty-six. 

The presentments of the grand jury for the said 
district. 

I. Fully sensible and thoroughly convinced, 
that to live in society without laws or a proper 
execution of them, to restrain the licentious 
nature of mankind, is the greatest misery that 
can befal a people, and must render any body 
of men, in such a situation, but little superior 
to a herd of brutes : and being no less sensible 
that it was the scheme of a corrupt, nefarious 
administration in Great Britain to reduce the 
good people of this colony to that wretched 
situation, from a want of officers to execute the 
laws, those whom they had appointed having 
refused to act in their respective stations, that, 
through the evil effects of anarchy and con- 
fusion, the people might become an easy prey 
to the cruel designs of their insidious enemies; 
while we lament the necessity which has 
obliged the people to resume into their hands 
those powers of government which were origin- 
ally derived from themselves for the protection 
of those rights which God alone has given 
them, as essential to their happiness, we can- 
not but express our most unfeigned joy in the 
happy constitution of government now estab- 
lished in this colony, which promises every 
blessing to its inhabitants, which a people, 
endued with virtue, and a just regard to the 
rights of mankind, could desire. With grati- 
tude to the Divine Ruler of human events 
and with the most pleasing e.xpectations of 
happmess from a constitution so wise in its 
nature, and virtuous in its ends, being founded 
on the strictest principles of justice and human- 
ity, and consistent with every privilege inci- 
dent to the dignity of a rational being, we 
cannot but declare we think every opposition 
to its operations, or disregard to its authority, 
the foulest criminality a mortal can be guilty 
of, highly offensive in the eyes of God and of 
all just men, and deserving the most exem- 
plary punishment. 

We cannot but deplore the unhappy situa- 
tion of any few amongst the people of this 
colony who through an ignorance of their true 
interests and just rights, and from a want of 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



335 



proper information of the real truth, may be 
misled by the artifice and cunning of their false 
and designing enemies, from a real sense of 
those benefits which our present constitution has 
so amply provided for ; benefits which are not 
confined or limited to any ranks or degrees of 
men in particular, but generally, equally and 
indiscriminately extending to all, from the rich- 
est to the poorest, and which time and a little 
patient experience must soon evince. 

Every good citizen must be happy in the con- 
sideration of the choice of those officers, ap- 
pointed in the administration of our present 
government, as well in the impartial mode of 
an appointment arising from the people them- 
selves, and the limited duration of their power 
as in their personal characters as men, justly 
beloved and revered by their countr)', and 
whose merits and virtues entitle them to every 
pre-eminence. 

Filled with these sentiments, arising from 
mature deliberation, and the most impartial 
enquiry, we must further declare, that blessings 
such as these we have enumerated, are too 
inestimable to be lost, and that nothing in 
nature can repay the least violation of them; 
and although an accommodation with the power 
which attempts to destroy them 7>!ay be highly 
worthy of attention, and upon principles truly 
honorable, of obtaining, yet we think it a sacred 
duty incumbent upon every citizen to maintain 
and defend, with his life and fortune, what is 
given and entrusted to him by the hand of 
Providence, not for his own good only, but for 
the lasting happiness of posterity : A trust 
which no law can ever annul, which is the 
grand principle of existence, and the source of 
every social virtue. 

II. We present as a grievance intolerable to 
the spirit of a people born and nurtured in the 
arms of freedom, and (though ever submissive 
to the just mandates of legal authority) holding 
every oppression as destestable, the unjust, cruel 
and diabolical acts of the British parliament, 
not only declaring the good people of the united 
colonies of North America rebels, for defend- 
ing those invaluable rights which no human 
power can lawfully divest them of. by making 
all murders, rapines, thefts, robberies, and 
other inhuman oppressions, done before the 
passing of those acts without authority, and 
which w-ere, after the passing the said acts, 
to be done by the British forces in these colo- 
nies, legal and warrantable, to the eternal dis- 
grace and indelible infamy of a kingdom, once 
renowned for her justice, honor and humanity, 
but now meanly descending to that wanton pro- 
fligacy which even savages abhor. 



III. We present as a very great grievance, 
the indulgence allowed to all those who are 
inimical to the liberties of America and the 
operations of the united colonies among us in 
suiTering them to reside here, and be admitted 
to intercourses dangerous to the peace and 
welfare of this colony. 

IV. We present that the public oaths directed 
by an act of the general assembly, passed since 
the forming of our present constitution, to be 
administered to those exercising public offices, 
trusts, and professions, are not administered 
to such of the clergy as are included in the 
same. 

V. We present that the times at which the 
several parochial committees meet or are ap- 
pointed for their meeting, are not made public ; 
and we do recommend that they do publish the 
same in the public papers, that all persons who 
are desirous of obtaining leave to sue for debts, 
may know when to apply. 

VI. We present as a great grievance, more 
particularly at this time, the want of due atten- 
tion to the roads and ferries in this colony; 
many of the roads not being sufficiently wide 
and worked upon agreeable to law, and the 
ferries in general not having boats sufficient to 
forward passengers upon any emergent oc- 
casion. 

VII. We present as a grievance the too 
frequent forestalling out of the wagons, coming 
from the back parts of the country, the many 
necessaries of life, by which the good inhabit- 
ants of this town are obliged to pay most ex- 
orbitant prices for the same ; and with submis- 
sion would recommend a place to be ap- 
pointed for the sale of bacon, flour, butter, 
and other such necessaries brought to town 
in carriages, to be regulated by the market 
act. 

VIII. We present the want of a proper per- 
son by law to oblige the sellers of blades and 
hay, to weigh the same at a public scale. 



Jonathan Scott, foreman 


[L. 


S.] 


George Cooke, 


[L. 


S.] 


Thomas Jones, 


[l. 


S.] 


John Lightwood, 


[L. 


S.] 


Peter Leger, 


[l. 


S.] 


Philip Meyer, 


[l. 


S.] 


Isaac Mazyck, 


[l. 


S.] 


John Owen, 


[l. 


S.] 


John Smyth, 


[L. 


S.] 


Joseph Jenkins, 


[l. 


S.] 


Joseph Cox, 


[L. 


S.] 


Daniel Lessesne, 


[L. 


S.] 


Lewis Diitarque, 


[L. 


S.I 


John Singletary, 


[L. 


S.1 



336 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



JUDGE DRAYTON. 
At a court of general sessions of the 

PEACE, OYER AND TERMINER, ASSIZE AND 

GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY, begun and hol- 
den at Charleston, for the district of Charles- 
ton, on Tuesday, October 15th, in the year 
of our Lord, 1776 — Before the hon. Wil- 
liam Henry Drayton, esq. chief justice, 
and his associates, justices of the said court. 
Ordered, That the charge delivered by his 
honor, the chief justice, to the grand jury, 
and their presentments at this sessions, be 
forthwith published. 

By order of the court, 
John Colcock, C. C. S. 

the charge to the grand jury. 

Gentlemen of the grand jury. — The last time 
I had the honor to address a grand jury in this 
court, I expounded to them the constitution of 
their country, as estabhshed by congress on 
the 26th day of March last, independent of 
royal authority. I laid before them the causes 
of that important change of our government — 
a comp.irison of these, with those that occa- 
sioned the English revolution of 1688 — and the 
law resulting from the injuries in each case. I 
spoke to that grand jury of the late revolution 
of South Carolina. I mean to speak to you 
upon a more important subject — the rise of the 
American empire. 

The great act in March last upon the mat- 
ter, constituted our country totally independent 
of Great Britain. For it was calculated to 
place in our hands the whole legislative, exe- 
cutive and judicial powers of government ; and 
to enable us, in the most effectual manner, by 
force of arms, to oppose, resist and war against 
the British crown. The act naturally looked 
forward to an accommodation of the unhappy 
differences between that power and America : 
In like manner every declaration of war be- 
tween independent states, implies a future ac- 
commodation of their disputes. But, although 
by that act we were upon the matter made 
independent, yet there were no words in it 
specially declarative of that independency. 
Such a declaration was of right to be made 
only by the general congress : because the 
united voice and strength of America were 
necessary to give a desirable credit and pros- 
pect of stability to a declared state of total 
separation from Great Britain : And the general 
congress, as the only means left by which they 
had a chance to avert the ruin of America, 
have issued a declaration, by which all politi- 
cal connection between you and the state of 
Great Britain is totally dissolved. 



Carolinians : heretofore you were bound — by 
the American revolution you are now free. 
The change is most important — most honora- 
ble — most beneficial. It is your birthright by 
the law of nature — it is even valid by the fun 
damental laws of your country — you were 
placed in possession of it by the hand of God ' 
— particulars evidencing a subject of the high- 
est import. — Gentlemen of the grand jury ; it is 
my duty to mark to you the great lines of your 
conduct ; and so to endeavor to explain the 
nature of each, that you may clearly see your 
way, and thereby be animated in your progress 
to discharge those ser\'ices which are required 
at your hands. And hence, it is necessary for 
me to lay before you some observations upon 
the nature of the American revolution, which 
by every tie, divine and human, you are bound 
to support. I shall therefore endeavor to draw 
your attention to this great subject, necessarily 
including the lines of your particular conduct. 

It is but to glance an eye over the historic 
page, to be assured that the duration of empire 
is limited by the Almighty decree. Empires 
have their rise to a zenith — and their declen- 
sion to a dissolution. The years of a man, nay 
the hours of the insect on the bank of the 
Hypanis, that lives but a day, epitomize the 
advance and decay of the strength and dura- 
tion of dominion ! One common fate awaits 
all things upon earth — a thousand causes 
accelerate or delay their perfection or ruin. 
To look a little into remote times, we see that, 
from the most contemptible origin upon re- 
cord, Rome became the most powerful state 
the sun ever saw : The world bowed before 
her imperial Fasces ! — yet, having run through 
all the vicissitudes of dominion, her course was 
finished. Her empire was dissolved, that the 
separated members of it might arise to run 
through similar revolutions. 

Great Britain was a part of this mighty em- 
pire. But, being dissolved from it, in her turn 
she also extended her dominion : — arrived at, 
and passed her zenith. Three and thirty years 
numbered the illustrious days of the Roman 
greatness — Eight years measure the duration of 
the British grandeur in meridian lustre ! How 
few are the days of true glory. The extent of 
the Roman period is from their complete- con- 
quest of Italy, which gave them a place where- 
on to stand, that they might shake the world, 
to the original cause of their declension, their 
introduction of Asiatic luxury. The British 
period is from the year 1758, when they victo- 
riously pursued their enemies into every quar- 
ter of the globe, to the immediate cause of 
their decline — their injustice displayed by the 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



337 



stamp act. — In short, like the Roman empire, 
Great Britain in her constitution of govern- 
ment, contained a poison to bring on her 
decay, and in each case, this poison was drawn 
into a ruinous operation by the riches and 
luxuries of the east. Thus, by natural causes 
and common effects, the American states are 
become dissolved from the British dominion. 
And is it to be wondered at that Britain has 
experienced the invariable fate of empire ! 
We are not surprised when we see youth or 
age yield to the common lot of humanity — 
Nay, to repine that, in our day, America is 
dissolved from the British state, is impiously to 
question the unerring wisdom of Providence. 
The Almighty setteth up, and he casteth 
down : He breaks the sceptre, and transfers 
the dominion : He has made choice of the 
present generation to erect the American em- 
pire. Thankful as we are, and ought to be, 
for an appointment of the kind, the most 
illustrious that ever was, let each individual 
exert himself in this important operation di- 
rected by Jehovah himself — From a short 
retrospect, it is evident the work was not the 
present design of man. 

Never were a people more wrapped up in a 
king, than the Americans were in George the 
third in the year 1763. They revered and 
obeyed the British government, because it pro- 
tected them — they fondly called Great Britain 
■ — home ! But, from that time, the British 
counsels took a ruinous turn ; ceasing to pro- 
tect — they sought to ruin America. The stamp 
act, declaratory law, and the duties upon tea 
and other articles, at once proclaimed their in- 
justice, and announced to the Americans, that 
they had but little room for hope ; infinite space 
for fear. — In vain they petitioned for redress ! — • 
Authorized by the law of nature, they exerted 
the inherent powers of society, and resisted the 
edicts which told them that they had no pro- 
perty ; and that against their consent, and by 
men over whom they had no control, they 
were to be bound in all cases whatsoever. 
Dreadful information ! — Patience could not but 
resent them. However regardless of such feel- 
ings, and resolved to endeavor to support those 
all grasping claims, early in the year 1774, the 
British tyranny made other edicts — to overturn 
American charters — to suspend or destroy, at 
the pleasure of the crown, the value of private 
property — to block up the port of Boston, in 
ierrorem to other American ports — to give 
murder the sanction of law— to establish the 
Roman Catholic religion, and to make the king 
of Great Britain a despot in Canada ; and as 
much so as he then chose to be in Massa- 



chusetts Bay. And general Gage was sent to 
Boston with a considerable force to usher these 
edicts into action, and the Americans into 
slavery. 

Their petitions thus answered, even with the 
sword of the murderer at their breasts, the 
Americans thought only of new petitions. It 
is well known there was not then even an idea 
that the independence of America would be 
the work of this generation : For people yet 
had a confidence in the integrity of the British 
monarch. At length subsequent edicts being 
also passed, to restrain the Americans from 
enjoying the bounty of Providence on their 
own coast, and to cut off their trade with each 
other and with foreign states — the royal sword 
yet reeking with American blood, and the king 
still deaf to the prayers of the people for •' peace, 
liberty and safety ; " it was, even so late as the 
latter end of the last year, before that confi- 
dence visibly declined ; and it was generally 
seen that the quarrel was likely to force 
America into an immediate state of indepen- 
dence. But such an event was not expected, 
because it was thought the monarch, from 
motives of policy, if not from inclination, would 
heal our wounds, and thereby prevent the 
separation ; but it was not wished for, because 
men were unwilling to break off old connec- 
tions, and change the usual form of govern- 
ment. 

Such were the sentiments of America until 
the arrival of the British act of parliament de- 
claring the .'\niericans out of the royal protec- 
tion, and denouncing a general war against 
them. But counsels too refined, generally 
produce contrary" and unexpected events. So 
the whole system of British policy respecting 
America, since the year 1763, calculated to 
surprise, deceive, or drive the people into 
slavery* — urged them into independence ; and 
this act of parliament, in particular, finally re- 
leased America from Great Britain. Antece- 
dent to this, the British king, by his hostilities, 
had, as far as he personally could, absolved 
America from that faith, allegiance and sub- 
jection she owed him ; because the law of our 
land expressly declares these are due only in 
return for his protection, allegiance being 
founded on the benefit of protection. But God 
knowing that we are in peril by false brethren 
as well as by real enemies, out of his abundant 
mercy has caused us to be released from sub- 
jection, by yet a better title than the mere op- 
pressions of a man in the kingly office. — This 
title is singular in its kind. — It is the voluntar)- 
and joint act of the whole British legislature, 
on the twenty-first day of December, 1775, re- 



338 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



leasing the faith, allegiance and subjection of 
America to the British crown, by solemnly de- 
claring the former out of the protection of the 
latter : and thereby, agreeable to every prin- 
ciple of law, actually dissolving the original 
contract between king and people. 

Hence, an American cannot, legally, at the 
suit of the king of Great Britain, be indicted of 
high treason ; because the indictment cannot 
charge him with an act contra ligeantics sua 
debitum ; for, not being protected by that king, 
the law holds that he does not owe him any 
faith and allegiance. So an alien enemy, even 
invading the kingdom of England, and taken 
in arms, cannot be dealt with as a traitor, be- 
cause he violates no trust or allegiance. In 
short, this doctrine, laid down in the best law 
authorities, is a criterion whereby we may safely 
judge, whether or not a particular people are 
subject to a particular government. And thus 
upon the matter, that decisive act of parliament 
ipso facto created the united colonies free and 
independent states. 

These particulars evidence against the royal 
calumniator in the strongest manner. Let him 
not with unparalleled effrontery from a throne 
continue to declare, that the Americans, 
" meant only to amuse, by vague expressions 
of attachment and the strongest professions of 
loyalty, whilst they were preparing for a general 
revolt, for the purpose of establishing an inde- 
pendent empire." On the first of September, 
1775, Richard Penn and Arthur Lee, esquires, 
delivered to lord Dartmouth, he being secre- 
tary of state, a petition from the congress to 
the king, when lord Dartmouth told them, " no 
answer would be given." The petition con- 
tained this remarkable passage, that the king 
would •• be pleased to direct some mode, by which 
the united applications of his faithful colonists 
to the throne, in presence of their common 
councils, might be improved into a PERMANENT 
AND HAPPY RECONCILIATION ; and that in the 
mean time, tneasures might be taken for pre- 
venting the further destruction of the lives of 
his majesty's subjects." Yet, notwithstanding 
this, on the 26th of October following, from 
the throne the king charged the Americans with 
aiming at independence ! The facts I have 
stated are known to the world ; they are yet 
more stubborn than the tyrant. But let other 
facts be also stated against him. — There was 
a time, when the American army before Boston 
had not a thousand weight of gunpowder — the 
forces were unable to advance into Canada, 
until they received a small supply of powder 
from this country, and for which the general 
congress expressly sent — and when we took up 



arms a few months before, we begun with a 
stock of five hundred weight ! — These grand 
magazines of ammunition demonstrate, to be 
sure, that America, or even Massachusetts Bay, 
was preparing to enter the military road to in- 
dependence ! — On the contrary, if we consider 
the manner in which Great Britain has con- 
ducted her irritating and hostile measures, we 
cannot but clearly see, that God has darkened 
her councils ; and that with a stretched out 
arm, he himself has delivered us out of the 
house of bondage, and has led us on to empire. 
In the year 1774, general Gage arrived at 
Boston to awe the people into a submission to 
the edicts against America. The force he 
brought was, by the oppressors, thought not 
only sufficient to compel obedience, but that 
this would be effected even at the appearance 
of the sword. But, the continent being roused 
by the edicts, general Gage, to his surprise, 
found that he had not strength sufficient to carry 
them into execution. In this situation things 
continued several months, while, on the one 
hand, the general received reinforcements, and 
on the other, the people acquired a contempt 
for the troops, and found time to form their 
militia into some order to oppose the force 
they saw accumulatmg for their destruction. 
Hence, in the succeeding April, when the gen- 
eral commenced hostilities, he was defeated. 
The victory produced the most important ef- 
fects. — The people were animated to besiege 
Boston, where it soon appeared, that the British 
troops were too weak to make any impression 
upon them, thus acquiring military knowledge 
by the actual operations of war. —The united 
colonies were roused to arms. — They new 
modelled their militia — raised regular troops — 
fortified the harbors — and crushed the tory par- 
ties among them. — Success fired the Americans 
with a spirit of enterprise. 

In the mean time, the king passed such other 
edicts as, adding to the calender of injuries, 
widened the civil breach, and narrowed the 
band of the American union. And such sup- 
plies were, from time to time, sent for the relief 
of Boston, as not in any degree sufficient to 
enable general Gage to raise the siege ; an- 
swered no other ends but to increase the num- 
ber, heighten the spirit, advance the discipline 
of the American army, and to cause every 
member of the union to exert every ability to 
procure arms and ammunition from abroad. 
Thus trained on evidently by the Almighty, 
these troops, reproached by general Gage, when 
they first sat down before Boston, that " with 
a preposterous parade of military arrangements, 
they affected to hold the army besieged," in 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



339 



less than eleven months compelled that British 
army, although considerably reinforced, to 
abandon Boston by stealth, and to trust their 
safety, not to their arms, but to the winds. 
The British ministry have attempted to put a 
gloss upon this remove of their army. How- 
ever, the cannon, stores and provisions they 
left in Boston, are in our hands, substantial 
marks of their flight. 

Thus there appears to have been a fatality in 
their counsels respecting Boston, the grand 
seat of contention ; their forces being inade- 
quate to the enterprise on which they were 
sent. And under the same influence have their 
attacks been directed against Virginia and 
North Carolina, Savannah and this capital. 
Such a series of events is striking ! It surely, 
displays an over-ruling Providence that has 
confounded the British counsels, to the end 
that America should not have been at first 
shackled, and thereby prevented from acquiring 
a knowledge of, and confidence in her strength 
to be attained only by an experimental trial 
and successful exertion of it, previous to the 
British rulers doing acts driving her, either into 
slavery or independence. The same trace of an 
over-ruling Providence is evident throughout 
the whole transaction of the English revolution 
of 1688. King James received early informa- 
tion of the prince of Orange's intention to 
invade England ; and Louis the XIV. offered 
the king a powerful assistance. Rut his coun- 
sels were confounded from on high ; He paid 
little attention to the first — he neglected the 
last. The winds blew, and how opportunely 
have they aided us ; the winds detained James" 
fleet at anchor ; while they, directing the course 
of the prince, enabled him without any loss to 
land in England, at a time when no person 
thought of a revolution, which was destined to 
take place within but a few weeks. Unex- 
pected, wonderful and rapid movements, char- 
acterized the British and American revolutions : 
They do not appear to have been premeditated 
by man. And from so close a similitude in so 
many points, between the two revolutions, we 
have great reason to hope that the American, 
like the British, will be stable against the tyrant. 
As I said before, in my last charge, I drew a 
parallel between the causes which occasioned 
the English revolution, and those which occa- 
sioned our local revolution in March last ; and 
I examined the famous resolution of the lords 
and commons of England at Westminster, 
declaring the law upon James's conduct. The 
two first points of it applied to our own case in 
the closest manner, and in applying the third, 
treating of James's withdrawing, I pointed out 



that the abdication of the regal government 
among us, was immediately effected, not only 
by the withdrawing of the regal substitute, 
with the ensigns of government, but that king 
George had withdrawn himself, " by withdraw- 
ing the constitutional benefits of the kingly 
office, and his protection out of this country." 
Thus couching my thoughts upon the article of 
the withdrawing, in order that the parallel 
should be continued throughout as close as the 
subject would admit, without attempting to 
extract the essence from the substance of the 
resolution, to demonstrate that such a parallel 
was not necessar)' : A mode which the subject 
being new, might not then perhaps have been 
so generally satisfactory. But, as the Ameri- 
can revolution leads me again to mention that 
resolution, which in the strongest manner jus- 
tifies it, I make no scruple now to say, that the 
resolution, though appearing to point out seve- 
ral kinds of criminality, yet has only one idea 
thus variously represented. 

" Resolved, That king James the second 
having endeavored to subvert the constitution 
of the kingdom by breaking the original con- 
tract between king and people ; and by the 
advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, 
having violated the fundamental laws, and 
having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, 
has abdicated the government, and that the 
throne is thereby vacant." 

But, before 1 make any further obsen-ation 
upon this resolution, allow me to show you the 
sense of Scotland in the last, and of America 
in the present century, touching an abdication 
of government : and you will find, that the 
voice of nature is the same, in either extremity 
of the globe, and in different ages. 

The estates of Scotland having enumerated 
king James's mal-administration, and in which 
there was no article of withdrawing, they 
declared, that " thereby he had forefaulted the 
rights of the crown, and the throne was become 
vacant." And the representatives of the 
United States of America, stating their griev- 
ances under king George the third, decreed, 
that " he has abdicated government here, by 
declaring us out of his protection, and waging 
war against us." And that " a prince, whose 
character is thus marked by every act which 
may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of 
a free people." 

Thus in each case it is apparent, the abdi- 
cation or forefaulting took place from but one 
and the same cause — the failure 0/ protection : 
And this is the single idea that, I apprehend, is 
in the resolution of Westminster. Search to 
understand, what is a breach of the original 



340 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



contract — what a violation of the fundamental 
laws wherein consisted the criminality of James's 
withdrawing ? Your enquiry must terminate 
thus — a failure of protectiott.— Independent 
of the nature of the subject, the history of that 
time warrants this construction upon the with- 
drawing in particular. For, upon James's first 
flying from Whitehall, quitting the administra- 
tion without providing a power to protect the 
people, he was considered by the prince of 
Orange, and the lieads of the English nation as 
having then absolutely abdicated the govern- 
ment, and terminated his reign ; and they 
treated him accordingly upon his sudden return 
fo Whitehall, from whence he was immediately 
ejected. In short, a failure of protection being 
once established, it necessarily includes, and 
implies a charge of a breach of original con- 
tract — a violation of fundamental laws — and a 
withdrawing of the king : I do not mean the 
individual person, but the officer so called. 
For the officer being constituted to dispense 
protection, and there being a failure of it, it is 
evident, /r/>«a facie, that the officer is with- 
drawn ; and in reality, because the law will not 
admit that the officer can be present and not 
dispense protection, as the law ascribes to the 
king in his political capacity absolute perfec- 
tion ; and therefore it will intend a withdrawing 
and abdication, in exclusion of any idea of his 
being present and doing wrong. Protection was 
the great end for which mankind formed socie- 
ties. On this hang all the duties of a king. It 
is the one thing needful in royalty. 

Upon the whole, what is civil liberty, or by 
what conduct it may be oppressed, by what 
means the oppression ought to be removed 
or an abdication or forefaulting of the govern- 
ment may be induced, cannot precisely be as- 
certained, and laid down as rules to the world. 
Humanity is interested in these subjects. Na- 
ture alone will judge ; and she will decide upon 
the occasion without regard to precedent. In 
America, nature has borne British oppression 
so long as it was tolerable ; but there is a load 
of injury which cannot be endured. Nature felt 
it. And the people of America., acting upon 
natural principles, by the mouths of their repre- 
sentatives in congress assembled, at Philadel- 
phia, on the fourth day of July last, awfully 
declared — and I revere the sentence ! — " That 
these United Colonies are, and of right ought 
to be, free and independent states, that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the British 
crown ; and that all political connection between 
them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved." 
A decree is now gone forth, n<it to be recalled. 



And thus has suddenly arisen in the world, a 
new empire, styled the United States of Amer- 
ica. An empire that as soon as started into 
existence attracts the attention of the rest of 
the universe, and bids fair, by the blessing of 
God, to be the most glorious of any upon record 
— America hails Europe, Asia and Africa ! — 
She proffers peace and plenty ! 

This revolution, forming one of the most 
important epochas in the history, not of a 
nation, but of the world, is, as it were, an 
eminence from which we may observe the 
things around us. And I am naturally led 
to explain the value of that grand object now 
in our possession and view — to state the 
American ability by arms to maintain the 
acquisition — and to shew the conduct, by 
which a patriotic grand jury may aid the estab- 
lishment of our infant empire. 

To make men sensible of the value of the 
object now in our possession, we need no 
ingenuity of thought, or display of eloquence. 
To him who doubts of the meridian sun, it is 
sufficient to point to it. So in the present case, 
as well to demonstrate the value of the object as 
the justice of our claim to it, we need only hold 
it up to view. — // is, to maintain among the 
pon.ucrs of the earth, the separate and equal 
station to which the laws of nature and of na- 
ture's God entitle us. — A few months ago we 
fought only to preserve to the laborer the fruits 
of his toil, free from the all-coveting grasp 
of the British tyrant, alieni appetens. siii pro- 
fusus, and to defend a people from being, like 
brute beasts, bound in all cases whatsoever. 
But these two last ingredients to make life agree- 
able are now melted into, inseparably blended 
with, and wholly included in the first, which is 
now become the object for which America, ex 
necessitate, wars against Britain — And I shall 
now point out to you the continental ability, by 
arms, to maintain this invaluable station. 

When, in modem times, Philip of Spain 
became the tyrant of the low countries in 
Europe, of seventeen provinces which composed 
those territories, seven only effectually con- 
federated to preser\'e their liberties, or to perish 
in the attempt. They saw Philip the most 
powerful prince in the old world, and master 
of Mexico and Peru in the new — nations in- 
cessantly pouring into his territories floods of 
gold and silver. They saw him possessed of 
the best troops, and the most formidable na\'y 
in the universe ; and aiming at no less than 
universal monarchy ! But these seven pro- 
vinces, making but a speck upon the globe, saw 
themselves without armies, fleets, or funds of 
money : yet seeing themselves on the point of 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



341 



being by a tyrant bound in all cases whatsoever, 
nobly relying upon Providence and the justice 
of their cause, they resolved to oppose the 
tyrant's whole force, and at least deserve to be 
free. They fought, they bled, and were often 
brought to the door of destruction. — They 
redoubled their efforts in proportion to their 
danger. And the inhabitants of that speck 
of earth, compelled the master of dominions so 
extensive, that it was boasted the sun was 
never absent, to treat with them as a free and 
independent people ! 

For a moment, and with the aid of a fearful 
imagination, let us suppose that the American 
states are now as defenceless as the Hollanders 
then were ; and that the king of Great Britain 
is now as powerful as Philip then was. Yet 
even such a state of things could not be a plea 
for any degree of submission on our part. 
Did not the Hollanders oppose their weakness 
to the strength of Spain ? Are not the Ameri- 
cans engaged in as good a cause as the Hol- 
landers fought in ? Are the Americans 
less in love with liberty than the Hollanders 
were ? Shall we not in this, a similar cause, 
dare those perils that they successfully com- 
bated .' Shall we not deserve freedom ! — Our 
past actions presage our future achievements 
and animate us in our military efforts for 
" peace, liberty and safety." — But see the real 
powers of Great Britain. 

Staggering beneath the load of an enormous 
debt, the very annual interest of which, in the 
year 1775, amounted to upwards of four mill- 
ions eight hundred and eighty thousand pounds 
sterling, Great Britain scarcely supports the 
weight which is yet rapidly increasing. During 
the present year, she prosecutes the war at a 
charge of more than nineteen millions sterling, 
incurred by actual expenses, and by loss of 
revenue in consequence of the war. Her 
trade, her only resource for money, is now in 
a manner destroyed ; for her principal trade, 
which was to this continent, is now at 
an end ; and she sustains heavy, very heavy, 
losses by the American captures of her 
West India ships. Her manufactures are 
almost at their last morsel. Her public 
credit is certain to fail even by a short 
continuance of the war. Her fleets are not 
half manned. And she is so destitute of an 
army, that she is reduced to supplicate even 
the petty German princes for assistance ; and 
thinks it worth the while to make a separate 
treaty to procure only 658 men ! — a last effort 
to form an army in America. — But, after all this 
humiliating exertion, she has even upon paper 
raiseda German army of only 16,868 men who. 



with about 14,000 national troops and a few 
Hanoverian regiments, compose the whole mili- 
tary force that she can collect for the American 
service. Nay, so arduous a task was even 
this, that her grand army of but 26,000 men, 
could not open the present campaign before 
the end of August last. — Add to these particu- 
lars, the troops are unaccustomed to the sud- 
den vicissitudes of the American climate and 
the extremes of cold, heat and rain. They 
cannot proceed without camp equipage, 
because they are used to such luxuries. The 
very scene of their operations is a matter of 
discouragement to them, because they know 
not the country ; and for their supplies of men, 
stores and the greatest part of their provisions, 
they must look to Great Britain — and there is 
a vast abyss between. — Hence their supplies 
must be precarious at best ; and failing, they 
may be involved in ruin. A check may affect 
them as a defeat — a defeat in battle may anni- 
hilate their very army. — Such seems to be the 
situation of Great Britain, while only the Amer- 
ican war is on our hands. But do we not see 
France and Spain, her inveterate enemies, now 
watching for the critical moment when they 
shall swallow up her West India islands ! 
When this crisis appears, which, from the now 
quick arrivals of French vessels in America, 
and from the forces already collected, and 
others now daily poured into the islands by 
those powers, cannot be far distant, what will 
be the situation of Great Britain ! 

On the other hand, America is possessed of 
resources for the war, which appears as soon 
as enquired after ; are found only by being 
sought for ; and are but scarce imagined even 
when found. Strong in her union, on each 
coast and frontier she meets the invaders, 
whether British or Indian savages, repelling 
their allied attacks. The Americans now live 
without luxury. They are habituated to despise 
their yearly profits by agriculture and trade. 
They engage in the war from principle. They 
follow their leaders to battle with personal 
affection. Natives of the climate, they bear the 
vicissitudes and extremities of the weather. 
Hardy and robust, they need no camp equi- 
page, and they march with celerity. The com- 
mon people have acute understandings ; and 
there are those in the higher stations, who are 
acquainted with the arts and sciences, and 
have a comprehensive view of things equally 
with those who act against them. In short, 
the American armies meet the war where they 
be constantly recruited and subsisted ; com- 
forted by the aid of their neighbors, and by 
reflection upon the justice of their cause ; and 



342 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



animated by seeing, that they are arrayed in 
the defence of all that is, or can be, dear to 
them. 

From such a people everything is to be 
hoped for, nothing is to be doubted of. Such 
a people, though young in the practice of war, 
ever were superior to veteran troops. To 
prove this, shall I direct your attention to Eu- 
rope, Asia and Africa, in their histories to 
point out to you numberless instances of this 
sort .' No, gentlemen, America now attracts 
the eyes of the world : she deserves our whole 
attention — let us not search abroad, and in 
remote or modern times, for instances of such 
a kind as we can find at home and in our day. 
Need I mention that such a people, young in 
the art of war, beat veteran troops at Lexing- 
ton, slaughtered them at Bunker's hill ; and 
drove them out of Boston ! or remind you of 
Sullivan's Island, where, in an unfinished 
wooden fort, on a flat coast, such men, during 
eleven hours, and at the distance of five hun- 
dred yards, stood the whole and unintermitted 
fire of a British squadron of two ships of the 
line, five frigates and a bomb ; and, with fifteen 
pieces of cannon, caused the enemy to burn 
one of their largest frigates, and to fly with the 
rest of the squadron, in a shattered condition, 
from before our capital ! 

Such a contrasted state of the powers of 
America and of Britain is. I apprehend, a just 
representation of their abilities with regard to 
the present war ; and if America behaves 
worthy of herself, I see no cause to fear the 
enemy. However, in such a conflict, we ought 
to expect difficulties, dangers and defeats. 
•' What, shall we receive good at the hand of 
God, and shall we not receive evil ? " Job's 
perseverance in his duty under every calamity, 
at length raised him to the height of human 
felicity ; and. if we are firm, even our defeats 
will operate to our benefit. Let us remember, 
that it was to the danger in which the Roman 
state was reared, that she owed her illustrious 
men and imperial fortune. The Roman dig- 
nity was never so majestic ; her glory never so 
resplendent ; her fortitude and exertions never 
so conspicuous and nervous, as when Hanni- 
bal, in the successive battles of Trebia, Trasy- 
menus and Cannae, having almost extirpated 
their whole military force, the very state was 
on the brink of dissolution— the Roman de- 
served, and they acquired, victory ! 

And now, gentlemen of the grand jury, hav- 
ing in this manner considered the nature of 
the American revolution upon circumstances 
of fact, and principles of law, I am to mark the 
conduct which you ought to pursue, and which 



will enable you to aid the establishment of our 
infant empire. But, that I may naturally in- 
troduce this subject, I shall first state and ex- 
plain to you, the principal articles of the enquiry 
which you are sworn to make on the part of 
the state, and for the body of this district ; and 
these articles I shall arrange under two heads. 
The one relating to crimes and misdemeanors, 
immediately injurious to individuals — the other 
relating to such as are injurious to the state. 

Those criminal injuries that affect individuals 
respect either their persons, habitations, or 
property. Of these injuries the most import- 
ant are such as affect the person ; and of such, 
the act depriving the person of life is the most 
enormous. 

In the contemplation of law, every taking of 
life is a homicide ; and according to the par- 
ticular circumstances of each case, this homi- 
cide is purely voluntary, including the cases of 
felony, self-murder, murder respecting an- 
other, and manslaughter: Or the homicide is 
purely involuntary, as per-itifortuniitm, misad- 
venture: Or of a mixed kind, f.r necessitate; 
as se e^e/en^endo mducmg a forfeiture ; or being 
under the requisition or permission of law and 
not inducing any : And thus homicide is either 
justifiable, excusable or felonious. 

It is justifiable in all cases ex necessitate ; as 
when life is taken by the legal execution of a 
criminal ; or for the advancement of justice; 
or for the prevention of some atrocious crime. 

It is excusable in cases per infortunium, 
misadventure ; as when life is taken by the 
doing a lawful act without any evil intention : 
So in cases se defendendo ; as a man being 
attacked without any provocation on his part, 
and having bcnia fide retreated as far as he 
safely could, when for self-preser\'ation he kills 
the aggressor. And although this last arises 
ex necessitate, and it would therefore seem to be 
rather justifiable than excusable, yet the law 
entitles it, necessitate cuJpabilis, and thereby 
distinguishes it from the other. For the law 
so highly respects the life of a man, that it 
always intends some misbehavior in the person 
who takes it away without an express legal 
command or permission. 

But homicide is felonious in all cases of man- 
slaughter, murder, and self-murder. In cases 
of manslaughter, as killing another without 
any degree of malice, and this killing may be 
either voluntary by a sudden act of revenge 
on a sudden provocation and heat, or it may 
be, yet not strictly so, involuntary, being in the 
commission of some unlawful act under the 
degree of felony ; for this killing being the 
consequence of the unlawful act voluntarily 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



343 



entered upon, the law, because of the previous 
intent, will transfer this from the original to 
the consequential object. 

In cases of murder ; as killing another person, 
ex malitia pracognitata : And here it is neces- 
sary that I particularly explain what the law 
considers as malice prepense. Malice prepense 
then, is an inclination of the mind, not so 
properly bearing ill-will to the person killed, 
the commonly received notion, as containing 
a>ty evil design, the dictate of a wicked and 
malignant heart. — The discovery of this secret 
inclination of the mind must arise, because it 
cannot any otherwise, only from the external 
effects of it ; and by such evidence, the malig- 
nity of the mind is held either express in part 
or implied in law. — Thus, malice prepense is 
held to express in fact, when there is evidence 
of a lying in wait ; or of menacings antece- 
dent, grudges, or deliberate conipassings to do 
some bodily harm. Even upon a sudden pro- 
vocation, the one beating or treating another 
in an excessive and cruel manner, so that he 
dies, though he did not intend his death, the 
slayer displays an express evil design, the genu- 
ine sense of malice. This is evidence of a bad 
heart ; and the act is equivalent to a deliberate 
act of slaughter. So any wilful action, likely 
in its nature to kill, without its being aimed at 
any person in particular : For this shews an 
enmity to all mankind. So if two or more 
come to any felony, or any unlawful act, the 
probable consequence of which might be 
bloodshed, and one of them kills a man, it is 
murder in them all, because of the unlawful 
act, the malitia prcecognitata or ct'il intended. 
But malice prepense is held to be implied in 
law, when one kills an officer of justice in the 
execution of his office, or any person assisting 
him, though not specially called. Or when 
without sufficient provocation, and no affront 
by words or gestures only is a sufficient provo- 
cation, a man suddenly kills another. Or 
when, upon a chiding between husband and 
wife, the husband strikes the wife with a pestle 
or other dangerous weapon, and she presently 
dies. These and similar instances, are evi- 
dences of a malice prepense on the part of the 
slayer ; and he shall be held guilty of murder. 
In cases of self-murder, there must be a volun- 
tary and deliberate putting an end to one's 
existence ; or doing some unlawful malicious 
act, the consequence of which is his own death. 
In a word, all homicide is presumed to be 
malicious, until the contrary is made to appear 
in evidence. 

There is a regular gradation of importance 
in the component parts of the universal sys- 



tem ; and, therefore there must be a scale 
marking the degrees of injury. We have ex- 
amined the highest injui"y that can be com- 
mitted or perpetrated upon the person of an 
individual — let us now turn our attention to 
such injuries against the person, as are of an 
inferior nature. 

Of these the first in degree is mayhem, which 
is the cutting out, with malice prepense, or 
disabling the tongue, putting out an eye, slit- 
ting the nose, cutting off a nose or lip, or de- 
priving another of the use of such of his members 
as may render him the less able to defend him- 
self, or annoy his adversary. The next is rape. 
Then the infamous crime against nature. 
These are felonies. But there are yet other 
injuries against the person which, being of a 
less flagrant degree, are, by the tenderness of 
the law, described under the gentler terms of 
misdemeanors. Such are assaults, batteries, 
wounding, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. 
Here, in a manner, terminates the scale of in- 
juries against the person. We will now state 
such as may be perpetrated against his man- 
sion, or habitation. 

By the universal consent of all ages, the 
dwelling house of man, was and is endowed 
with peculiar immunities and valuable privi- 
leges. Among the ancients, if even an enemy 
reached the tire-place of the house, he was 
sure of protection. Thus we find Coriolanus 
at the fire-place of TuUus Aufidius, chief of 
the Volscian nation, discovering himself to Au- 
tidius, his public and private enemy, and sup- 
plicating and receiving his protection against 
Rome from whence he was banished. And, 
on this subject of a dwelling, Cicero, the great 
Roman lawyer, orator and statesman, thus pa- 
thetically expresses himself: "What is more 
inviolable, what better defended by religion 
than the house of a citizen ? Here are his al- 
tars, here his fire hearths are contained — this 
place of refuge is so sacred to all men, that to 
be dragged from thence is unlawful." In like 
manner we find, that at Athens the habitation 
was particularly protected by the law : Burglary 
was there punished with death, although theft 
was not. And our law hath so special a re- 
gard to a man's dwelling house, that it terms 
it his castle, and will not suffer it to be vio- 
lated with impunity. The law ranges the in- 
juries against it under two heads — arson, and 
hamesecken or housebreaking. And, this last 
it divides into legal or proper burglary, which 
is nocturnal house-breaking, and house-break- 
ing by day. 

Arson is an injury that tends by fire to anni- 
hilate the habitation of another person, or other 



344 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



house, that being within the curtilage or home- 
stall, may reasonably be esteemed a parcel of it, 
though not contiguous. So a bam in the field, 
with hay or corn in it. But this injury by fire, 
must be done with a malicious intent, otherwise 
it is only trespass. 

Burglary, is a breaking and entering in the 
night time, the mansion house of another, with 
intent to commit some felony therein, whether 
the felonious intent be executed or not : And 
all such houses are the objects of burglary, and 
of housebreaking, as are described in the case 
of arson. 

But, to violate this place of protection in the 
day, by robbing therein, and putting any 
dweller in fear, although there be no actual 
breach of the house ; or by breaking and rob- 
bing in the house, a dweller being therein, and 
not put in fear ; or by robbing and breaking 
the house, actually taking something, none 
being in the house ; or by feloniously taking 
away something to the value 35/. currency, or 
upwards, no person being in the house ; or by 
breaking the house with intent to commit a 
felony, any person being in the house and put 
in fear, though nothing be actually taken — any 
such violation is called house-breaking — a crime 
not of so atrocious a nature as burglary. For, 
in the contemplation of our law, as well as of 
all others, violency perpetrated in the night, 
are of a more malignant tendency than similar 
ones by day : Because, attacks in the night 
occasion a greater degree of terror ; and be- 
cause, they are in a season by nature appropri- 
ated to the necessary rest and refreshment of 
the human body, which is then, by sleep dis- 
armed of all attention to its defence. 

With respect to injuries against a man's 
personal property, they are to be considered 
under three heads. Larceny, malicious mis- 
chief, forgery. And larceny, the first of these, 
is either simple or mixed. 

Simple larceny, or common theft, is a felo- 
nious and fraudulent taking and carrying away 
the mere personal goods of another — here no 
violence or fear is implied. If goods so taken 
are above the value of seven shillings currency, 
the offence is termed grand larceny ; But if 
they are not exceeding that value, the act is 
petit larceny. Mixt larceny has in it all the 
ingredients of simple larceny, but it is aggra- 
vated by a taking from the house or person ; 
and this taking is yet aggravated if it is under 
the impression of violence or fear. Such a 
taking in the house, with or without violence 
or fear, may or may not fall within the crimes 
of burglary or house-breaking, according to the 
circumstances. And such a taking from the 



person, without, or with violence or fear, will 
be but simple larceny in the first case ; in the 
other, it is a robbery, and the value is of no 
consideration. 

Malicious mischief is a species of injury that 
bears a near relation to the crime of arson. A 
dwelling is the object of arson ; but other 
property is the subject for malicious mischief 
to operate upon ; and indeed this spirit of 
wanton cruelty has a wide field of action. 
This horrible spirit displays itself by burning or 
destroying the property of another, as a stack 
of rice, corn or other grain ; or any tar kiln, 
barrels of pitch, turpentine, rosin or other 
growth, product or manufacture of this state : 
or killing or destroying any horses, sheep or 
other cattle. 

At length the crime of forgery, concludes 
the calender of public offences against the 
property of an individual ; I need only define 
the crime : It is a fraudulent making or alter- 
ation of a writing to the prejudice of another 
person. 

Having, in this manner marked out to you 
the distinguishing features of the principal 
crimes and injuries against the person, habita- 
tion and property of an individual, I now de- 
sire your attention, and I shall not long detain 
it while I delineate those against the state ; 
objects which ought most carefully to be ob- 
served wherever they appear. I have pur- 
posely thus reserved this subject, as well be- 
cause it is of the most important nature, and 
virtually includes the other, as that by being 
the last described, you may be the more likely 
to retain the impression of it. Every outrage 
and violence against the person, habitation or 
property of an indi\idual, is a crime, a misde- 
meanor, or a contempt, and therefore an injury 
against the state, bound by original compact 
to protect the individual in his rights. For no 
man, conceiving himself injured, has any au- 
thority, or shadow of it, to redress himself ; 
because the state has established courts which 
are vindkes iiijuriarum. Hence, every crimi- 
nal injury against the individual must ulti- 
mately wound the state ; and be included in 
the offences against the body politic, which 
must be more important in their nature than 
those relating to the individual, because they 
are more extensive, and of a higher degree of 
criminality. It behoves you therefore to watch 
for the public safety ; for this is to be attentive 
to your private security. 

It is not by any means necessary that I trace 
these crimes, as they are branched by the law. 
The present public service requires your im- 
mediate particular attention to offences done 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



345 



against only four acts of assenibly — the patrol 
and negro laws — the law against counterfeit- 
ing the certificates issued by the late houses of 
assembly, or the currency issued by the con- 
gress of the continent or of this countr)- — 
and the law to prevent sedition, and to punish 
insurgents and disturbers of the public peace. 

The two first l.iws are calculated to keep 
our domestics in a proper behavior. The two 
last were expressly formed as two pillars to 
support our new constitution ; and therefore, 
these last are your most important objects. — I 
shall fully explain them. 

The act against counterfeiting extends to all 
persons who counterfeit, raze or alter, or utter, 
or offer in payment, knowing the same to be 
counterfeited, razed or altered, any certificate 
or bill of credit, under the authority of the late 
commons house of assembly, or the congresses 
of this country, or of the continent. 

The law to prevent sedition guards against 
those actions as, in such a crisis as this, might 
reasonably be expected to operate against our 
present honorable and happy establishment. 
And the variety and importance of those 
actions, make it necessary for me to particu- 
larize them to you. 

This salutar>' act touches all persons taking 
up arms against the authority of the present 
government ; or who by violence, words, deeds 
or writing, cause or attempt to cause, induce, 
or persuade any other person to do so. In 
like manner, all persons who give intelligence 
to, or hold correspondence with, or aid or abet 
any land or naval force sent by Great Britain, 
or any other force or body of men within this 
state with hostile intent against it. So those 
who compel, induce, persuade or attempt to 
do so, any white person, Indian, free negro, or 
slave, to join any force under authority derived 
from Great Britain. And so all persons who 
collect, or procure them to be assembled, with 
intent in a riotous and seditious manner, to 
disturb the public peace and tranquility ; and 
by words, or otherwise, create and raise trai- 
torous seditions or discontents, in the minds of 
the people against the public authority. 

Thus having stated to you such criminal in- 
juries against an individual, or the state, as 
may be most likely to come within your notice, 
it is a natural consequence, that I describe the 
person by law held capable of committing such 
injuries. 

In the first place, the party must be of sound 
memory at the time of committing the offence, 
and it is the leading principle in every case. 
If the party is under seven years of age, no 
evidence can possibly be admitted to criminate ; 



because, the law holds, that the party cannot 
discern between good and evil. But if the ac- 
cused is above seven and under fourteen, he is 
liable to be criminated, if at the time of his 
committing the injur)', his understanding was 
so ripe as to occasion him to shew a conscious- 
ness of guilt, the rule being malitia supplet 
atateni. And if the party is of the age of four- 
teen, which is the age of discretion, the law 
prima facie considers him capable of commit- 
ting offences as a person of full age. Also a 
lunatic for crimes perpetrated in a lucid in- 
terval. Also a man for crimes done in a state 
of drunkenness voluntarily contracted ; and so 
far is this artificial insanity from excusing, that 
it tends to aggravate the offence. 

All those particulars relating to the person, 
habitation and property of an individual ; those 
respecting the safety, peace and tranquility of 
state ; and these describing the perpetrator of 
criminal injuries, are so many proper heads for 
your diligent enquiry : And such offenders and 
offences being within your knowledge, you 
must make due presentment of them. You 
are to hear evidence only on the part of an in- 
formation to you of an offence : for an indict- 
ment by you is only in the nature of a solemn 
and public accusation, which is afterwards to 
be tried and determined by others ; You are 
only to examine, whether there be sufficient 
cause to call upon the party to answer. 
Twelve of you. at least must agree in opinion, 
that the accused ought to undergo a public 
trial — so twelve other jurors are to declare him 
innocent or guilty. — Happy institutions ! where- 
by no man can be declared a criminal, but by 
the concurring voices of at least four and 
twenty men, collected in the vicinage by blind 
chance, upon their oaths to do justice ; and 
against whom, even the party himself has no 
exception ! 

Thus, gentlemen of the grand jury, with the 
best intentions for the public sen'ice, however 
executed, having declared to you, that you are 
not bound under, but freed from the dominion 
of the British crown, I thought myself neces- 
sarily obliged, and I have endeavored to de- 
monstrate to you, that the rise and fall of em- 
pires are natural events — that the independence 
of America was not, at the commencement of 
the late civil war, or even at the conclusion of 
the last year, the aim of the Americans — that 
their subjection to the British crown, being re- 
leased by the action of British oppression, the 
stroke of the British sword, and the tenor of a 
British act of parliament, their natural rise to 
empire was conducted by the hand of God ! — 
that the same strong hand, by proceedings 



346 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



equally unexpected, wonderful and rapid as in 
our case, conducted the English revolution of 
1688 — that the revolutions in England and 
Scotland at that period, and in America now, 
giving a new epocha to the history of the 
world, were founded in the same immediate 
cause ; a failure of protection — that those re- 
volutions concurred in one grand evidence of 
the feelings of nature on such a subject — that 
every species of mal-administration in a king 
is to be traced to a failure of protection, which 
is the only instrument working his abdication 
— that the object for which we contend, is just 
in its nature and of inestimable value — that 
the American revolution may be supported 
with the fairest prospect of success by arms — 
and that it may be powerfully aided by a grand 
jury. 

Gentlemen, I do most cordially congratulate 
you, placed as you are in a station, honorable 
to yourselves, and beneficial to your country. 
Guardians of the innocent, you are appointed 
to send the robber, the murderer, the incendiary 
and the traitor to trial. Your diligence in 
inquiring for such offenders, is the source of 
your own honor, and a means of your country's 
safety, and although no such offenders be 
found, your laudable search will yet tend to 
curb a propensity to robbery, murder, sedition 
and treason. See, gentlemen, what great ad- 
vantages may result from your vigilant and 
patriotic conduct ! Your ears ought to be shut 
to the petitions of friendship, and to the calls 
of consanguinity — but they ought to be ex- 
panded to receive the complaints of your 
injured country, and the demands of impartial 
justice. Brutus inflicted upon his sons the 
tilli'muni suppliciiim for conspiring to re-estab- 
lish the regal government in Rome. And, if 
a similar occasion should arise in America, 
which God forbid, I trust a Brutus will not be 
wanting ! Let those, if there are any such, who 
treacherously or pusillanimously hanker after a 
return of regal government, remember such 
things and tremble. Let us ever remember, 
rejoice and teach our children, that the Ameri- 
can empire is composed of states that are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent ; 
" that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown ; and that all political connection 
between them and the state of Great Britain, 

IS AND OUGHT TO BE TOTALLY DISSOLVED. 



THE PRESENTMENTS OF THE JURY, 

At a court of GENERAL SESSIONS OF THE 
PEACE, OVER AND TERMINER, ASSIZES AND 
GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY, begttn to be held 
at Charleston, for the district of Charleston, 
on Tuesday, October 1 5///, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
seventy-six. 

Presentments of the grand jury for the said 
district. 

I. It is with most cordial satisfaction we 
embrace this opportunity of offering our con- 
gratulations on the late declaration of the con- 
tinental congress, constituting the united colo- 
nies of North America independent states ; 
an event, however once dreaded as repugnant 
to those hopes of peace and friendship with the 
British state, which was then ardently enter- 
tained, yet which every American must now 
most joyfully embrace, as the only happy means 
of salvation and security, and the surest pre- 
vention to the treacherous and cruel designs 
of a wicked and detestable enemy. 

II. As the kind and beneficent hand of a 
wise and bounteous Providence has so ordered 
and disposed of human events that, from 
calamities which were dreaded as the most 
miserable and destructive to America, benefits, 
the most advantageous, honorable and desir- 
able have arisen to her, which now gives a 
very joyful prospect to liberty and hap- 
piness — we think our grateful sense of such 
peculiar care and protection cannot be mani- 
fested in a way more acceptable and proper 
than in a strict regard to the duties which man- 
kind owe to their God. 

in. We present the growing evil of many 
churches established by law falling to decay, 
and some remaining without ministers to per- 
form divine ser\'ice, in divers parishes in this 
district, by which means the spirit of religion 
will decline, and become prejudicial to the 
manners of the peoele. 

IV. We present and recommend a proper 
militia law to be made, in such manner as to 
compel impartially and equally all degrees of 
persons liable to do the duty therein required, 
so as to enable the good people of this state 
(who are now become principally the guardi- 
ans thereof) to repel any domestic or foreign 
enemy as far as possible. 

V. We present and recommend, that care 
may always be had, that none but gentlemen 
of weight and influence, and good example be 
prevailed on to qualify and act in the commis- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



347 



sion of peace, by whose influence licentiousness, 
sedition and profligacy may be suppressed, and 
good order maintained. 

VI. We present and recommend, that some 
office may be created in this district, whereby 
executions and sales by the sheriff may be 
recorded, so that, on the death or removal of 
the sheriff, recourse may be had to such rec- 
ords by those concerned. 

VII. We present and recommend, that Jews 
and others may be restrained from allowing 
their negroes to sell goods in shops, as such a 
practice may induce other negroes to steal and 
barter with them. 

VIII. We present the ill practice of Jews 
opening their shops and selling of goods on 
Sunday, to the profanation of the Lord's Day. 

IX. We present the barrack master Philip 
Will, for seizing of firewood on the wharves, 
under pretence of the public, when he applies 
the same to his own use, to the distressing of 
the inhabitants. By information of Mr. Pat- 
rick Hinds, one of the grand jurors. 

X. We present the want of more constables 
in this district, we being informed that there 
are only four in this town. 

XI. We return our thanks to his honor, the 
chief justice, for his excellent charge delivered 
at the opening of the sessions, and desire that 
the charge and these presentments be forthwith 
printed and published. 



Joseph Glai'er, foreman, 
Benjamin Baker, 
Benjamin Dart, 

John Jidlerton, 
Christopher FitzstJnons, 

William H opt on, 

William Hale, 
Patrick Hinds, 
Charles Johnston, 
Andrew Lord, 
John Miles, 

William Riissel, 
Stephen Towttsend, 



[L. S.] 
[I.. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.l 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 
[L. S.] 



JUDGE DRAYTON. 

At a court of general sessions of the 

PE.\CE, OYER AND TERMINER, ASSIZE AND 
GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY, begun and 

holden at Charleston, for the district of 
Charleston, the list of October, 1777, 
before the honorable William Henry 
Drayton, esq. chief justice, and his asso- 
ciates, justices of the said court. 



Ordered, That the political part of his honor, 
the chief justice's charge to the grand jury, 
together with their presentments be forth- 
with printed and published. 

By the court, 
John Colcock, C. C. S. 

the political part of the charge. 

Gentlemen of the grand jury. — Being but 
just returned from the house of God, we are, 
I trust, sanctified to enter upon the most im- 
portant civil duties, and possessed of the favor 
of Heaven, to aid us in our endeavors faith- 
fully to discharge our respective functions. 
At present, it is your part attentively to listen to 
me — it is mine to discourse of those points im- 
mediately relative to your duty in this court, 
and of such things as may enable you, when you 
shall return into your vicinage, in a more en- 
larged manner to support the laws and free- 
dom of your country. The occasion of our 
meeting demands the first — the present crisis 
of public affairs requires the last, and I flatter 
myself your time will neither be disagreeably 
nor unprofitably occupied. Let me therefore 
begin with laying before you some considera- 
tions aimed to support the freedom of your 
country ; such are ever uppermost in my 
thoughts. 

Do you seriously think of the great work in 
which you, in conjunction with the rest of 
America, are engaged ? You ought to do so 
without ceasing, and to act with a correspond- 
ing vigor. For, beyond all comparison, the 
work is the most stupendous, august, and ben- 
eficial of any extant in history. It is to estab- 
lish an asylum against despotism : of an entire 
world to form an empire, composed of states 
linked together by consanguinity, professing 
the same religion, using the same language 
and customs, and venerating the same princi- 
ples of liberty. A compounded political 
cement, which, in the formation of the grand 
empires upon record, no political architects 
but ourselves ever possessed — a cement pre- 
pared to our hand by the Great Constructor of 
the universe ; and for the best of purposes. 

Formed to enjoy, " among the powers of the 
earth, the separate and equal station to which 
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle 
us," by an unexpected and unprovoked declara- 
tion of the king and parliament of Britain, that 
the inhabitants of America, having no property 
nor right, were by them to be bound in all 
cases whatsoever — by their sending a military 
force to compel us to submit to that declara- 
tion — by their actual seizure of our property — 
by their lighting conflagrations in our land — 



348 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



perpetrating rape and massacre upon our peo- 
ple, and finally releasing us from our allegiance, 
by announcing to us, on the twenty-first day of 
December, 1775, that we were by themselves 
placed out of their protection, — America has 
been compelled to step into that station which, 
I trust, we are willing, and which, I am con- 
vinced, with the blessing of God, we are able 
to maintain. — My dear countrymen, turn your 
attention to the transactions of the last twelve 
months, and be convinced, that our cause is 
the peculiar care of Heaven. 

Human policy at best is but short-sighted ; 
nor is it to be wondered at, that the original 
formation of the continental army was upon an 
erroneous principle. The people of America 
are a people of property ; almost every man is 
a freeholder. Their supreme rulers thought 
such men, living at ease in their farms, would 
not become soldiers under long enlistments ; 
nor, as all that was then aimed at was a redress 
of grievances, did they think there w-ould be 
occasion for their military services, but for a 
few months. Hence the continental army 
was formed upon short enlistments — a policy 
that unexpectedly dragged America back to 
the door of slavery. As the times of enlist- 
ments expired the last year, the American 
army decreased in power, till it possessed 
scarce any thing but its appellation. And 
Washington, a name which needs no title to 
adorn it, a freeman above all praise, having 
evacuated Long Island and New York, to a far 
superior force, having repeatedly baffled the 
enemy at the White Plains, who, quitting that 
scene of action, suddenly took fort Washing- 
ton (Nov. 16) and bending their course to Phil- 
adelphia, he, with but a handful of men, boldly 
threw himself in their front, and opposed their 
progress. — With a chosen body of veterans, 
who had no near prospect of discharge, it is a 
difficult operation to make an orderly, leisurely 
and effectual retreat before a superior enemy ; 
but with Washington's little army, not exceed- 
ing four thousand men, raw troops, who had 
but a few weeks to serve, to make such a 
retreat, for eighty miles, and through a popu- 
lous country, without being joined by a single 
neighbor, a most discouraging circumstance, 
nothing in the whole science of war could be 
more difficult ; yet it was most completely per 
formed. Washington caused the Delaware to 
bound the enemy's advance. He summoned 
general Lee with the corps under his command 
to join him. That veteran, disobeying his 
repeated orders, for which I presume rigid In- 
quisition is yet to be made, loitering when he 
should have bounded forward — he allowed 



himself to be surprised and made a prisoner, 
(Dec. 13,) at a distance from his troops. 
Washington, in the abyss of distress, seemed 
to be abandoned by his officer next in com- 
mand — by the Americans themselves, who 
seemed appalled at the rapid progress of the 
enemy. Rape and massacre, ruin and devas- 
tation indiscriminately overwhelmed whigs and 
tories, and marked the advance of the British 
forces. The enemy being but a day's march 
from Philadelphia, the quakers of that city, by 
a public instrument, dated the 20th of Decem- 
ber, declared their attachment to the English 
domination — a general defection was feared — 
the congress removed to Baltimore — American 
liberty evidently appeared as in the last con- 
vulsive agony ! 

Washington was now at the head but of 
about 2,500 men; their time of service was to 
expire in a few days, nor was there any prospect 
that they could be induced to stay longer. 
This, such as it was, appeared the only force 
that could be opposed to the British, which 
seemed to halt only to give time to the Ameri- 
can vigor to dissolve of itself and display us to 
the world as an inconstant people, noisy, void 
of public virtue and even shame. But, it was 
in this extremity of affairs, when no human 
resource appeared in their favor, that the 
Almighty chose to manifest his powers to 
shew the Americans that he had not forsaken 
them ; and to convince the states that it was 
by him alone they were to be maintained 
in their independence, if they deserved to pos- 
sess it. 

Like Henry the fourth, of France, one of the 
greatest men who ever lived, Washington, lay- 
ing aside the generalissimo, assumed the par- 
tisan. He had but a choice of difficuhies. 
He was even in a more desperate situation than 
that in which the king of Prussia was before 
the battle of Torgau ; when there was no step 
which rashness dictated, but prudence advised 
him to attempt. The enemy were now in full 
possession of the Jerseys. A principal body of 
them were posted at Trenton on the Delaware : 
Washington occupied the opposite banks. 
His army, our only apparent hope, now some- 
what short of 2,500 men, was to be disbanded 
in a very few days : he resolved to lead it to 
battle before that fatal period ; and at least 
afford it an opportunity of separating with 
honor. He prepared to attack the enemy at 
the dawn of day, on the 26th of December. 
The weather was severe. The ice in the river 
prevented the passage of a part even of his 
small force. But with those (1,500 men) that 
he transported across the river through a vie- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



349 



lent storm of snow and hail, he marched against 
the enemy. The unavoidable difficulties in pass- 
ing the river, delayed his arrival at their ad- 
vanced posts till eight in the morning. The 
conflict was short. About thirty of the British 
troops were killed ; 600 fled, 909 officers and 
privates surrendered themselves prisoners, with 
six pieces of brass artillery and four pair of 
colors. 

This brilliant success was obtained at a very 
small price — only two officers, and one or two 
privates wounded. In a word, the victory in 
effect re-established the American affairs. The 
consent of the victors to continue six weeks 
longer under their leader — and the elevation of 
the spirits of the people were its immediate 
consequences— most important acquisitions at 
that crisis. The enemy, roused from their 
inactivity, and with a view of allowing Wash- 
ington as little time as possible to reap other 
advantages, they in a hurry collected in force, 
and marched against htm. He was posted at 
Trenton. On the second of January the front 
appeared in the afternoon — they halted with 
design to make an attack in the morning ; and 
in the mean time, a cannonade was begun and 
continued by both parties till dark. Sanpick 
creek, which runs through Trenton, parted the 
two armies. Our forces occupied the south 
bank, and at night fires were lighted on both 
sides. At twelve, Washington having renewed 
his fires, and leaving guards on the passages 
over the creek, and about 500 men to amuse 
the enemy, with the remainder of his army, 
about one in the morning, he marched to 
Princetown to cut off a reinforcement that was 
advancing. He arrived at his destination by 
sunrise, and dislodged them : they left upwards 
of 100 men dead on the spot, and near 300 
more as prisoners to the victors. 

It was by such a decisive conduct that the 
king of Prussia avoided being overwhelmed by 
a combined attack upon his camp at Lignitz, on 
the morning of the 15th of August, 1760, by 
three armies, led by Daun, Loudohn and 
Czernichew, who were advancing against him 
from different quarters. In the night the king 
marched, and in the morning, by the time Daun 
arrived at his empty camp, he had defeated 
Loudohn in his advance. So the Roman con- 
sul, C. Claudius Nero, dreading the junction of 
Hannibal and his brother Asdrubal, who was 
in full march to him with a powerful reinforce- 
ment, left his camp before Hannibal with such 
an appearance as to persuade him he was 
present, and with the nerves and sinews of his 
army privately quitting it, he rapidly marched, 
almost the whole length of Italy, while Rome 



trembled at his steps, and joining the other con- 
sul, he defeated Asdrubal, who, had he with 
his force joined his brother, had made him in 
all probability an over match for the Romans. 
Thus equal geniuses prove their equality, by 
wisely adapting their conduct to their circum- 
stances. 

The action at Trenton was as the making of 
the flood. From that period success rolled in 
upon us, with a spring tide. That victory gave 
us an army — the affair of Princetown procured 
us a force, and the re-possession of all the 
Jerseys but Brunswick and Amboy. For the 
enemy, astonished at Washington's vivacity, 
dreaded the loss of those posts in which they 
had deposited their stores, and ran back to hide 
themselves behind the works they had thrown 
up around them. Washington pursued, and by 
the fifth of January those forces which, but a 
few days before, were in full possession of the 
Jerseys he had closely confined to the environs 
of Brunswick and Amboy. In this situation 
both armies continued until the 13th of June 
last, when general Howe made an attempt to 
proceed to Philadelphia ; but being baffled, he 
suddenly abandoned Brunswick (June 22) and 
in a day or two after Amboy, and retired to 
Staten island. 

In the mean time general Burgoyne was 
advancing from Canada against Ticonderoga. 
He appeared before the place on the 28th of 
June — a day glorious to this country — and gen. 
St. Clair, who commanded in that important 
post, without waiting till the enemy had com- 
pleted their works, or given an assault, to sustain 
which, without doubt, he had been sent there, 
suddenly abandoned the fortress and its stores 
to the enemy, (July 6th.) The public have loudly 
condemned this evacuation ; and the congress 
have ordered strict enquiry to be made into the 
causes of it. 

Gen. Burgoyne having thus easily possessed 
himself of Ticonderoga, immediately began to 
measure the distance to New-York. But being 
destitute of horses for his dragoons, wagons for 
the conveyance of his baggage, and in urgent 
want of provisions, he halted near Saratoga, to 
give time for the operation of the proclamation 
he had issued (June 23) to assure the inhabi- 
tants of security, and to induce them to con- 
tinue at home with their effects. But regard- 
less of public engagements (August gth) he 
suddenly detached lieutenant col. Baum, with 
1,500 men and private instructions to strip the 
people of their horses, wagons and provisions ; 
and give " stretch " to his Indians to scalp those 
whom he had exhorted to " remain quietly at 
their houses." 



3SO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Things now wore a dreadful aspect in that 
part of America : but general Stark soon 
changed the countenance of affairs. With a 
body of 2000 men, principally militia, he at- 
tacked (August 1 6th) lieutenant col. Baum at 
Bennington, stormed his works, killed about 
200 of his men, took 656 prisoners, together 
with four brass field pieces and a considerable 
quantity of baggage ; losing only about 30 men 
killed and 50 wounded. This successful attack 
at once rescued the country from massacre and 
ruin ; and deprived general Burgoyne of those 
supplies that alone could enable him to ad- 
vance ; nor was it less important in respect to 
the time at which it was made. For at this 
juncture, fort Stanwix was hard pressed by gen. 
St. Ledger who, having advanced from lake 
Ontario, had laid siege to it on the second of 
August. Gen. Arnold had been preparing to 
march to its relief, and he had now full liberty 
to continue his route. His near approach com- 
pelled the enemy with precipitation to raise the 
siege, (Aug. 22) leaving their tents, and a large 
part of their ammunition, stores, provision and 
baggage, nor did he lose any time in setting 
out in pursuit of them. 

Such unexpected strokes utterly disconcerted 
general Burgoyne. Our militia began to as- 
semble in considerable numbers. He now 
anxiously cast his eye behind to Ticonderoga ; 
and wished to trace back his steps. But while 
gen. Gates was advancing against bis front, at 
Still-water, with a superior force, the fruit of 
Bennington and Stanwix, a part of the Amer- 
ican troops had occupied the posts in his rear, 
and were penetrating to Ticonderoga. In their 
advance they took 200 batteaux and 293 pris- 
oners ; and having seized the old French lines 
near that fortress, on the i8th September they 
summoned the place to surrender. Later 
advices which, though not indisputable, yet well 
authenticated, say, gen. Burgoyne is totally 
defeated and taken prisoner, and that Ticon- 
deroga with all its stores is in our possession. 
Indeed, from the events we already know, we 
have every reason to believe that the Ameri- 
can arms are decisively triumphant in that 
quarter. 

As to general Howe, at the head of the 
grand British army, even when the campaign 
was far advanced, he had not done any thing in 
aid of his master's promise, in June last, 
to his parliament, that his forces would " effec- 
tually crush " America in the course of "the 
present campaign." Driven from the Jerseys, 
and having embarked his troops on the 23d of 
July, he put to sea from Sandy-Hook with 226 
sail ; and having entered the Chesapeake, he 



landed his army (about 12,000 men) the 30th 
of August, on Turkey-point, at the head of 
the bay. Skirmishing with the American light 
troops he pushed on to Brandy-wine creek, 
behind which Washington was posted to ob- 
struct his passage. By a double onset on the 
nth of September, at Chad's ford and Jones' 
six miles above, where, because of uncertain 
and contradictory intelligence, Washington had 
not made a disposition adequate to the force 
with which the enemy attacked, they crossed, 
first at Jones' and then at Chad's. The engage- 
ment was long and obstinate. The highest 
account does not make our whole loss exceed 
1000 men and 9 field pieces; the lowest statement 
of the enemy's is not so low as 1,000 killed— a 
slaughter from which we may form some idea 
of the proportion of their wounded. Not hav- 
ing made good the defence of the Brandy- 
wine the American army fell back six and 
twenty miles to the Schuylkill : nor did gen. 
Howe derive any advantage from the posses- 
sion of the field of battle. This is the 40th day 
since the engagement, and we have heard from 
Philadelphia, in less than half the time, circum- 
stances furnishing reasonable ground to con- 
clude, that for at least three weeks after his 
victory, gen. Howe made no impression upon 
the army of the United States ; and that he 
purchased his passage of the Brandy-wine at 
no small price. He carried Bunker's hill, but 
he lost Boston. I trust he has passed the 
Brandy-wine but to sacrifice his army, as it 
were in presence of our illustrious congress, as 
an atonement for his ravages and confiagation 
in America. 

Having thus taken a general and concise 
view of the progress of the war in the north, 
let us now turn our attention to our situation at 
home. In respect of our government, it is 
affectionately obeyed. With regard to cannon, 
arms and ammunition, we are in a truly respect- 
able condition. As to trade, we are the grand 
emporium for the continent. Oh ! that I could 
but give as good an account of the public 
vigor of the people. Alas ! it seems to have 
been exported in the same bottoms with the 
growth of their lands. What ! are we sensi- 
ble that we are yet at war with Great Britain .' 
We proceed as if we had totally vanquished 
the enemy. Are we aware, that to continue 
such a conduct is to allure them to act in this 
state, that tragedy they performed the last win- 
ter in the Jerseys ? Do we intend to acquire an 
experimental knowledge of the horrors of war ? 
Do we desire to be driven from this beautiful 
town^to be dispossessed of this valuable seat 
of trade — to see ourselves flying we know not 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



351 



whither — our heirs uselessly sacrificed in our 
sight, and their bodies mangled with repeated 
stabs of bayonets ? Tell me, do you mean 
that your ears shall be pierced with the una- 
vailing shrieks of your wives, and the agoniz- 
ing screams of your daughters under the brutal 
violence of British or Brunswick ruffians? 
Rouse, ROUSE yourselves into an activity capa- 
ble of securing you against these horrors. In 
every quarter the enemy are vanquished or 
baffled. They are at a stand ; cease, my be- 
loved countrymen, cease, byyour-languor in the 
public, defence, and your ardor after private 
gain, to invite them to turn their steps this 
way and seize your country as a rich and easy 
prey. The states of America are attacked by 
Britain. They ought to consider themselves 
as an army drawn up to receive the shock of 
assault, and from the nature of their ground, 
occupying thirteen towns and villages in the 
extent of their line. Common prudence dic- 
tates that the several corps, in their respective 
stations, during the whole time they are 
in battalia, should use the utmost vigilance 
and diligence, in being on their guard, and 
in adding strength to strength for their secu- 
rity. We are in the right wing of the Ameri- 
can line, and at a distance from the main 
body — are we doing our duty ? No ! we have 
in a manner laid up our arms — nay, even prizes 
are prepared for the horse-race ! we can spare 
no laborers to the public, because we are em- 
ploying them to collect on all sides articles for 
private emolument. We amuse ourselves with 
enquiries into the conduct of those who per- 
mitted the loss of Ticonderoga, nor do we 
appear to have an idea that others will, in their 
turn, scrutinize our conduct at this juncture — 
a crisis when we know that the enemy have 
collected their force, and are actually advanced 
against the main battle of America ; where, if 
they shall find they can make no impression, 
and we have not a flattering prospect, they 
will find their efforts abortive, it is but rea- 
sonable to imagine they will recoil upon our 
post. They will sail faster against, than aid 
can be marched to us. Their arrival will be 
sudden — shall they find us shamefully occupied 
in the amusements and business of peace? 
Why has the Almighty endowed us with a rec- 
ollection of events, but that we may be enabled 
to prepare against dangers, by avoiding the 
errors and follies, the negligence and supine- 
ness, by which others have been ruined. If a 
sense of our duty to our country, or of 
safety to posterity, is too weak to rouse us into 
action ; if the noble passions of the mind have 
not force to elevate us to glory — the meaner 



ones, perhaps, may drive us into a state of se- 
curity. The miser, amidst all his anxiety to 
add to his heap, is yet careful to provide a 
strong box for its safety. Shall we neglect even 
such an example of prudence ? Pride raised 
Cassius's dagger against Csesar, and procured 
him the glorious title of the last of the Romans. 
We were the first in America, who publicly 
pronounced lord North's famous conciliatory 
motion, inadmissible — we raised the first regu- 
lar forces upon the continent, and for a term 
of three years — we first declared the causes of 
taking up arms — we originated the councils of 
safety — we were among the first, who led the 
way to independence, by establishing a constitu- 
tion of government — we were the first who 
made a law authorizing the capture of British 
vessels without distinction — we alone have 
defeated a British fleet — we alone have 
victoriously pierced through and reduced a 
powerful nation of Indians, who, urged by Bri- 
tain, had attacked the United States. But 
such brilliant proceedings, unless supported 
with propriety, will cover us with infamy. 
They will appear as the productions of faction, 
folly and temerity : not of patriotism, wisdom 
and valor. What a contrast ! how humilia- 
ting the one — how glorious the other ! Will 
not pride spur us on to add to the catalogue ? 
Will you not strive to rival the vigor of the 
North ? Do we admire the great names of 
antiquity ? Do we wish for an opportunity to 
be equally celebrated by posterity ? — Than the 
present, there never was a more inviting or 
certain opportunity of acquiring an immortal 
name. A world to be converted into an 
empire, is the work now at hand — a work 
whereon the names of the workmen will be 
engraved in indelible characters. Shall we not 
exert ourselves to be ranked in this most illus- 
trious list ? Nor is it so difficult a thing to 
acquire place in it, as may be imagined : it is 
in every man's power to exert himself with 
vigor and constancy. My dear countrymen, 
trifle not with an opportunity unexampled, and 
not to be recalled — it is passing with rapidity. 
Let us put our hands to our breasts, and exam- 
ine what we have done in forwarding this im- 
perial structure. How many must say, I have 
youth — strength — activity — an abundant for- 
tune, learning — sense, or some of these 
blessings ; but — I have shewed my attachment 
to America only by- a momentary vigor, to 
mark my inconstancy — scrutinizing the con- 
duct of others— good wishes, and enquiring 
the news of the day. Such men must be sensi- 
ble of a disgraceful inferiority, when they hear 
those American names, which the trumpet ot 



352 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



fame now sounds through the world ; a blast, 
that will reach the ears of the latest pos- 
terity. 

Surely such men may have a desire to be re- 
lieved from so oppressive a sensation : the 
remedy is within their own power ; and if they 
will use it, while it throws off their disgrace, it 
will operate for the benefit of their country. 
Let them enquire of the president, what service 
they can render the state. To a rich planter, 
he would say, if you will send 2C, 30, or 40 
laborers to the public works, and for whom you 
shall be paid, you will do an essential service 
in a critical time. To another, if you will dili- 
gently overlook and push on the construction 
of such a battery, or line, you will merit the 
thanks of your fellow-citizens. To a third, if 
instead of hunting you will ride about your 
neighborhood, or a little beyond, and endeavor 
to instruct those who are ignorant of the im- 
portance of the public contest — reclaim the 
deluded, animate the timid — rouse the languid 
— and raise a spirit of emulation who shall 
exert himself most in the cause of freedom and 
America : you will deserve the applause of the 
continent. How many opportunities are there, 
for a man to distinguish himself; and to be 
beneficial to his country ! 

Nor ought those who have labored much in 
the public defence, to sit down at ease, if they 
can perform other ser\'ices. The enemy are 
repulsed in their attacks — they are at a stand 
— they seem stunned. Let us now collect our 
whole strength — one effort more and they 
must be crushed. We are warned to e.\pect 
the enemy ; and it is probable, the back 
country militia may be called to do duty 
in this town, during the ensuing winter. I 
wish to extend some aid to such of their fami- 
lies, as may be most distressed by their ab- 
sence from home ; and I do therefore declare, 
that I appropriate my last year's salary for that 
ser\'ice. I am endeavoring to raise a spirit of 
emulation among my countrymen — the ungen- 
erous will attribute this appropriation to other 
motives — I know the world too well to doubt 
it. But, let such follow their inclinations — I 
rely upon the integrity of my conduct. I 
ought to endeavor to discharge my duty to 
the public ; nor is it a consideration with me, 
that my conduct in the prosecution of my duty, 
may expose me to a reproach of vanity or in- 
gratitude , a want of sympathy for those in 
distress or natural affection ; I am always 
satisfied, when I know that I do not deserve 
such censures. I feel for those, who feel 
disagreeable effects from my conduct : but, 
among the many things I regret, I cannot but 



thus publicly lament, that not the least atten- 
tion is paid to two important resolutions of our 
congress in June, 1775. 0"e, that all absen- 
tees holding estates in this country, except the 
sick, and those above sixty, and under twenty- 
one years of age, ought forthwith to return — 
the other, that no person holding property in 
this country ought to withdraw themselves 
from its service, without giving good and suffi- 
cient reasons for so doing. The gentle voice of 
legislative recommendation is not regarded — 
must the legislature, in order to be heard, raise 
its voice to the tone of forfeiture .' Our coun- 
try stands in need of the advice, the counte- 
nance, the personal support of all those who 
have property in it. Nor is it just or reasona- 
ble, that any should enjoy ease and safety by 
continuing at a distance, while the people here 
have put their all at hazard. If we fail, they 
continue secure in life and estate ; if we suc- 
ceed, they, without toil or danger, reap every 
benefit we shall procure. I know some of 
those, who are absent, contrary to the recom- 
mendation of their country, nor am I so un- 
generous as to attribute their absence to a 
disgraceful policy. But, even they must be so 
ingenuous as to admit that those who do not 
know them, have room to cast this reproach 
upon them, and to be dissatisfied at their 
conduct. 

It is necessary that I speak with boldness 
and plainness. In a time like this, that lan- 
guage should be as the thunder — not as the 
music of the spheres — and that I discourse to 
grand jurors of other things, besides their 
mere duties in a court of justice. Hence, upon 
other occasions have I reasoned upon the pro- 
priety of our revolution in March, 1776 — upon 
the legal necessity of the American independ- 
ence — and now, upon the situation of affairs. 
I do most earnestly recommend, that you urge 
these topics, when you blend yourselves again 
among your neighbors. In every station that 
I have had the honor to fill, I have counselled 
the most decisive measures ; nor have I been 
sparing of my personal assistance in their exe- 
cution ! The public service requires an un- 
wearied application, unabating vigor, and a 
readiness to make the greatest sacrifices. I 
firmly trust, that we shall act as men ; and 
that posterity will have no just cause to re- 
proach our conduct. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



353 



THE PRESENTMENTS OF THE JURY. 
At a court of general sessions of the 

PEACE, OYER AND TERMINER, ASSIZE AND 
GENERAL GAOL DELIVERY, begun and /wi- 
den at Charleston, for the district of Charles- 
ton, the 2ist October, 1777, before the hon- 
orable William Henry Drayton, esq., chief 
justice, and his associates, justices of the 
said court. 

Presentments of the grand jury for the said 
district. 

I. We the grand jurors of said district, think 
it our duty to present as a great grievance, 
that most of the magistrates in the commis- 
sion of the peace for Charleston refuse to act, 
by means whereof many criminals, particularly 
slaves, escape punishment, to the great encour- 
agement of crimes and offences: And we are 
of opinion, that this remissness in the magis- 
trate, is owing to the law disallowing any fees 
for the most salutary services to the public. 

n. We present as a grievance, the number 
of voluntary absentees from this state now in 
Europe, men of large possessions, that they 
are not particularly ordered to return, and join 
their countrymen, in the present contest for 
liberty and independence. 

in. We present, by the information of Mr. 
Benjamin Edings, that the public road lead- 
ing from Slann's island to Edisto island, has 
never been finished, (for want of commis- 
sioners) and is now in such bad order, that it 
is very difficult for the inhabitants to pass over, 
and which may be very detrimental in case of 
any invasion or other emergency, and hope 
that due attention may be had in remedying 
this evil. 

IV. We return our thanks to his honor the 
chief justice, for his excellent and patriotic 
charge delivered at the opening of this ses- 
sions, and beg the same, with our present- 
ments, may be forthwith printed and published. 

Edward Lightwood, foreman, [L. S.] 

Philip Tidyman, [L. S.] 

John Webb. [L. S.] 

fohn Creighton, [L- S ] 

Henry Samwayes, [L. S.] 

John Lyon, [L. S.] 

Satnitel Legare, [L. S.] 

Josiah Bonneau, [L. S.] 

Samuel Dunlap, [L. S.] 

John Rivers. [L. S.] 

Robert Murrell.jun. [L. s.] 

James Witter, jun. [l. S.] 

William Roy all. [L. S.] 

Benjamin Edings, [L. S.] 

23 



ADDRESS 

To THEIR EXCELLENCIES RICHARD VIS- 
COUNT Howe, admiral, and William 
Howe, Esq., general, of his britannic 
majesty's forces in America. 

Charleston, S. C-, October 33, 1776. 
Mv lord and sir — Your declaration at New 
York has reached this place. It has occasioned 
surprise and concern. The known honor and 
abilities of your excellencies, and your declara- 
tion, appear perfect contrasts. The latter is an 
unnatural production. Hurt, as I am to see 
your names so prostituted, I cannot restrain 
myself from making a few remarks to your 
excellencies upon a subject which, by endan- 
gering your reputation, distresses every gen- 
erous mind. I shall first state your declara- 
tion. 



"By Richard Viscount Howe, of the king- 
dom of Ireland, and Wl'LLlAU HowE, Esq. 
general of his 7najesfy's forces in America, 
the king's COMMISSIONERS for restoring 
peace to his majesty's colonies and planta- 
tions in North America, etc. etc. 

Declaration. 

" Although the congress, whom the mis- 
guided Americans suffer to direct the opposi- 
tion to a re-establishment of the constitutional 
government of these provinces have disa- 
vowed every purpose of reconciliation not con- 
sonant with their extravagant and inadmissible 
claim of independence, the king's commission- 
ers think fit to declare that they are equally 
desirous to confer with his majesty's well 
affected subjects upon the means of restoring 
the public tranquility, and establishing a per- 
manent union with every colony as a part of 
the British empire. The king being most gra- 
ciously pleased to direct a revision of such of 
his royal instructions to his governors as may 
be construed to lay an improper restraint on 
the freedom of legislation in any of his colo- 
nies, and to concur in the revisal of all acts by 
which his majesty's subjects there may think 
themselves aggrieved, it is recommended to the 
inhabitants at large, to reflect seriously upon 
their present condition and expectations, and 
judge for themselves, whether it be more 
consistent with their honor and happiness to 
offer up their lives as a sacrifice to the unjust 
and precarious cause in which they are engaged, 
or return to their allegiance, accept the bless- 
ings of peace, and to be secured in a free en- 



354 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



joyment of iheir liberties and properties upon 
true principles of the constitutioii. 
" Given at New York, 19th September, 1776. 
•■ HOWE, 
" W. HOWE. 
" By command of their excellencies, 

Straghey." 

And now, not to detain your excellencies by 
making observations upon lord Howe's not 
assuming his military title, displaying the na- 
ture of his supreme hostile command in Amer- 
ica, by which unusual and designed omission, 
the ignorant, seeing his name contrasted with 
that of a general clothed in all his terrors, may 
be entrapped to believe that his lordship is to 
be considered in a more amiable point of view, 
a mere commissioner only for restoring peace, 
without any military command to intimidate 
and coerce. Not to wound your delicacy, by 
admiring the wisdom of your appealing from 
the congress to people confessed by you to be 
directed by that honorable assembly : My 
remarks shall be confined to the more material 
parts of your declaration, which I am sorry to 
say, are in every respect unworthy your good 
sense and high characters. 

Your excellencies " think fit to declare," that 
you are desirous " of restoring the public tran- 
quility." But is the end your excellencies aim 
at our honor and advantage ? Is it to give a 
free scope to our natural growth .' Is it to 
confirm to us our rights by the law of nature ? 
No ! — It is to cover us with infamy. It is to 
chill the sap, and check the luxuriance of our 
imperial plant. It is to deprive us of our 
natural equality with the rest of mankind, by 
" establishing " every state " as a part of the 
British empire." In short your excellencies 
invite men of common sense to exchange an 
independent station for a servile and dangerous 
dependence ! But, when we recollect that the 
king of Great Britain has. from the throne, de- 
clared his " firm and steadfast resolutions to 
withstand every attempt to weaken or impair 
the supreme authority of that legislature over 
all the dominions of his crown : " that his hire- 
lings in parliament and tools in office, abhorred 
by the English nation, have echoed the senti- 
ment ; and that America, for ten years has ex- 
perienced that king's total want of candor, 
humanity, and justice — it is, I confess, a matter 
of wonder, that your excellencies can submit 
to appear so lost to decency as to hold out sub- 
jection as the only condition of peace : and 
that you could condescend to sully your per- 
sonal honor, by inviting us to trust a govern- 
ment in which you are conscious we cannot in 



the nature of things place any confidence — a 
government that you are sensible has been, 
now is, and ever must be jealous of our pros- 
perity and natural growth — a government that 
you know is absolutely abandoned to corrup- 
tion ! Take it not amiss, if I hint to your ex- 
cellencies, that your very appearing in support 
of such a proposal, furnishes cause to doubt 
even of your integrity ; and to reject your 
allurements, lest they decoy us into slavery. 

The declaration says, " the king is most 
graciously pleased to direct a revision of such 
of his royal instructions to his governors," etc. 
" and to concur in the revisal of all acts by 
which his majesty's subjects may think them- 
selves aggrieved." But what of all this. Your 
excellencies have not told the people, who 
" think themselves aggrieved," that they are 
to be a party in the revision. You have not 
even told them who are to be revisors. If you 
had, it would be nothing to the purpose ; for 
you have not, and cannot tell them and engage 
that even any of the instructions and acts, be- 
ing revised, shall be revoked, and repealed ; 
particularly those by which people " may think 
themselves aggrieved." But, if such are not 
to be repealed, why have you mentioned " think 
themselves aggrieved .'' " If they are intended 
to be repealed, why did not your excellencies 
come to the point at once and say so .'' — It is 
your excellencies are by your superiors precipi- 
tated into a dilemma. You have not been ac- 
customed to dirty jobs, and plain dealing does 
not accord with your instructions ; otherwise, 
in the latter case, I think you are men of too 
much sense and honor to have overlooked or 
suppressed so material a point of information. 
However, you say instructions and acts are to 
be revised : We see that you have laid an am- 
buscade for our liberties ; the clause is care- 
fully constructed without the least allusion to 
the revisors, or to the words redress, revoke, 
repeal. In short, it appears to be drawn up 
entirely on the plan of a declaration by king 
James the Second after his abdication, as con- 
fidentially explained by James' secretary of 
state, the earl of Melford to lord Dundee, in 
Scotland. For Melford writes to Dundee 
" that notwithstanding of what was promised 
in the declaration, indemnity and indulgence, 
yet he had couched things so that the king 
would break them when he pleased ; nor would 
he think himself obliged to stand to them." 
And your excellencies have " couched things 
so," that more words upon this subject are 
unnecessary. 

" It is recommended to the inhabitants al 
large, to reflect seriously upon their present 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



355 



condition." Is it possible your excellencies 
can be serious, and mean any thing by this re- 
commendation ? Can you be ignorant, that 
ever since the birth of the stamp act, the in- 
habitants at large have been reflecting upon 
their deplorable condition .' Can you have an 
idea that, after such a length of time, during 
which they have been continually kept to their 
reflections, by the declaratory law, the tea-act, 
the Boston port-bill, and those then passed to 
annihilate the charter of Massachusetts-Bay, 
the Quebec bill to establish popery, the fishery- 
bill to coerce by famine, the British commence- 
ment of the late civil war, and the act of parlia- 
ment in December last, declaring the inhabi- 
tants rebels — I say after such a series of causes 
for reflection, and that your excellencies now 
find us in arms against you, determined on in- 
dependence or death, can you possibly enter- 
tain an idea that we have not reflected seri- 
ously ? On the contrary you know, that we are 
prepared to offer up our lives in evidence of our 
serious reflections ! In addressing a world 
you ought to have some attention to the pro- 
priety of your recommendations, if only from a 
regard to your own reputation. 

You are pleased to term our cause " unjust." 
In this there is nothing so surprising, as your 
being lured to give such a sentiment under 
your hands — signing your own disgrace with 
posterity. You know, that the virtuous char- 
acters throughout Europe, on this point differ 
with your excellencies ; and I most respectfully 
submit, whether there is not some little degree 
of presumption in your signing an opinion, in 
contradiction to the opinion of thousands, who, 
without derogating from your excellencies, are 
at least as well able to judge upon the point as 
you are.' 

But you add, that our cause is " precarious." 
Allow me to make a proper return to your 
excellencies by informing you, that all the af- 
fairs of men are precarious, and that war is 
particularly so. However, if your excellencies 
meant to insinuate that our cause is precarious 
from an inability in us to maintain it, I beg 
leave to ask general Howe what progress his 
arms made during his command at Boston : 
And what shining victories, and important con- 
quests you have achieved since your junction 
at Staten Island ? The eulogium, 
-quo fulmina belli 



Scipiadas- 

cannot yet be applied to your excellencies. 
General Howe's repulse from the lines on 
Long Island, and his victory over the advanced 
guard of 3000 men, reflect no great degree of 
glor) on the corps of at least 12,000 that he 



commanded. Nor can you boast much of the 
action on New- York island on the 1 5th of Sep- 
tember, when a few more than 800 Americans, 
attacking three companies of light troops sup- 
ported by two regiments, the one Scotch, the 
other Hessian, drove them from hill to hill back 
to your lines, and carried off three pieces of 
brass cannon as trophies of their victory. And 
when general Washington, on the second of 
October, caused a large detachment to draw 
up to Harlaem plains to cover the inhabitants 
between the two armies, while they carried off 
their effects, the march and continuance of the 
British troops in order of battle, within long 
shot, without firing a gun to interrupt the ser- 
vice, is at least some slight degree of evidence 
that they respect and stand in awe of the 
American arms. In short, without being unrea- 
sonable, I think I may be allowed to say, that 
these particulars do not show, that our cause is 
so precarious as your excellencies would in- 
sinuate it to be ; and to recommend that your 
excellencies " reflect seriously upon your pres- 
ent condition," and abandon " the unjust cause 
in which you are engaged " while you yet may 
preserve your reputation from the reproaches 
of posterity. 

Your excellencies call upon the inhabitants 
at large " to return to their allegiance." It is 
as if you had commanded a body of troops to 
advance to the assault, before you had put them 
in order of battle. I tell your excellencies, that 
protection must precede allegiance ; for the lat- 
ter is founded on the benefit of the former. 
That the operations of the forces by sea and 
land under your orders, demonstrate that your 
king is not our protector. And, that the alle- 
giance of America to the king of Great Britain 
is now utterly out of the question. 

But you attempt to allure the inhabitants by 
telling them they may " be secured in a free 
enjoyment of their liberties and properties, upon 
the true principles of the constitution." Will 
your excellencies tell us where those principles 
are to be found ? You must say they are not 
to be found in the present British government. 
Do we not know that the majority of the two 
houses of parliament are absolutely under the 
king of Great Britain's direction ? — They make 
and repeal laws ; they agree with or reject mo- 
tions ; they vote money even without limitation 
of sum at the pleasure of that king's minister, 
in whose pay they actually are ; and your ex- 
cellencies as men of honor dare not deny these 
things. Will you then say that, where there is 
such a dependence, the true principles of the 
constitution operate ? The history of the present 
reign, all Europe, would witness against you. 



356 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Those principles have been long despised by 
the rulers, and lost to the people — otherwise, 
even at the commencement of the present reign, 
we should not have seen the dismission of the 
virtuous chancellor of the exchequer, Legge, 
because he would not quit his seat in parlia- 
ment at the instigation of the last prince of 
Wales ; nor the massacre in St. George's fields 
and the royal thanks to the assassins; nor the 
repeated and unredressed complaints to the 
throne ; nor the unheard of profusion of the 
public treasure, far e.xceeding the extravagance 
of a Caligula or a Nero ; nor the present ruin- 
ous situation of Great Britain ; nor the present 
war in America, for the worst of purposes kin- 
dled by your king. Can your excellencies be 
so wanting to yourselves, as, at this time of 
day, on the part of your master, seriously to talk 
to us of a security upon the true principles of 
the constitution. Did it never strike you that 
the Americans would expect to see such prin- 
ciples operating in England, before they could 
be duped into a belief that America could pos- 
sibly feel their effects from the dark recess of 
the royal palace .■" The lord mayor of London 
has openly charged lord North, and the lords 
of the admiralty, with licensing ships to trade 
to all parts of America, in direct disregard, 
contempt, and defiance of an act of parliament 
to the contrary, passed so late as December 
last. And yet your excellencies do not scruple 
to talk to us of a security upon the true princi- 
ples of the constitution ! — Let the fountain be 
sweet, and then its stream may be salutary. 

Your excellencies say "the king is most gra- 
ciously pleased to direct a revision " of instruc- 
tions and acts. If you really mean to con- 
ciliate, why will you insult the inhabitants at 
large. It was "the king's" bounden duty to 
have directed, not only a revision, but an 
amendment to his instructions ; and to have 
recommended a repeal of the acts when the 
people first complained of them. But he, 
having been criminally deaf to the cries of 
the injured, to terrify them into silence, having 
burnt their towns — restrained their trade — 
seized and confiscated their vessels — driven 
them into enormous expenses — sheathed his 
sword in their bowels — and adorned the heads 
of their aged women and children with a cinc- 
ture mad'e by the scalping-knife of his ally, the 
Indian sa\'age — you now tell these injured peo- 
ple, that " the king is graciously pleased to di- 
rect a revision ? " — His very mercies are insults ! 

And so your excellencies, besides your mili- 
tary commands as admiral and general, are 
also " commissioners for restoring the peace." 
Is there not some error in this title ? Ought 



we not instead of "peace" to read tyranny i 
You seem armed at all points for this purpose ; 
and your very language detects the latent 
design. But you are commissioners, and for 
the important purpose of " restoring peace," you 
are honored with a power — " to confer." And 
you have condescended to be mere machines 
through which, as through speaking trumpets, 
words are to be sounded from America to Bri- 
tain ! How much lower is it possible for your 
excellencies to degrade yourselves in the eyes of 
the world ! By this it is most evident, the British 
king has not one generous thought respecting 
America. Nor does he mean to grant terms upon 
the true principles of the constitution . For, if to 
grant such terms was bona fide the intention of 
your master, without doubt YOU would have 
been vested with competent powers. But he 
plainly means to grant nothing he can possibly 
avoid ; and therefore he would have the matter 
of negotiation drawn into length under his own 
eye. Can we place any confidence in such a 
prince? His aim is to divide, not to redress 
and your excellencies, declaration is but a con- 
tinuation of lord North's conciliatory plan. 

Thus, while we remember that lord North 
declared, on the 20th of February, 1775, that 
his famous conciliatory plan was rather calcu- 
lated to break a link in the American chain of 
union, than to give satisfaction to the people : 
and that the exercise of the right of taxing 
every part of the British dominions must by no 
means be given up ; that lord Mansfield, on the 
third reading of the bill declaring war against 
the united colonies, affirmed that he did not 
consider who was originally in the wrong, they 
were now to consider only where they were, 
and the justice ot the cause must now give way 
to their present situation : w-hen we consider 
the king of Great Britain's speech to the parlia- 
ment on the last of November, and the com- 
mons' address and his answer on the 7th of 
December. 1774 — the commons' address of the 
9th of February, 1775, ''"d the royal answer: 
and the speech from the throne at the last 
opening of the parliament, October the 26th, 
1775 — all declaring an unalterable purpose to 
maintain the supreme authority of that legisla- 
ture over all the dominions of the crown — 
in other words, their unalterable purpose, to 
bind us zn all cases "whatsomier : when we see 
your hostile array and operations, in conse- 
quence of those declarations : I say, when we 
consider these things, we can be at no loss to 
form a just idea of the intentions of your king ; 
or to conceive what your excellencies me.an, by 
" the true principles of the constitution." Nor 
are we to be caught by any allurements your 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



357 



excellencies may throw out — you confess, and 
we know that you as commissioners, have not 
any power to negotiate and determine anything. 

But, unanswerable as the reasons are against 
America returning to a subjection under the 
British crown, now in fact become despotic — 
and America, after unheard of injuries, infinite 
toil, hazard and expense, her inhabitants called 
cowards by your master's servants, civil and 
military, having declared herself independent — 
did not your excellencies feel a little for our 
honor, when you at the head of your armies, 
held out to us, subjection and peace ! Did not 
you feel the dignity of your characters affected 
when you, under the guise of a security upon 
the true principles of the constitution, recom- 
mend to " the inhabitants at large " to rescind 
their decree, and by their own mouths declare 
themselves the most contemptible people in 
history, which gives no example of such base- 
ness — render their name a term of reproach 
among all nations — and forbid each other from 
placing any, the least degree of confidence in, 
and all foreign states from paying the least 
degree of credit to their most solemn declara- 
tions ! In short, to submit to a government 
abandoned to corruption, lost to a sense of 
justice ; and already but a step behind abso- 
lute despotism — a government that has long 
been and ever must be jealous of our rise, and 
studious to depress our natural growth ! Did 
not your excellencies blush and shrink within 
yourselves, when you asked men, who had 
been almost ruined by your gracious master, 
to abandon the honorable and natural station 
of independence, and stoop to kiss his hand, 
now daily bathed in, and which ever must con- 
tinue stained by the blood of a friend ! a bro- 
ther ! a son ! a father ! 

That your excellencies may " reflect seri- 
ously " upon "the unjust cause in which you 
are engaged : " and that the name of Howe 
may be enrolled with the names of Marlbor- 
ough and Effingham, are the wishes of, 

A CAROLINIAN.* 

Charleston, October 22d, 1776. 



JUDGE DRAYTON'S SPEECH. 

The speech of the hon. William Henry Dray- 
ton, esq. chief justice of South Carolina, de- 
livered on the twentieth January, 1778, in 
the general assejnbly — resolved into the com- 
rmttee of the whole upon the articles of the con- 
federation of the United States of America. 

Mr. Chairman — A plan of a confederation 
* Judge Drayton." Editor. 



of the United States of America, is at length 
by congress, given to the continent : A subject 
of as high importance as can be presented to 
their attention. Upon the wise formation of 
this, their independence, glory and happiness 
ultimately depend. The plan is delivered 
abroad for private and public information : It 
is sent to us for consideration. Sir, my mind 
labors under the load that is thus thrown upon 
it. — Millions are to experience the effects of the 
judgment of those few, whom the laws permit 
to think and to act for them in this grand busi- 
ness. Millions — posterity innumerable, will 
bless or curse our conduct ! — Their happiness 
or misery depend upon us — their fate is now 
in our hands ! I almost tremble, while I assist 
in holding the important balance ! — But sir, 
the great Disposer of all things, has placed us 
in this important period, pregnant with vast 
events. He has called us forth to legislate for 
the new world ; and to endeavor to bind the 
various people of it in durable bands of friend- 
ship and union. We must obey : and I trust 
we shall obey, with courage and integrity. 
Actuated by these principles, I am incapable 
of receding from my duty. And conscious that 
I am bound to consider the subject of a confed- 
eration of the United States, upon the broad 
basis of equality, I shall endeavor to discharge 
this obligation, first, by viewing the plan before 
us, with liberality, and with that decency and 
respect, due to the high authority from which 
it is derived ; and then, by taking the liberty of 
throwing out my ideas of such terms, as in my 
opinion are desirable, attainable, and likely to 
form a beneficial confederation. 

The best writers upon government, agree in 
this as a political truth ; that where the liberties 
of the people are to be preserved, the legislative 
and executive should ever be separate and dis- 
tinct ; and that the first should consist of parts 
mutually forming a check upon each other. 
The consuls, senate and people, constituted 
such a government in Rome. The kings, lords 
and commons, erected such a government in 
Britain. The first, one of the best of antiquity — 
the last, the most perfect system, the wit of 
man ever devised : But both, as it is the case 
with all things temporal, lost their capability 
of action, and changed their very nature. 

We are about to establish a confederated 
government which I religiously hope will last 
for ages. And, I must be pardoned when I 
say, that this government does not appear 
likely to be formed upon those principles, 
which the wisest men have deemed, and 
which long and invariable experience prove, 
to be the most secure defences to liberty. The 



358 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



congress seem to have lost sight of this wise 
mode of government. At least it is certain, 
that they have rejected it. I lament their 
decision : I have apprehension for the conse- 
quences. Into their own hands, they appear 
inclined to assume almost all the important 
powers of government. The second article 
speaks of the sovereignty of the respective 
states, but by the time we arrive at the last, 
scarce the shadow of sovereignty remains to 
any. " No two or more states shall enter into 
any treaty," but by consent of congress — " nor 
shall any body of forces be kept up by any 
state, in time of peace, except such number 
only,". as congress shall deem requisite — "no 
vessels of war, shall be kept up in time of 
peace by any state, e.xcept such number only," 
as congress shall deem necessary — " nor shall 
any state grant commissions to any ships or 
vessels of war, e.xcept it be after a declaration 
of war by," Congress — and, these are great 
and humiliating restrictions upon their sov- 
ereignty. It is of necessity, that the sover- 
eignty of the states should be restricted — but I 
would do this with a gentle hand. Cannot a 
good confederation be had, without these hu- 
miliating restrictions .' I think it may. How- 
ever, independent of the setilenient of this 
point ; the two last restrictions require another 
observation. From the first of them it ought 
to be presumed, that upon a vacancy in any of 
the vessels of war, kept up by any state in the 
time of peace by the permission of congress, 
the state to which they belong shall in time of 
peace, be at liberty to issue a new commis- 
sion. But if this is to be presumed, the senti- 
ment ought to have been precisely expressed ; 
for it is obvious, a doubt upon this matter, may 
arise from the restriction, that no state shall 
grant commissions to any ships or vessels of 
war, except it be after a declaration of war. 
These clauses, if we give due efficacy to the 
signification of words, really clash — at least 
disp'aying an ambiguity, they require a rule of 
constniction,that must destroy the peremptori- 
ness of words. A rule which ought not to be 
admitted into an instrument of this kind ; for 
it should be maturely considered ; and it may 
be precisely worded, without the formality of a 
statute law. 

There seems to be a dangerous inaccuracy in 
that part of the sixth article, prohibiting the 
states respectively from entering into any con- 
ference with any king, prince or state. I pre- 
sume this ought to be understood, to respect a 
foreign state only : But it maybe insisted upon, 
that the prohibition includes even the United 
States. And why should not two or more of 



these have any conference ? I would have the 
doubt absolutely destroyed. 

The third section of the article now under 
my observation, declares, that " no state shall 
lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere 
with any stipulations in treaties, entered into 
by congress with any king, prince or state, in 
pursuance of any treaties already proposed by 
congress to the courts of France and Spain : " 
And I must contrast this with the provision in 
the ninth article, " that no treaty of commerce 
shall be made whereby the legislative power 
of the respective states shall be restrained from 
imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, 
as their own people are subject to, or from 
prohibiting the exportation or importation of 
any species of goods or commodities whatso- 
ever." — -I am of opinion, we are to understand 
from the first of these clauses, that no state 
shall lay any imposts or duties, which may 
interfere with the present foreign stipulations 
of congress, in treaties already proposed ; and 
that such stipulations, free of such interference, 
may be concluded by treaty : But this latter 
meaning is not expressed. Indeed a great 
doubt arises, whether this be the true intent of 
that clause, when we consider the subsequent 
proviso, worded in these most peremptory 
terms, that " no treaty of commerce shall be 
made whereby the legislative power of the 
respective states shall be restrained from im- 
posing such imposts and duties on foreigners, 
as their own people are subject to, or from 
prohibiting the exportation or importation of 
any species of goods or commodities whatso- 
ever." I know, that the rule of construction 
in law, is capable of warranting the meaning 
I have extended to the first clause, and of giv- 
ing efficacy to both : But then it must destroy 
the positive terms in the second, qualifying by 
giving them an operation only respecting trea- 
ties of commerce, which shall be made exclu- 
sive and independent of the foreign stipulations 
of congress in treaties already proposed. And 
unless this rule takes place, the first clause is 
absolutely in effect repealed, by that which is 
subsequent. We experimentally know, that 
men will not always admit that to be reason, 
which really is so ; and that where there is a 
doubt, they will obstinately contend for, and 
persist in opposite constructions. Those two 
clauses will undoubtedly admit of contention ; 
and the least consequence that can arise, will 
be, either that the first clause must be consid- 
ered as repealed, or the natural import of the 
positive terms in the last must be destroyed, 
and qualified. And independent of these dis- 
agreeable alternatives, the last clause appears 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



3S9 



to be an intolerable clog to foreign negotiation 
— I could wish here to finish particularizing 
matter of doubt : but it is necessary to select 
one instance more, and then I will shew the 
main tendency of these objections. 

In the fourth section of the ninth article, 
congress is vested with the power of " regela- 
ting the trade and managing all affairs with 
the Indians, not members of any of the states, 
provided that the legislative right of any state 
within its own limits, be not infringed or vio- 
lated." I much approve the grant, but I con- 
fess I do not understand the grant and proviso 
combined. For I cannot conceive, in what 
manner the legislative right of a state within 
its own limits, can be infringed, by an act of 
congress relative to Indians not members of 
any state : and therefore not within the limits 
of any so as to be subject to the operation of 
its legislative right. 

It is of no moment with me, whether the 
doubts I have raised, are deemed obvious and 
important, or rather refined and of little conse- 
quence. Grant, and it must be admitted, that 
they have the appearance of doubts — I ask no 
more. The honor and interest of America 
require, that their grand act of confederation, 
should be a noble monument, free, as far as 
human wisdom can enable it to be from defect 
and flaw : Every thing unnecessary should be 
critically removed — ever)' appearance of doubt 
should be carefully eradicated out of it. It is 
not to be thought, but that the present congress 
clearly understand the confederation. But 
other congresses will look for the spirit of the 
law. This " will then be the result of their 
good or bad logic ; and this will depend on 
their good or bad digestion ; on the violence of 
their passions ; on the rank and condition of 
the parties, or on their connections with con- 
gress ; and on all those little circumstances, 
which change the appearance of objects in the 
fluctuating mind of man." Thus thought the 
illustrious marquis Beccaria, of Milan, a sub- 
lime philosopher, reasoning on the interpreta- 
tion of laws. — I must be permitted to continue 
his ideas, yet a little further upon this subject 
— they are so exactly in point. He says, " there 
is nothing more dangerous than the common 
axiom : The spirit of the laws is to be consid- 
ered. To adopt it, is to give way to the torrent 
of opinions." " When the code of laws is once 
fixed, it should be observed in the literal 
sense." "When the rule of right which ought 
to direct the actions of the philosopher, as 
well as the ignorant, is a matter of controversy, 
not of fact, the people are slaves to the magis- 
trates." — Is it not the intention of the confed- 



eration, that the people shall be free ? — Let it 
then be adapted to the meanest capacity — let 
the rule of right be not matter of controversy, 
but of fact — let the confederation be understood 
according to that strict rule by which we un- 
derstand penal laws. The confederation is of 
at least as much importance to America, as 
penal laws are in a small society — safety to 
the people is the object of both. In a word, 
the spirit of laws, lays down this maxim, that 
" in republics, the very nature of the constitu- 
tion requires the judges to follow the letter of 
the law." 

The fourth article declares, " that the free 
inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, 
vagabonds and fugitives from justice excepted, 
shall be entitled to all privileges and immuni- 
ties of free citizens in the several states : " A 
position, in my opinion, absolutely inadmissible. 
Would the people of Massachusetts have the 
free negroes of Carolina eligible to their gen- 
eral court .' Can it be intended, that the free 
inhabitants of one state shall have power to go 
into another, there to vote for representatives 
in the legislature ? — And yet these things are 
clearly included in that clause. I think there 
ought to be no doubt, but that the free inhabi- 
tants should be white, and that such of one 
state, should be entitled to the privileges and 
immunities in another, only by the same means 
through which the free white inhabitants of 
that state are by law entitled — This article also 
provides for the " removal of property imported 
into any state ; " but the removal of property 
acquired in it, into that " of which the owner is 
an inhabitant," is neglected. Has not the 
owner an equal right to enjoy at home, the last 
kind of property as the first ? The provision in 
behalf of the congress, or a state, is manifestly 
in contradistinction to that in favor of a private 
owner. 

The fifth article directs, that delegates shall 
be annually appointed to meet in congress, on 
the first Monday in November ; and this is a 
matter requiring particular attention. Our cli- 
mate instructs us, that the general assembly 
should make their long and important session 
in winter ; and but a short one in summer, 
rather to finish than begin even common busi- 
ness. Indeed this is assented to by the mem- 
bers, and of course but few, and those too, in 
the vicinity of Charleston, attend the summer 
sitting, which cannot even with prudence be 
had between the months of July and Novem- 
ber. When then, sir, are the delegates to be 
elected for the November congress .' Are they 
to be chosen in the summer session ; and in a 
very thin house of course ? Congress cannot 



36o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



intend this — our country cannot admit of it ; 
because such delegates, a representation of the 
highest nature, should ever be chosen in a full 
house, as the most obvious sign that they are the 
real delegates of the people. Nor can it be ex- 
pected they should be chosen in January, the time 
which the climate and local circumstances point 
out, as the most proper for beginning our long 
and important session. For this would be 
reducing us to the necessity of appointing 
delegates, almost twelve months before they 
were to serve — a measure neither necessary, 
nor to be admitted, if we can avoid it. Those 
months comprehend an inclement summer and 
autumn ; and death or sickness may destroy 
the intended representation : In which case the 
state may not, by the united voice of the peo- 
ple, be represented in congress from the begin- 
ning of November to the middle of February — 
an event, that might be of fatal consequences. 
I shall therefore be very glad to see, either the 
month of February, March or April substituted 
instead of November. These reasons will also 
support me, in objecting to that part of the same 
article, relative to the recall of delegates, with- 
in their year. A thin house may cast an un- 
merited censure upon a worthy delegate. I do 
not wish to see such a power existing. Not 
that I expect if there was such, that it would 
be abused, but we ought, as far as we can, to 
guard against the possible abuse of power. 
And, in addition to these principal objections 
against the fifth article, I must add, that I 
think it is utterly impolitic, to exclude a mem- 
ber of congress from being nominated to a 
commission under the United States : The 
clause upon this subject is rather dark. Many 
a delegate, may be able to render much more 
important service to the confederacy, in such a 
station, than in congress — the occasion of such 
service may be pressing — as fit a person out of 
congress may not then be known — a member 
of congress may be most capable of the station 
because possessed of the secrets of congress — 
and shall, the service of such a man be lost to 
the confederacy, merely because he is a mem- 
ber of congress ? The answer is obvious, I think 
— No, but let his acceptance of the commission 
vacate his seat and render him incapable of a 
re-election during the time he holds it. 

I have already said, the sovereignty of the 
states should be restricted with a gentle hand : 
I now add it ought to be restricted, only in 
cases of absolute necessity. — What absolute 
necessity is there, that congress should have the 
power of causing the value of all granted land, 
to be " estimated according to such mode, as 
they shall from time to time direct?" Congress 



should have no power, but what is clearly de- 
fined in the nature of its operation. — But I am 
absolutely against the position, that the public 
aids shall be raised by the several states, in 
proportion to the value of their granted lands, 
buildings and improvements. At the first blush 
of this proposition, nothing seems more equita- 
ble. But viewing the subject with more atten- 
tion, I think I see, that it is unequal, injurious 
and impolitic. It is unequal, because it seems 
to be in vain to expect, that such lands, etc. 
will be equally assessed in their true value. 
To have any chance of doing this, the assessors 
must actually know every acre ; and the multi- 
tude of them must have an equal judgment : 
But can either be even hoped for .' Do we not 
positively know, that this mode of assessment 
does not answer the end — an equal and just 
assessment of the value? The assessors in 
Charleston, are men of knowledge, diligence 
and integrity, and is it not notorious, that the 
landed property in Charleston, although mi- 
nutely known, and within a small circle, is un- 
equally valued. Shall we, with our reason in 
full vigor, wish to extend to an immense circle, 
a principle that we are sensible fails us even in 
a small one? Is there any certain criterion of 
value ? Does not value altogether depend on 
opinion, imagination, caprice ? Hence it is, 
that we see the ideas of men upon this matter, 
infinitely wide. How then can it be expected, 
that a general assessment will ascertain, the 
true value ? More or less than this, ought 
not to be rated : In the first case, the state 
would be injured — in the last, the other states 
would be defrauded; and that course should 
be taken, which seems most likely to avoid 
this Scylla and Charybdis. All movements in 
politics, as in mechanics, are difficult and haz- 
ardous in proportion to their complexedness. 
Now, in order to raise the general aid, a com- 
plex motion of government is necessary. First 
to assess the value of the land — then to ascer- 
tain the sum to arise from it — and then, to raise 
the sum, by a variety of taxes, according to the 
discretion of the legislature. Is such a compli- 
cated motion to raise the aid desirable, especially 
when it cannot possibly be done with equality 
to the several states ; and also when another 
principle is at hand, perfectly simple in its 
nature, just and equal in its operation, and is 
the allowed criterion to ascertain the proportion 
that is desired ? I have been given to under- 
stand, that a capitation throughout the United 
States, was in contemplation of congress; and 
I have ever understood from the most approved 
writers upon this subject, that the true riches 
and strength of a state were to be rated in pro- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



361 



portion to the number of people sustained in it. 
I would then have this the criterion of the 
public aid from each state. It is, in my humble 
opinion, in every respect preferable to the 
other. The criterion may be ascertained, and 
the tax raised by one act of government. Such 
a criterion and mode of taxation, has long been 
in use in some parts of this continent ; and it 
is best, under a new government, to continue 
customs in use under the old, as long as they 
are salutary and practicable — this is the north 
point in my political compass. If we can 
attach the people, by exempting them from old 
impositions, such as quit rents in particular, it 
is the soundest policy to do so ; for this in- 
terests them in support of the new establish- 
ment : But we cannot be too cautious in tr>'ing 
projects of a contrary- nature. I said, the capi- 
tation criterion of proportion, was in every re- 
spect preferable to the land assessment : I 
now add, that it will be an important check 
upon the numeration of the white inhabitants 
to be taken in order to rate the military quota 
of each state ; and this is a very material reason 
in support of the capitation criterion — we can- 
not well have too many proofs, to establish the 
true number of white inhabitants. 

The mode of trial of disputes between any 
two or more states seems full of delay, and 
therefore it ought to be amended. The fifth 
article provides, that the representation of each 
state, shall not be less than two delegates ; 
But the mode of trial specifies, that in a cer- 
tain case, " congress shall name three persons 
out of each of the United States, from whom 
the judges shall be selected. Now a state 
may be represented by only two delegates, and 
then, the trial cannot be had, and considering 
the expense of paying delegates — the incon- 
venience of their attendance upon congress at 
a distance from their private affairs, and from 
constant experience, a bare representation is 
oftener to be expected, than a supernumerary 
one. If it is meant, the three shall be taken 
from the people at large, which I will not 
imagine to be the case, a court may be picked ; 
and therefore, that plan ought not to be heard 
of — In this case, I would prefer judges during 
good behavior, eminent for their knowledge in 
the law of nations ; and who should be obliged 
to assign at large, the reasons upon which 
they ground their decrees. 

The congress would be vested with the sole 
and exclusive right and power of regulating 
the alloy and value of coin struck by the au- 
thority of the respective states ; and of fixing 
the standard of weights and measures through- 
out the United States : But I see no necessity 



for such delegation. To regulate the alloy 
and value of coin is one of the most distin- 
guished prerogatives of sovereignty, nor can 
any of the United States part with it without 
exposing itself to be drained of specie. Did 
we not a few years ago, increase the value of 
dollars and half Johanneses, in order to retain 
those coins ; and shall we now part with the 
very ability of retaining coin among us ? The 
balance of trade may be against us, then re- 
mittances will be made in coin, and our pro- 
duce will be left upon our hands. It is our 
business to endeavor to reverse the case, and I 
hope we shall, by refusing to vest the congress 
with a power that we have hitherto been able 
to e.xercise ourselves with advantage in a time 
of necessity. — Nor do I see any reason for our 
resigning the power of fixing the standard of 
our weights and measures. The states are 
very competent to this business. Let the 
weights and measures be ever so variable in 
the several states, the price of commodities 
will ever be adequate to the variation in the 
respective markets. 

Congress desire to be invested with the " ap- 
pointing all officers in the land forces, except- 
ing regimental officers." And far from seeing 
any absolute necessity for their having such a 
power, I can see no degree of common pro- 
priety to warrant the claim. The several states 
are to raise the regiments composing the land 
forces. Deputy staff officers in particular are 
absolutely necessary to each of the quotas ; 
and they rank with regimental officers. I 
cannot see the shadow of a good reason, why 
the states should not have the appointment of 
all officers necessary to complete their respec- 
tive quotas. Their honor, interest and safety 
are immediately and primarily affected, by the 
proper formation and regulation of their quo- 
tas. Their respective spheres of action, being 
within a very small circle, in comparison of 
that, in which the congress preside ; they must 
of consequence be enabled to view objects at a 
nearer distance — to penetrate into the charac- 
ters and abilities of candidates, and to make a 
proper choice with more accuracy and preci- 
sion, than congress can be supposed to do. 
They will have enough upon their hands, in 
actuating the great machine of government. 
Their attention necessarily engaged in general 
and important affairs, ought not to be per- 
mitted to be drawn off, by those inferior 
objects which can more minutely and there- 
fore better be examined by the respective 
states. This ought to be a fundamental max- 
im in the confederated policy. There is justice 
in it ; and I will be bold to say, it arises from 



362 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



principles of true wisdom. It will display a 
confidence on the part of congress in the sev- 
eral states ; and this must be the grand basis 
of their independency and freedom. We do 
not mean, unnecessarily to delegate any part 
of our sovereignty : We are willing to sacri- 
fice only such parts of it, as are necessary to 
be sacrificed for the general safety. In short, 
we enter into this confederacy, on the same 
principle only, that men enter into society. 

But independent of this position, as a matter 
of right, I will consider the claim upon the 
footing of common prudence and e.xperience. 
Whenever congress sit, there will be a number 
of persons, especially from the nearer states, 
soliciting offices ; They will form acquaint- 
ances with the members ; and we know the 
common effect of such connections. In con- 
sequence, congress 'may appoint even an un- 
exceptionable person, as to his character and 
capacity, to a post in a state in which he has 
no connections, and of which he is not a mem- 
ber : This may occasion an envy against the 
officer, even to the detriment of the public 
ser\'ice ; and a displeasure against congress, 
for having made, as it may be deemed, an ap- 
pointment injurious to those individuals of that 
state, who were in every respect capable of the 
office, and whom the public would wish to see 
in it. Or congress may be induced to appoint 
a member of the state, but such a one as the 
people never would have chosen, because they 
know him to be unequal to the trust. To say 
such things ought not to be supposed, is to say 
but little : Every page in history — the known 
disposition of the human heart inform us, that 
nothing is more likely to happen. I am there- 
fore clearly against the clause — all officers ex- 
cepting regimental officers. And indeed I am 
of opinion, that of as many brigades as the 
quota of any state may consist, so many bri- 
gadiers general should that state nominate ; 
the eldest of whom should command the 
whole, while in the state, and not therein 
actually assisted by the major part of another 
quota, commanded by a superior officer. Let 
congress appoint a generalissimo and major gen- 
erals — these are proper to command two or more 
quotas when in conjunction : And the states 
being divided into departments, a proper num- 
ber of major-generals may command in them. 

In a confederacy of states, for the purpose 
of general security of arms, I cannot but con- 
ceive that there ought of prudence and neces- 
sity, to be a clause, at least obliging the parties 
to furnish their respective quotas, beyond the 
possibility of a neglect or evasion with impunity. 
But, I see no such clause in the confederation 



before us — the main pillar of security therefore 
is not in it. It is true, there is a long clause 
respecting quotas. But, it is only directory. 
And how many such laws are there, which are 
regarded as nugatory, merely for the want of a 
penal clause ? Have we not had sufficient ex- 
perience, of the inefficacy of that clause relating 
to quotas ? Before it was inserted in the plan 
of confederation, did not congress act upon the 
very principles contained in it .' The present 
quotas of the respective states were arranged 
upon a computation of their respective abilities. 
The numbers were sufficient, with the favor of 
Heaven, nay abundantly sufficient almost with- 
out effusion of blood, to captivate all the British 
forces in America. But, when they ought to 
have crushed the ungenerous foe, they were 
not even raised in the most populous states. 
These principles, even in the hour of the most 
pressing necessity, have been neglected with 
impunity, at our hands, to the imminent hazard 
of the liberties of America. Are we not to be 
instructed, even by a bloody experience .' Shall 
we not receive light, even from the conflagra- 
tions spread over our land .' Oh ! why has our 
beneficent Creator endowed us with recollec- 
tion ! — Mr. Chairman, pardon me ; I am hurt — 
pierced to the quick, at an omission of the 
most fatal nature. It is a symptom filling me 
with torturing apprehensions. 

Upon such principles was the allied army to 
be formed, under the great duke of Marlbor- 
ough. The quotas were specified, I may say 
even in a more positive manner. Yet the 
emperor and Holland were yearly more and 
more deficient. The war was of necessity to 
proceed ; and as the other allies failed in their 
quotas, so England was obliged to increase 
her exertions • and to such a degree was the 
one and the other, that at length England al- 
most entirely supported the war, while the em- 
peror had but little more than a single regiment 
at his own expense, that could be said properly 
to act against the common enemy. Mankind 
are not more honest in their principles, or faith- 
ful to their engagements than they then were 
nor will they be so. Honor, duty and our most 
essential interests, have loudly and in vain 
called upon the Americans to complete their 
quotas. They are as strongly bound by the 
principles upon which the quota clause is 
formed as they can possibly be, if that clause 
without aid, become a part of the confederation. 
Shall we shut our eyes, and absolutely trust 
our liberties and safety to a clause, that as it 
stands, we experimentally know will fail us in 
the hour of necessity.' While I retain my 
proper senses, I cannot. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



363 



Nor are these my only objections against 
that clause in its present state. There is a de- 
gree of injustice in its tendency. I do not 
mean that it was designed. By there not being 
any thing compelling in it, it has a tendency to 
expose an unequal proportion of the strength 
of some states, to the hazards of war in defence 
of the confederation. And the first principles 
of justice direct, that this danger should be 
provided against as far as may be. We well 
know, that man is so selfish and ungenerous 
a being, that he will, when he can, throw his 
load upon the shoulder of his neighbor. Men 
form states — these act upon the same princi- 
ple ; and accordingly we find, that the emperor 
and Holland unjustly placed a load upon Eng- 
land, that almost crushed her. It is against 
such an evasion of duty, and such a forced 
assumption of burden, that I wish to provide — 
and they ought to be guarded against by every 
possible means. Let it not be said, the con- 
federated treasury is to pay the whole expense 
incurred — that is not the point. But if it was, 
is there the least security that there shall be 
money in that treasury .' — My aim is to pro- 
tect the states from a more fatal injury — to 
preserve them from the necessity of sacrificing 
an unreasonable proportion of the flower of 
their people. An ardor for the public weal, 
may involve generous states, in the utmost dis- 
' tress ; and throw them a century or two behind 
those ungenerous ones they saved. Nor can 
the confederation make them amends for that 
loss, which, of all that can happen is the great- 
est. Valerius Maximus said, severity is the 
sure preserver and avenger of liberty. 

Sir, when I consider the extent of territory 
possessed by the thirteen states — the value ol 
that territory ; and that the three most southern, 
must daily and rapidly increase in population, 
riches and importance. When I reflect, that 
from the nature of the climate, soil and pro- 
duce of the several states, a northern and 
southern interest in many particulars naturally 
and unavoidably arise ; I cannot but be dis- 
pleased with the prospect, that the most im- 
portant transactions in congress, may be done 
contrary to tlie united opposition of Virginia, the 
two Carolinas and Georgia : States possessing 
more than one half of the whole territory of 
the confederacy ; and forming, as I may say, the 
body of the southern interest. If things of such 
transcendent weight, may be done notwith- 
standing such an opposition ; the honor, interest 
and sovereignty of the south, are in effect de- 
livered up to the care of the north. Do we 
intend to make such a surrender ? I hope not, 
there is no occasion for it. Nor would I have 



it understood, that I fear the north would abuse 
the confidence of the south : But common 
prudence, sir, admonishes me, that confidence 
should not wantonly be placed any where— it is 
but the other day, that we thought our liber- 
ties secure in the care of Britain. I am assist- 
ing to form the confederation of the United 
States : It is my duty to speak, and to speak 
plainly : I engage in this great work with a 
determined purpose, to endeavor, as far as my 
slender abilities enable me, to render it equal, 
just and binding. I presume, that all my 
coadjutors in the several states, in and out of 
congress, act upon this sentiment ; nor can 
I admit a contrary idea. When all mean fair, 
equitable terms are not difficult to be adjusted. 
I therefore hope, I shall not be thought unrea- 
sonable, because 1 object to the nine voices in 
congress ; and wish that eleven may be substi- 
tuted, to enable that body to transact their 
most important business. The states general 
of Holland must be unanimous : Their govern- 
ment is accounted a wise one ; and although it 
causes their proceedings to be slow, yet, it 
secures the freedom and interest of its respec- 
tive states. Is not this our great aim .'' 

For the present, I here, sir, limit my partic- 
ular objection to the plan under consideration : 
I have made these with the highest reluctance. 
In a word, I cannot admit of any confederation 
that gives congress any power, that can with 
propriety, be exercised by several states — or any 
power, but what is clearly defined beyond a 
doubt. Nor can I think of entering into any 
engagements, which are not as equal as may 
be, between the states — engagements of a com- 
pelling nature, and the whole to be understood 
according to the letter only. Without these 
five leading principles, a confederation is not a 
desirable object in my opinion. 

Thus, Mr. Chairman, have I complied with 
the first division of my subject — to perform the 
second is a much more arduous task : But 
before I proceed I must crave the kind indul- 
gence of your honor, and the house ; I fear I 
have too long intruded upon your attention. 

It is with the greatest diffidence, sir, that I 
presume to throw out my ideas of such terms 
as in my opinion are desirable, attainable and 
hkely to form a beneficial confederation. In 
doing this, I flatter myself, it will not be under- 
stood, that I am so weak as to think them un- 
exceptionable. Indeed I declare, that sketch I 
shall draw, will not be such an one, as I would 
prefer, and think the most perfect. From the 
complexion of the present plan, and the labor 
and time spent upon it, I fear, that which I 
would wish, cannot be attained : And hence, 



364 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



I mean to conform my ideas to the scheme laid 
down by congress ; with design respectfully and 
zealously to endeavor to render as little liable to 
objection as I can, the scheme likely to take 
effect. I shall therefore sketch the plan of a 
confederation in the following order. The appel- 
lation of the country in which the confederacy 
is formed — a confederated union, and its objects 
declared — the style of the confederacy — the con- 
stitution of its legislature and executive — the 
powers of each described and limited, and their 
respective duties pointed out — the public faith 
plighted for past engagements of congress — the 
engagements of the several states to each other, 
and declaration of their rights, a declaration of 
the capability of admission into the confederacy 
— the penalty of violating the articles of confed- 
eration — the obligatory nature of the confedera- 
tion ; and in what manner only it is capable of 
alteration — the rule by which the confederation 
shall be understood. 

AMERICA. 

THE CONFEDERATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A cotifederated union and its objects declared. 

Art. I. A confederation between the inde- 
pendent, free and sovereign states of New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut. New- 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina and Georgia, is hereby solemnly made, 
uniting them together under one general su- 
perintending government, for their common 
defence and security, against all designs and 
leagues that may be detrimental to their inter- 
ests ; and against all force and attacks offered 
to or made upon them or any of them. 

The style of the confederacy declared. 
Art. 2. The style of the confederacy shall 
be, the United States of America. 

The legislative and execittitie constituted. 
Art. 3. The legislative for the confederacy 
shall be in a congress composed of delegates 
from each of the United States^the congress 
shall be styled. The congress of America, 
and one of the delegates shall, by the others, 
be elected to preside in it. The delegates 
shall be annually nominated by their respective 
legislatures, to meet in the congress of America, 
on the fifteenth day of March in every year. 
Each state shall be represented in congress by 
not less than three, nor more than seven dele- 
gates and shall have one vote in congress, 



where all questions shall be determined by a 
majority of votes, except such as shall be here- 
inafter mentioned. Any state neglecting to 
have a representation in congress, shall never- 
theless be bound by the act of congress, as if 
its representation was present. Each state 
shall maintain its own delegates. No delegate 
shall be a member of congress for more than 
three years, in any term of six years. Nor 
shall any member of congress be capable of 
holding any office under the United States of 
America, for which he, or any other for his 
benefit, receives any salary or emolument of 
any kind ; for his acceptance of any such office 
shall vacate his seat in congress ; nor shall he 
be re-elected as a member while he holds such 
office. Freedom of debate and speech shall 
be allowed in congress, nor shall any thing 
done in congress be impeached or questioned 
out of it. The delegates shall be protected in 
their persons from arrests and imprisonments, 
except for treason, felony or breach of the 
peace. The executive for the confederacy 
shall be in the congress, and during its recess 
in a committee of their body, which shall be 
styled. The committee of the United States of 
America. This committee shall consist of one 
delegate from each state, the president of the 
congress being one, and he shall preside in it — 
all questions therein shall be determined by a 
majority of votes, and their acts shall be bind- 
ing upon the United States, notwithstanding 
the absence of any member of it. 

The powers of the congress and the committee 
of the United States of America described 
and limited, and their respective duties 
pointed out. 

Art. 4. The congress shall have power to 
appoint one of their number to preside in it — 
to make rules for regulating their proceedings 
— to declare what shall be deemed treason 
against the United States of America, and in 
what manner such treason shall be punished — 
the congress shall have the sole power of de- 
claring war and peace — sending ambassadors 
to, and receiving them from, foreign princes 
and states — entering into and concluding trea- 
ties and alliances with foreign powers — ascer- 
taining the military land quota of each state in 
proportion to the number of white inhabitants 
therein respectively — building, purchasing and 
equipping a naval force, in the ser\"ice of the 
United States of America — rating and causing 
taxes to be levied, throughout the United States, 
for the senice of the confederacy — appointing 
a generalissimo and commander in chief of the 
land forces, major generals, principal staff offi- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



36s 



£ers, and the war-office, styled The war office of 
America — nominating an admiralissimo and 
commander in chief of the naval forces, all sub- 
ordinate officers in the naval force in the service 
of the United States, and an admiralty-office, 
styled The admiralty-office of America— estab- 
lishing a treasury office, styled The treasury 
office of America — supplying and filling up all 
vacancies in the said military and naval estab- 
lishments ; and in the said war, admiralty and 
treasury offices — making rules for the govern- 
ment of the said military quotas, naval force, 
war, admiralty and treasury offices — directing, 
ordering and commanding the said military 
quotas, naval force, generalissimo, major gen- 
erals, principal staff officer, admiralissimo, sub- 
ordinate officers, war, naval and treasury offices, 
in all their operations and proceedings — emit- 
ting and borrowing money upon the credit of the 
United States, from time to time, not exceeding 
the sum ascertained as necessary to be raised 
for the service of the confederacy ; transmitting 
to the several states, half yearly, an account of 
the sums of money so emitted and borrowed — 
applying the said sums of money ascertained to 
be raised, and allowed to be emitted and 
borrowed, for defraying the public expense 
— collecting military stores and provisions, 
and issuing them for the service of the 
United States — granting letters of marque and 
reprisal — declaring what captures on land 
and on water shall be legal ; and in what man- 
ner such captures, by the land and naval 
forces in the service of the United States, 
shall be divided and appropriated — appointing 
courts in the several United States for trial of 
piracies committed on the high seas, and for 
deciding finally appeals in all cases of capture 
arising in such states respectively — appointing 
all such civil officers as may be necessary for 
transacting and managing the general affairs 
of the United States; ascertaining their duties, 
and, except judicial officers, directing their 
proceedings — regulating the alloy and value of 
coin struck by their authority — establishing 
and regulating post offices throughout the 
United States ; exacting such postage as may 
be necessary to defray the expense of the said 
offices, or any part thereof — regulating the 
affairs and trade of the Indians, not members 
of any state — being the dernier resort, on 
appeal in all cases of dispute, between any two 
or more of the United States, and this power 
shall be exercised in the following manner, 
that is to say — whenever the legislative or exe- 
cutive authority, or lawful agent, thereunto 
legally required, of any state in controversy 
with another or others, shall present a petition 



to the congress, stating the matter in question, 
and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall, 
within ten days, be given, by order of congress, 
to the legislative or executive authority of the 
other state or states in controversy, assigning 
a day, not sooner than six months, nor later 
than nine months, to the parties to appear 
before them, by their lawful agents : who shall 
in their presence, on the day assigned, be by 
them directed to appoint, by joint consent 
within ten days thereafter, seven judges to con- 
stitute a court for hearing and finally determin- 
ing the matter in question, according to the 
law of nations : who shall sit, if it be necessary, 
from day to day, not exceeding ten days, Sun- 
day excepted, and give their final decree by a 
majority of voices, with the reasons at large 
upon which they found it ; which decree and 
reasons shall be by them returned to the con- 
gress, and by them be deposited among their 
acts, for the security of the parties concerned ; 
the congress causing the decree to be peremp- 
torily executed without loss of time. But, if the 
said lawful agents shall not, within the said 
ten days, agree in a nomination of the seven 
judges, congress shall, within three days, 
name three delegates of the representation of 
each ot the United States, (provided the presi- 
dent of the congress shall not be one. and 
that if such a nomination of three delegates 
cannot otherwise be made, that congress shall 
have power, of their body, to elect a person to 
represent the state in his room) and from the 
list of such persons, each party in controversy 
shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners 
beginning, until the number shall be reduced to 
thirteen ; and from that number not less than 
seven, nor more than nine, as congress shall 
direct, shall, in presence of the congress, and 
the said lawful agents, be drawn out by lot, by 
the secretary of the congress, and the persons 
whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of 
them, shall be judges to hear and finally deter- 
mine the controversy in the manner, and the 
proceedings thereupon shall be the same as 
specified relative to the court chosen by the 
said lawful agents. And if either party shall 
neglect to attend at the day appointed, or being 
present, shall refuse to strike, the congress 
shall proceed to nominate three persons of the 
representation of each of the United States, in 
manner already specified and provided, and 
the secretary of the congress shall strike 
in behalf of such party 'absent or refusing 
—the judges shall be drawn — their powers 
and duties shall be the same, as shall be 
the proceedings of congress, as are speci- 
fied relative to the court formed by the joint 



366 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



choice of the lawful agents. And in any court 
so provisionally directed to be constituted, if 
either of the parlies shall refuse to submit to the 
authority of the court, or shall not appear therein 
to support or defend their cause, the court shall, 
notwithstanding, proceed to hear and to pro- 
nounce its decree, which shall be attended with 
the same effects, as are above specified, relative 
to the court chosen by joint consent. Every 
judge, before he sits in judgment in any such 
case, shall take an oath, to be administered by 
any one of the judges of the supreme or super- 
ior court of the state, in which the cause shall 
be tried, " well and truly to hear and determine 
the present matter in question between 
and according to the best of his 

judgment, without favor, affection, fee or hope 
of reward ; " the blanks being supplied with 
the description of the parties. And all con- 
troversies concerning the private right of soil, 
claimed under the different grants, of two or 
more of the United States, whose jurisdictions, 
as they may respect such soil, and the states 
which passed such grants, the grants of either 
of them being at the same time claimed to have 
originated antecedent to such settlement of 
jurisdiction, shall be proceeded in, as nearly as 
may be, agreeable to the trial specified to be 
had in controversies between any two or more 
of the United States. The congress shall 
further have the power of adjourning to any 
time, not exceeding six months, and to any 
place within the United States of America — 
appointing the committee of the L-nited States 
of America — vesting them with such of their 
powers according to their authority and discre- 
tion ; examining into their journals and proceed- 
ings. But the congress shall not declare what 
shall be treason against the United States, nor 
the punishment of it, but by the voice of each 
of the United States in congress — nor shall the 
congress engage in war — nor enter into or con- 
clude any treaty or alliance — nor ascertain the 
military land quota of the states — nor build, 
furnish or equip a naval force — nor rate 
or cause a general tax to be levied — nor ap- 
point a generalissimo— nor nominate an admir- 
alissimo — nor emit or borrow money — nor 
grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of 
peace, except by the consent of eleven votes in 
the congress — nor shall the congress vest any 
of these powers in the committee of the United 
States — nor shall any person officiate as presi- 
dent of the congress, longer than one year in 
any term of three years — nor shall the con- 
gress exercise any power, but what is hereby 
expressly delegated to them. The congress, 
and the committee of the United States, shall 



respectively publish the journal of their pro- 
ceedings monthly, except such parts thereof 
relating to treaties, alliances and military oper- 
ations, as they respectively shall think require 
secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the several 
delegates in the congress, and in the committee 
of the United States, shall be entered on their 
respective journals, when desired by any dele- 
gate present, who at his request, shall be fur- 
nished with a transcript of the said journals 
respectively, except such parts as are above 
excepted, to lay before the legislature of the 
several states. The committee of the United 
States shall at all times lay their journals and 
proceedings before the congress, when by 
them required. And with the powers herein 
delegated to the congress, and that may by 
them be delegated to the committee of the Uni- 
ted States of America, they and each of them 
shall endeavor, that the confederacy receive no 
detriment. 

The public faith pledged for past engagements 
of congress. 

Art. 5. All bills of credit emitted, monies 
borrowed, and debts contracted by the con- 
gress of the LInited States, or under their au- 
thority, before this confederation, shall be 
deemed and considered as a charge against the 
United States of America ; for full payment and 
satisfaction whereof, the said United States and 
the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. 

T/te engagement of the several states to each 
other, and declaration of their rights. 

Art. 6. There shall be a mutual friendship 
and intercourse among the people of the several 
states in this union — the free white inhabitants 
of each of these states, (those who refuse to 
take up arms in defence of the confederacy, 
paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice 
excepted) shall be entitled to all privileges and 
immunities of free citizens in the several states, 
according to the laws of such state respec- 
tively, for the government of their own free 
white inhabitants — having uninterrupted in- 
gress and regress, together with their property, 
to and from any other of the United States ; 
subject nevertheless to the duties, impositions 
and restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof 
respectively ; provided, that such restrictions 
shall not extend to defeat the articles of this 
confederation, or any part thereof. Provided 
also, that no duty, imposition or restriction 
shall be laid by any state, on the property of 
the United States, or of the government, in 
either of them, except in cases of embargo. 

If any person charged with, or guilty of trea- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



367 



son, felony or other high misdemeanors in any 
of the respective states, shall flee from justice, 
and be found in any of the states, upon the 
demand of the executive power in the state 
from which he fled, he shall be delivered up, 
and removed to the state having jurisdiction 
of the offence, that state defraying the expense 
of the removal. And full faith and credit shall 
be given throughout the United States to the 
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of the 
courts and magistrates in each. 

No state shall lay or allow to continue any 
prohibition, impost or duty, which may inter- 
fere with any treaty, which shall be made by 
the congress with any foreign power — no state 
shall engage in any war, without the consent 
of the congress, unless such state be actually 
invaded by an enemy ; or shall have received 
certain intelligence of such hostile design, 
formed by some nation of Indians, and the 
danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay 
■ — no state shall grant letters of marque and 
reprisal, but after a declaration of war by the 
congress ; and then only against the power 
against whom the war has been so declared, 
except such state be infested by piracies, in 
which case vessels of war may be fitted out by 
that state for the occasion only — no state shall 
enter into any conference, agreement, treaty 
or alliance with any king, prince or foreign 
states — nor shall any person, holding any office 
under the United States, or under any of them, 
accept of any present, emolument, office or title, 
from any king or foreign state, without being 
thereby absolutely rendered forever incapable 
of any public trust, under the United States, 
or any of them — nor shall any of these states 
grant any title of nobility : But precedence and 
rank shall be thus established : The president 
of the congress of America — the supreme civil 
officer of a state while in it — the generalissimo 
and admiralissimo, and they according to seni- 
ority — the regular forces by land and sea. in the 
service of the United States — the regular forces 
by land and sea, in the ser\ice of a particular 
state, ranking with such forces in the service 
of any other state — the militia of a state, rank- 
ing with the militia of any other — officers of 
equal degree, shall command according to the 
rank hereby laid down for their respective 
corps : and officers of the same corps being 
of equal degree, shall command by seniority 
of commission. 

The militar)- land quota of each of the United 
States shall be in proportion to the number of 
white inhabitants in each — the legislature in 
the several states shall, from time to time, 
cause all the white inhabitants therein, to be 



numbered as nearly as may be — the persons 
appointed to number them, shall be sworn to 
make the most diligent and accurate enquiry that 
they can, and to return to the executive power 
in the state, the true number they shall so find — ■ 
they shall be paid for their trouble, and punished 
for their neglect, if any there shall be — the ex- 
ecutive authority in each state, having received 
such a return, shall without loss of time send 
it, or an exact copy of it, to the congress — such 
a return to the congress shall be made before 
the first day of January next, and in every 
seventh year thereafter — the several states 
shall, in due time, embody the several mili- 
tary quotas required by the congress, and shall 
raise, clothe, arm and maintain them, at the 
general expense, rated by the congress — the 
several states shall appoint all the regimental 
and deputy staff officers incidental to their 
quotas ; and into as many brigades as the 
congress shall brigade their respective quotas, 
so many brigadier-generals, shall such respec- 
tive state nominate, the whole to be commis- 
sioned by the congress — all vacancies in a 
quota shall be supplied by its state — the execu- 
tive power in each state, except that in which 
the congress be sitting, shall, under the au- 
thority and control of the congress, direct the 
land forces, ships and vessels of war, and all 
officers incidental thereto, in the sen-ice of the 
United States, within such state — the propor- 
tionate pecuniary quotas of the several states 
shall be regulated in proportion to the number 
of inhabitants in each state respectively — when- 
ever such pecuniary quotas for the seri'ice of 
the United States shall be required by con- 
gress, they shall state the capitation rate — each 
state shall then appoint persons to number its 
whole inhabitants, according to the mode 
stated to ascertain the number of white in- 
habitants in each state, such persons being 
also caused to specify the number of white, 
mustizo, mulatto and negro inhabitants respec- 
tively — such a numeration being duly returned, 
the legislature in each state shall levy the sum 
of money to arise therefrom, in such mode as 
they shall deem expedient ; and a true copy of 
the said return shall, without loss of time, be 
sent to congress —the several states shall duly 
pay their pecuniar)' quotas into the treasury 
office of America, by the time mentioned by 
the congress for such payment, unless to the 
contrary directed for the good of the public 
ser\-ice ; in which case, such state so directed 
shall, within twelve months, duly account with 
the said treasur)'-office for the pecuniary quota, 
or part thereof so directed to be retained — 
each state shall, within five years, establish a 



368 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



foundation for a naval seminary, making suita- 
ble provision for the constant maintenance, 
education and fitting for sea, five youths for 
every thousand white inhabitants within such 
state ; Every such youth shall be admitted 
upon such establishment, at ten years of age : 
At the age of fourteen, he shall be bound an 
apprentice in the sea service for seven years, 
completely furnished with necessary clothes 
and bedding. At the expiration of that term, 
he shall be liable for a term of seven years, in 
time of war, to do duty, or to find a seaman to 
do duty in his room, on board the naval force 
in the service of the United States, or in that 
of the state in which he was so educated : 
And he or his substitute, as the case may be, 
shall for such service be free from every tax ; 
and losing the use of a limb in the public 
service, shall be maintained ever after at the 
expense of the United States, or of that state 
in whose particular ser\'ice he was so maimed. 
Each state shall make suitable laws for render- 
ing this naval establishment a public benefit — 
all general officers, flag officers and commo- 
dores, shall be created by election only, nor 
shall the principle of seniority give any title to 
such promotion — no state shall exercise any 
power hereby delegated to the congress : But 
it is declared, the several states do possess and 
enjoy all those natural rights and powers of 
sovereignty, not by this act delegated : And it 
is also declared, that whenever the congress 
shall cease to obser\'e these articles of confed- 
eration, the several states shall be at liberty to 
declare themselves absolved from all obedience 
to that government.* 

A declaration of the capability of admission 
into the confederacy. 

Art. 7. Canada, acceding to this confedera- 
tion, and joining in the measures of the United 
States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to 
all the advantages of this union ; and shall be 
equally, with any other of the United States, 
solemnly bound to a strict observance of and 
obedience to these articles : as shall be also, 
any other colony which shall be admitted into 
this confederacy. The eleven votes in congress 
shall be increased in proportion as the confed- 
eracy is extended : But, except Canada, no 
other colony shall be admitted into the con- 
federacy without the assent of eleven or more 
votes, as the case may require, by the confed- 
eration being extended. 

• For whenever a question arises between the society 
at large and any magistrate vested with powers originally 
delegated by that society, it must be decided by the voice 
of that society itself ; there is not upon earth any other 
tribunal to resort to. — i Blackstone, 212. 



77;;? penalty of violating ike articles of con- 
federation. 

Art. 8. For the better assurance of the 
benefits expected from this confederation, vol- 
untarily entered into by the several states ; to 
guard, as far as may be, against the negligence 
and weakness of men ; and to stimulate the 
several states to a due, regular and punctual 
obedience to this confederation, and perform- 
ance of their several duties herein expressed, it 
is declared, that if any state shall fail in causing 
its military quota to be duly embodied : or fail 
in causing its pecuniary quota or proportion of 
the general tax throughout the United States 
to be duly levied and paid, in either of such 
cases the state, so making default, shall, within 
twelve months thereafter, pay into the treasury 
office of America for the use of the United 
States, in the first case, double the sum of 
money necessary to its military quota, at the 
time it should have been embodied ; in the 
second case, double the sum of money its pecu- 
niary quota or proportion of the general tax 
would have amounted to, if due payment had 
been made, and which shall be estimated from 
its last return of inhabitants : And in default 
of the due payment of either of such penalties, 
or in case any of the United States shall in any 
other respect violate any of the articles of this 
confederation, the congress shall, within one 
year thereafter, declare such state under the 
ban of the confederacy, and by the utmost 
vigor of arms shall forthwith proceed against 
such state, until it shall have paid due obedi- 
ence, upon which the ban shall be taken off 
and the state shall be restored to the benefits 
of this confederacy. 

A declaration of the obligatory nature of the 
confederation, and in what manner it is 
capable of any alteration. 

Art. 9. The articles of this confederation 
shall be strictly binding upon, and inviolably 
observed by the parties interested therein : Nor 
shall any alteration be made in them, or any of 
them, unless such alteration shall be agreed to 
in the congress, and allowed by the legislature 
of every state in the confederacy. 

The rules by -which the confederation shall be 

understood. 

Art. 10. To avoid, as far as may be, the 
dangers that may arise from an erroneous con- 
struction of the articles of this confederation, 
and to prevent a contrariety of opinion upon 
them, they shall be understood according to 
the expression and not otherwise. And all 
acts of the congress and of the committee of 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



369 



the United States, shall be taken only in the 
same manner. 

In solemn confirmation and testimony where- 
of, we, the delegates for the states of New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island 
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina and Georgia, in congress of the 
United States, being duly anthorized thereunto 
by acts of the legislature of our respective 
states, for them and on their behalf, do hereun- 
to sign our names and affix our seals at arms. 
Done at in the state of 

this day of in the year of 

our Lord and in the year 

of the sovereignty of America. 

You must have observed, Mr. Chairman, that 
my ideas have been collected but to one point 
— an endeavor to render the plan before us as 
little liable to objection as I can — I have not 
presumed to touch its general scheme. I wish 
to have the opening of a congress altered from 
November to February, March or April, for the 
reasons I have assigned : I have chosen 
March, a month particularly distinguishing the 
laudable exertions of this state ; a month, re- 
markable for great events respecting the liber- 
ties of America ; a month, including the date 
of the declension of Great Britain ; a month, 
that ever will be famous for the patriotic execu- 
tion of a Roman tyrant — but I am not obstinate 
in this choice. I should most readily admit 
the famous 19th of April — the commencement 
of the civil war : Or the 4th of July, the illus- 
trious epocha of the sovereignty of America ! 
A day that ought to be held in everlasting re- 
membrance — a day that naturally points out 
the time for the annual meeting of the congress 
of America, to watch for the permanency of its 
independence. 

I have increased the least representation in 
congress, in order to procure a more numerous 
representation of the states, and to give effi- 
cacy to the mode of trial of disputes between 
the states : for a numerous representation is a 
guard against corruption : and nothing should 
be left at hazard that can be avoided — it seems 
requisite to declare, that a state shall be bound 
by the act of the congress, or the committee of 
the United States, although its representation 
shall not be present : for this will have a ten- 
dency to urge the state to preserve their rep- 
resentation. I think it is utterly impolitic to 
exclude a member of congress from being nom- 
inated to an office, under the United States ; 
for many a man, may be capable of performing 

24 



much more important service in such a station 
than in congress. But I have already given 
my opinion fully on that subject. It seems 
necessary to the dispatch of business, that the 
president of congress should also be the presi- 
dent of the committee of the United States : For 
this body is to proceed in the business begun 
by the other — congress ought to have the power 
of declaring treason. For the power is a great 
means of guarding against internal machina- 
tions : and it naturally appertains to such a 
body — An admiralissimo is necessary ; for the 
navy should be of right put upon an equal 
footing with the army, in point of rank : Amer- 
ica must be a great naval power ; and every 
encouragement should be given that she should 
be soon so. — I have mentioned a war and ad- 
miralty-office. For such establishments do not 
seem to be regularly comprehended in the 
clause, " other committees and civil officers ;" 
the copulative creating an idea of civil commit- 
tees — The restriction upon the congress nomi- 
nation to military offices, is grounded upon the 
reasons I have assigned upon that head — It 
does not seem any way expedient that congress 
should have a power of emitting or borrowing 
more money than the sum they rate as neces- 
sary to be raised. And, therefore, they ought 
to be limited in that point— courts for the trial 
of piracies, and receiving appeals in cases of 
capture, should be erected in each state. Be- 
cause people should not be obliged to seek 
justice at a distance, when they can with pro- 
priety be allowed to procure it at home. This 
IS a fundamental principle of natural right, 
s.inctioned by common law and usage — The 
law by which the right between states in con- 
troversy is to be determined, ought to be speci- 
fied ; and the rule of right not left to the caprice 
of judges — we cannot but remember the high 
authority which says, " Misera senn'lus esi, ubi 
jus est, vagum aid lucognitxim!'* The eleven 
votes seem absolutely necessary, and perfectly 
equitable. Can it possibly be thought rea- 
sonable, that the southern interest should be 
judged of and determined upon, without the 
consent of, at least, half the states principally 
forming that interest? — it appears evident that 
the free white inhabitants only of each of the 
states, should be entitled to the privileges and 
immunities of free citizens in the others ; and 
that according to the law respecting free white 
inhabitants in such states respectively —the 
commercial negotiations of congress, must ever 
be dilatory in their progress, and their views 
often unattainable, while exposed to a power, 

♦Woful is that subjection where the law is uncertain 
or unknown.— 4 Fuit. 346. 



370 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



in any of the United States, to lay duties and 
impositions contrarj' to the spirit of negotia- 
tions manifestly to the general advantage. 
Such a power therefore should not exist — The 
greatest obstacles should be laid in the way of 
public officers receiving any douceur from a 
loreign prince — It seems absolutely necessary, 
that precedence and rank should be established ; 
for without it jealousies and confusions may 
arise — The numeration of the white inhabitants 
cught to be frequently made, and with the ut- 
most accuracy. This being the best means of 
enabling the congress to wield the strength of 
America with equal justice to the several states, 
and with vigor in defence of the confederacy. 
And the mode in which this numeration shall 
be made, and the general tax shall be raised, 
ought to be specified. These things are capa- 
ble of being regulated in an easy, plain, equita- 
ble and punctual manner — The unanimous vote 
is highly expedient in the case of treason. For 
this is a matter of the most serious importance 
— The eleven voices should be increased as 
the confederacy is enlarged. For neither the 
northern nor southern interest should be af- 
fected, but by the consent of at least half the 
states in such interests respectively — The penal 
article justifies itself — as does that upon the 
construction of the confederation, and of the 
acts of congress and of the committee of the 
United States. 

In addition, sir, to this concise state of my 
reasons for some of the principal alterations 
I have made, I must beg leave to be more par- 
ticular in my arguments in support of others, 
which I have much at heart and wish to make ; 
because I have not had an opportunity of intro- 
ducing them with propriety. I will endeavor 
to be as short as the importance of the subject 
will admit. 

I have excluded those from the privileges of 
free white inhabitants in the several states who 
refuse to take up arms in defence of the con- 
federacy — a measure in my opinion perfectly 
just. It is said, example before precept. Let 
the Quakers take shelter under any text in 
scripture they please — the best they can find, is 
but a farfetched implication in their favor. How- 
ever, had their precept been in more positive 
terms, 1 think I have an example at hand cap- 
able of driving them from such a cover. We 
read that " Jesus went into the temple of God, 
and cast out all them that sold and bought in the 
temple, and overthrew the tables of the money 
changers." Here we see the arm of the flesh 
raised up, and a degree of hostile violence exer- 
cised, sufficient to the end in view: And shall 
it be said violence is not justifiable ? Did not 



God command Moses to number " all that were 
able to go forth in war in Israel ? " Did not 
Moses, by the Divine order, send 1 2,000 men to 
cut off the Midianites : And, although " they 
slew all the males," were they not reprehended 
for having ■' saved all the women alive ? " Did 
not the Almighty command the children of 
Israel that, when they had passed into Canaan, 
" then they should drive out all the inhabitants 
of the land from before them ? " Did not 
Moses direct that, when the people were 
" come nigh unto the battle," the priests should 
encourage them, declaring that the Lord their 
God was with them " to fight for them against 
their enemies ? " And yet the Quakers have 
sagaciously found out a few words which, by 
implication, they contend* restrain from doing 
now, what God then commanded as just. The 
grand principles of moral rectitude are eternal. 
Dare the Quakers contend that the myriads, 
who have drawn the sword since the christian 
aera are damned for ha\ing done so ? And 
unless they maintain this position, they seem 
to have no reasonable excuse for their creed 
and conduct. They seem to have forgot that it 
is written, " how hardly shall they that have 
riches enter into the kingdom of God." Are there 
any people upon the face of the earth more 
diligent after riches than Quakers ? We in this 
time of calamity, know it to our cost. Without 
doubt there are many valuable men of that 
sect : Men of that persuasion are very good 
citizens in time of peace ; but it is their princi- 
ple in time of war that I condemn. Is there a 
Quaker who will not bring his action for tres- 
pass ? Is not this an opposition to force. Here 
they forget their principle of meekness and 
non resistance. The great lord Lyttleton, in 
his dialogues of the dead, tells us, "it is blas- 
phemy to say that any folly could come from 
the fountain of wisdom. Whatever is incon- 
sistent with the great laws of nature, and with 
the necessary state of human society, cannot 
be inspired by the divinity. Self-defence is as 
necessary to nations as men. And shall par- 
ticulars have a right which nations have not .' 
True religion is the perfection of reason. 
Fanaticism is the disgrace, the destruction of 
reason." Than all this nothing can be more 
just, certain and evident. Can those men rea- 
sonably claim an equal participation in civil 
rights who, under any pretence whatsoever, 
will not assist in defending them .' Shall there 
be a people maintained in the possession of 
their riches by the labor and blood of other 

• Notwithstanding the precept, " he that hath no sword 
let him sell his garment and buy one." 

St. Luke^ xxii. a6. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



371 



men ? Are not the Quakers, some few excepted 
the most inveterate enemies to the independ- 
ence of America ? Have they not openly taken 
part with those in arms against us ? I con- 
sider them not only as a dead weight upon our 
hand, but as a dangerous body in our bosom ; I 
would therefore gladly be rid of them. I al- 
most wish to "drive out all such inhabitants of 
the land from before us." The Canaanites knew 
not God. But the Quakers say they know him 
and yet, according to the idea of lord Lyttleton, 
would have gross folly and injustice to proceed 
from the fountain of wisdom and equity. I 
entertain these sentiments with a conscience 
perfectly at ease on this point. If such treat- 
ment shall be termed persecution, the con- 
scientious Quakers can never take it amiss, 
when they recollect that it is said, " blessed are 
they who are persecuted for Christ's sake." I 
do not consider this as such a persecution : But 
if they should, can they be displeased at being 
placed in a situation to be blessed .' And I 
would lay it down as a truth, that whoever of 
that sect should be offended at such treatment 
would deser\'e to be expelled our society, as 
the buyers, sellers and money changers were 
cast out of the temple. I am not afraid of any 
resentment, when it is my duty to act in behalf 
of the rights and interests of America : I trust 
I fully demonstrated this resolution when, on 
the 25th of April, 1776, I had the honor, in the 
supreme seat of justice, to make the first public 
declaration in America, that my countr>'men 
owed no allegiance to the king of Great Britain. 
I would have it a point settled in the con- 
federation, that all general officers shall be 
elected — eradicating the idea of promotion to 
that rank by seniority. The idea is monarchi- 
cal — I do not recollect that it was admitted in 
the ancient and wise republics. The great 
Hannibal, when ver)' young, commanded the 
Carthagenian army in Spain over the heads of 
much older officers — and the first Africanus 
thought it no diminution of his honor to serve 
under his brother Asiaticus. These are illus- 
trious instances of wise policy and honorable 
moderation — it is needless to give others to the 
same point. But, at present, officers expect to 
rise by seniority to a general command ; and 
although it is declared that a generalissimo 
shall be elected, yet there is but too much rea- 
son to apprehend, as this is only a positive 
exception to the idea of seniority, and therefore 
scarce sufficient to eradicate the idea of pro- 
motion according to seniority, that the next in 
rank will always expect the election, and will 
be but too apt to considerhimself as ill treated, 
if passed by. Men, now a days, are fond of 



being the only judges of their own importance 
and merit — they generally overrate both. 
They seem to have forgot that a knowledge of 
one's-self is the greatest and most difficult 
that can be acquired ; and that it scarcely ever 
was obtained with any degree of precision. 
Men are not called into public stations for their 
own honor or advantage — but merely for the 
public benefit. The public are therefore the 
only proper judges who shall serve them, and 
in what posts particular men shall be placed : 
And besides they have a natural right to the 
service of every man in the community. It 
was, I think, a Spartan maxim, that a man was 
not born for himself, but for his country : 
Were we but actuated by this just and noble 
idea, we might be serenely calm and perfectly 
safe amidst all the venial exertions of Britain 
— nay, of the rest of the world combined against 
us ! It is upon this principle the aborigines of 
America act. They rise to authority and com- 
mand by merit alone : And shall Americans 
extirpate a glorious plant, the natural product of 
their country ? Shall the uncultivated and rude 
Indians, think more justly and act with more 
dignity than we, with our improved understand- 
ings and boasted civilization ? This very ques- 
tion alone should, I think, recal us to the proper 
line of action, and force us to abandon notions 
which at once disgrace our country, and ex- 
pose it to ruin. A colonel of small abilities 
can do but little harm, in comparison of a weak 
general at the head of a division of the army, 
leading on the principal attack, or covering a 
precipitate retreat. — Marshal Sa.\e, and we 
need no better authority, says. " he has seen 
very good colonels become very bad generals." 
Can we then expect to see bad colonels become 
able generals ! But it is a point admitted by 
congress, that election is the best means of 
procuring an able commander in chief. And 
why should not this principle equally hold with 
respect to general officers .' Can the generalis- 
simo be so well enabled to defend the confed- 
eracy, as by being furnished with those men 
who are most capable of executing his designs ? 
It was upon this principle the invincible Roman 
armies were formed. That government was 
republic — ours is the same : I would most 
eagerly adopt a principle, sanctioned as it is 
by the happy experience of ages. Montesquieu 
expressly says, " the people are very capable of 
electing generals." Of right they ought to be 
permitted to exercise all those powers which 
they are capable of exercising with propriety. 

According to the plan before us, the quotas 
of the respective states, which I would term 
the American forces, are to be directed in 



372 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



their operations by congress. — If it is meant, 
as I suppose it is, that there shall be a body of 
troops in a state, entirely independent of the 
command of the civil power, I shall, with the 
utmost reluctance, yield my assent to the pro- 
position ; which, to me, appears dishonorable to 
the sovereignty of the state, dangerous to its 
welfare, and inconsistent with the superiority of 
the civil power. I well remember the feelings 
of the general court of Massachusetts Bay, 
when governor Barnard told them he had no 
authority to order the king's ships to quit the 
harbor of Boston. If he. who was but a repre- 
sentative, ought, as the supreme civil officer, 
to have a power directing the military within 
his government a fortiori, the several states 
should possess that power — they are sovereign 
states. I do not desire that they should abso- 
lutely direct such troops : But the executive in 
each state may, for this purpose, be at least 
the representative of congress. If the people 
are to be ruined by a blunder, it will be more 
natural that they should be ruined by the mis- 
take of their confidential men, than by that of 
an officer, perhaps a stranger. We have seen 
a day, when the salvation of this capital, under 
God, depended, in a manner, upon the autho- 
rity of the civil power over the troops in garri- 
son : I cannot but wish for a continuance of 
that command which once has saved us ; and 
which is, as it were, inseparable from the civil 
power. — I cannot bear the idea of surrender- 
ing it so totally as the congress seem to require. 
The establishment of a basis for the Ameri- 
can naval force is an object of the first impor- 
tance ; and it ought not to be omitted in the 
articles of confederation. Congress have en- 
deavored to establish a land force ; but this, 
which is of superior consequence, has been 
passed over almost in silence. ' For the first, 
they have provided even in detail ; but for the 
other only in five words — " to build and equip 
a navy " — never was so important a subject 
more expeditiously dispatched. The Roman 
decree, " Datit operant consuhs, ne quid detri- 
menti capiat respiiblica," was a singular model 
of concise energy : But it must now cease to 
be so. However, I should have been better 
pleased had there been a clause added to our 
maritime provision for manning the navy : 
This is the grand point — Britain finds it to be 
so. She can equip ships with ease from her 
yards : But the great difficulty is to man them. 
It is not with the phalanx that Greece kept the 
great king at arm's length — it was not with the 
legions that Rome acquired Sicily and con- 
quered Carthage — it was not with her battal- 
ions that Britain awed Europe : But Salamis, 



Ecnoma, and La Hogue, were naval actions 
that decided the superiority of nations. If 
America is to be secure at home and respected 
abroad, it must be by a naval force. Shall we 
then, scarce bestow a thought upon this palla- 
dium of our safety ? Nature and experience in- 
struct us, that a maritime strength is the best 
defence to an insular situation. Is not the sit- 
uation of the United States insular with respect 
to the powers of the old world : the quarter 
from which, alone, we are to apprehend dan- 
ger.' Have not the maritime states the great- 
est influence upon the affairs of the universe? 
Do not the powers of Europe strain their 
nerves to render themselves formidable at sea? 
This, then, is the theatre, as I may say, on 
which America must appear, if she intends to 
appear any where, with dignity and importance. 
Can the proper means of her doing so, be bet- 
ter provided for, than in the confederation of 
her United States ? This act ought to contain 
all the great lines of her general polity ; other- 
wise it must be imperfect. The nursery of 
her naval power cannot be better established, 
than by having it made uniform in all the 
states. What advantage does not Britain 
expect from her marine society ? What op- 
pression does not her people suffer from the 
practice of pressing, to man the royal fleets ? 
An absolute outrage upon civil liberty, and yet 
often inadequate to the end. The plan I have 
hinted seems calculated to avoid these evils. 
The proportion of five in a thousand is small — • 
the allurements are considerable and not ex- 
pensive — the sen'ice is but short. And yet, 
only estimating the white inhabitants at two 
millions, after the first sixteen years, ten 
thousand seamen will annually be created, to 
give security and importance to America ; and 
in other seven years, in all probability we 
should have more than double the number of 
seamen, whose bounden duty it would be to 
man our fleets, that Britain in her most formi- 
dable hour ever collected, even with the aid of 
press gangs. The object seems easy to be 
obtained — the view is magnificently great — 
surely it is worthy of being seriously contem- 
plated. 

The due settlement of the importance of the 
several states respecting each other, is a mat- 
ter of capital moment. In congress each state, 
ought of natural right, to have a weight in pro- 
portion to its importance. Can any state be 
justly entitled to a greater degree of weight? 
Can any state honestly desire to figure in 
plumes at another's expense ?— What is un- 
derstood by representation ? Is it not a sign 
of the reality? Ought such a representation 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



373 



to be greater than the reality ? Is it not upon 
this principle, however abused, that the Eng- 
lish parliament was formed ? Has not this 
principle been adopted in all the houses of 
assembly that ever sat upon this continent ? 
Why are we now to deem that unjust, which 
till now, we universally acknowledged as a 
certain and beneficial truth ? What is called 
the rotten part of the English constitution — is 
it not an unequal, and therefore an unjust re- 
presentation of its territory and wealth ? Has 
not lord Chatham been censured for not hav- 
ing, during his all-powerful administration, at- 
tempted to cut off that rotten member from 
the body politic — an amputation which was 
thought could scarce fail of being performed 
when undertaken by the hand of so great a 
man.^ Can ingenuity itself find an important 
distinction between the two cases ? In both, 
the great states on the one hand, and the 
great counties, cities and boroughs on the 
other, have less weight ; and the small states, 
counties, cities and boroughs, have more than 
they ought — such is the point in question. 
And shall we designedly contract a fatal dis- 
ease which we know has long been consuming 
the vital vigor of the English constitution, and 
is but too likely to destroy it ? Shall our wise 
men persist in endeavoring to create that which 
it would have been, illustrious as he is, lord 
Chatham's greatest glory to have endeavored 
to destroy ? — I am hurt by the idea — the con- 
trast fills me with pain and anxiety — however, 
I do not despair of relief. There is a resolu- 
tion of the first congress that was held after 
the British blockade of Boston, from which I 
have great expectation. It was the first re- 
solve passed by that venerable body ; and it is 
couched in these terms : " Resolved, that, in 
the determining questions in this congress 
each colony or province shall have one vote — 
the congress not being possessed of, or at pre- 
sent able to procure proper materials for as- 
certaining the importance of each colony." 
Hence, it is evident, what was their idea of a 
just representation ; and I hope it will yet be 
adopted. The Lycian republic was a confed- 
eration of three and twenty towns : The great 
ones had three voices — the middling two — and 
the small, one : contributing to the public 
expense in proportion to their representation. 
We are to contribute according to our abilities, 
and why should we not have a weight in pro- 
portion to our importance .' — If each state 
must have the same weight, let each contri- 
bute the same sum. We are infant states, but 
we have the wisdom of ages before our eyes. 
Let us not despise what is invaluable. It is 



the best chart by which we can steer along the 
difficult coast of government, and venture to 
run our ship of state into safe port. By this 
we may probably find an haven, that will in- 
vite the people of all nations to take shelter in 
it against the furious storms of tyranny. But, 
without it, we shall be but too likely to be ship- 
wrecked. Let us therefore adopt uniform and 
experienced principles throughout our voyage : 
Let us not trust to principles which clash and 
cannot form a perfect system. In the present 
case, either contribute to the public aid, ac- 
cording to ability, and have a corresponding 
weight — or, have equal weight, and contribute 
the same sum : Either is a perfect system : 
But the first part of each must ever continue 
irreconcilable to justice, and the known rule 
of right. The sage Montesquieu, having ma- 
turely considered the nature of a confederated 
government, particularly the Empire and Hol- 
land, says, "were I to give a model of an ex- 
cellent confederate republic, I would pitch 
upon that of Lycia." Can we do better, sir, 
than adopt the governing principle in the most 
perfect model of a confederacy ? 

I now beg leave to apply this principle to the 
rate for the public aid, established by congress 
on the 22d of November last. 



New Hampshire . 


. 200,000 


Massachusetts Bay . 


820,000 


Rhode Island and Providence 




Plantations . 


100,000 


Connecticut 


600,000 


New York . 


. 200,000 


New Jersey 


270,000 


Pennsylvania 


. 620,000 


Delaware , , 


60.000 


Maryland 


. 520,000 


Virginia 


890,000 


North Carolina . 


. 250,000 


South Carolina 


500,000 


Georgia . 


60,000 




5,000,000 



These states I would class in three divisions. 
The small ones should be those not, by a com- 
plete proportion, exceeding four proportions of 
the smallest. This class would, for the present 
contain Georgia, North Carolina, Delaware, 
New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and New 
Hampshire. The middling should be those 
states, by a complete proportion, exceeding 
four, and not in the same manner exceeding 
ten proportions : This class would comprehend 
South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and 
Connecticut. The great states should be as- 
certained by their e.xceeding eleven proportions 



374 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of the smallest : This third class would include 
Virginia and Massachusetts-Bay. The first 
class should have three delegates to each state 
— the second, six — the third, nine — making a 
congress of sixty-nine delegates, who should 
by a majority determine all questions except 
those contained in the restrictions, which should 
be determined by the voices of the states. The 
representation of each state be increased or 
lessened in proportion to the aid actually paid ; 
and this ought to be the barometer of import- 
ance, stimulating each state to its utmost con- 
tribution. 

These sentiments upon the subject of a con- 
federacy, sir, are the result of a few days' re- 
flection, amidst a variety of business, public 
and private : It is, indeed, not long since the 
plan from the congress has been received. I 
am fully sensible, that my ideas, now thrown 
out, will admit of important amendments, and 
therefore I do not presume to offer them for 
consideration. 1 have taken the liberty to drop 
them only because it was my duty to do so; 
and I think, if the states shall be allowed to 
vote according to their importance, the sketch 
I have drawn might form a beneficial confede- 
ration. I observe the plan before us contains 
thirteen articles : I can have no objection to a 
number allusive to the confederacy proposed. 
My sketch contains ten articles. Nor can I 
suppose that number will be a matter of diffi- 
culty. In collecting the materials, I arranged 
them under sixteen articles ;. but in condensing 
the subject, it accidentally was comprised in ten, 
although I strove to reach the confederated 
number. However, the accident instantly made 
me recollect, that the divine law to man was 
in ten articles — and that the Roman law was 
originally written on ten tables. 1 confess, sir, 
I was not displeased — I am sure the pious men 
of antiquity would have considered the acci- 
dental ten articles of confederation, as an omen 
of the beneficial nature of their contents. I 
may add, the number thirteen may, and we all 
hope will, cease to be allusive to the existing 
confederacy : But the number ten will ever 
allude to the eternal monuments of Divine 
justice, and human wisdom. Excuse, sir, this 
excursion to Sinai and Rome, I will return to 
my proper subject ; nor will I detain your at- 
tention but a moment. 

I have now, Mr. Chairman, with profound 
humility, given my thoughts upon the con- 
federation of the United States. Thoughts 
intent upon promoting and securing the inter- 
ests of my native country — thoughts equally 
solicitous for the grandeur of America. — In de- 
livering them, I trust I have, on that point, fully 



discharged my duty to my constituents — to the 
state — to the continent — to posterity. I have 
no intention to derogate from the dignity or the 
merit of congress : I have zealously supported 
the one, and I shall ever be ready, gratefully to 
pay any tribute of applause to the other. It is 
my undoubted privilege as a freeman to speak 
plainly — it is my bounden duty to do so — nor 
can our supreme rulers, constituted only for 
the purpose of preserving to us our civil rights, 
be displeased at such a conduct. The occasion 
is of the first importance. I meant to speak in 
terms of respect : if any thing of a contrary na- 
ture escapes me, I am sorry and beg pardon 
for it — it is not my intention to offend any in- 
dividual, especially the supreme authority. But, 
sir, I scarce think the moment is at hand, for 
the ratification of a confederacy. Rather than 
adopt the articles before us, I would yet a little 
longer trust to the ties that now bind America 
in union. The American confederacy should 
be the effect of wisdom, not of fear, an act of 
deliberation, not of hurry. It should be a noble 
monument attracting the respect of the world 
and capable of drawing forth the admiration 
and gratitude of our posterity. — Upon the 
whole, sir, this is scarce a time to deliberate, 
but it is certainly a time to act — it is my great 
aim, that America shall be independent — free 
— illustrious and happy ! 

I cannot now, sir, sit down without express- 
ing to the committee, the concern I feel for 
having taken up so much of their time as I 
have. I am sensible long discourses are often 
heard with impatience. But the stupendous 
importance of this subject, and my zeal in en- 
deavoring to discharge my duty, will I hope 
plead in my favor. I beg leave to return my 
most respectful thanks, for the attention and 
patience with which I have been heard. 



DR. RAMSAY'S ORATION. 

An oration on the advantages of 
American independence, spoken be- 
fore A public assembly of the in- 
habitants OF Charleston, in South 
Carolina, on July 4TH, 1778. 

by david ramsay, m. b. 

Mafjnus ab integro seculonam nascitur ordo. 
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna : 
Jam nova progenies, coelo dimittilur alto. 

Huic ego nee metas rerum, nee tempora pono : 
Imperium sine fine dedi. Virgil. 

To the honorable CHRISTOPHER GADS- 
DEN, esq., lieutenant governor of the state 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



375 



of South Carolina ; who. fearless of danger, 
undaunted by opposition, uninfluenced by the 
hope of reward, in the worst of times, has 
stood among the foremost, an early, actizie. 
zealous, disinterested champion, in the cause 
of American liberty and independence — the 
following oration, originally drawn up at 
his request, is respectfully inscribed by his 
humble servant the author. 

Friends and fellow-citizens — Impressed 
with the deepest sense of my insufficiency, I 
rise to address you with peculiar diffidence. 
When I consider the knowledge and eloquence 
necessary to display the glorious prospects 
which independence opens to this continent, I 
am stung with a degree of self-reproach for 
undertaking the important task. But your 
known attachment to the cause of America en- 
courages me to hope, that you will receive with 
indulgence, a well intended exertion to promote 
her welfare ; and emboldens me to cast myself 
on that candor, which looks with kindness on 
the feeblest efforts of an honest mind. 

We are now celebrating the anniversary of 
our emancipation from British tyrrany ; an 
event that will constitute an illustrious Eera in 
the history of the world, and which promises 
an extension of all those blessings to our 
country, for which we would choose to live, or 
dare to die. 

Our present form of government is every 
way preferable to the royal one we have lately 
renounced. It is much more favorable to 
purity of morals, and better calculated to pro- 
mote all our important interests. Honesty, 
plain-dealing, and simple manners, were never 
made the patterns of courtly behavior. Arti- 
ficial manners always prevail in kingly govern- 
ments ; and royal courts are reservoirs, from 
whence insincerity, hypocrisy, dissimulation, 
pride, luxury, and extravagance, deluge and 
overwhelm the body of the people. On the 
other hand, republics are favorable to truth, 
sincerity, frugality, industry, and simplicity of 
manners. Equality, the life and soul of com- 
monwealths, cuts off all pretensions to prefer- 
ment, but those which arise from extraordinary 
merit : Whereas in royal governments, he 
that can best please his superiors, by the low 
arts of fawning and adulation, is most likely to 
obtain favor. 

It was the interest of Great Britain to encour- 
age our dissipation and extravagance, for the 
two-fold purpose of increasing the sale of 
her manufactures, and of perpetuating our 
subordination. In vain we sought to check 
the growth of luxury, by sumptuary laws ; 



every wholesome restraint of this kind was 
sure to meet with the royal negative. While 
the whole force of example was employed to 
induce us to copy the dissipated manners of 
the country from which we sprung. If, there- 
fore, we had continued dependent, our frugal- 
ity, industry, and simplicity of manners, would 
have been lost in an imitation of British extra- 
vagance, idleness, and false refinements. 

How much more happy is our present situa- 
tion, when necessity, co-operating with the 
love of our country, compels us to adopt both 
public and private economy ? Many are now 
industriously clothing themselves and their fam- 
ilies in sober home-spun, who, had we remained 
dependent, would have been spending their 
time in idleness, and strutting in the costly 
robes of British gaiety. 

The arts and sciences, which languished 
under the low prospects of subjection, will now 
raise their drooping heads, and spread far and 
wide, till they have reached the remotest parts 
of this untutored continent. It is the happi- 
ness of our present constitution, that all offices 
lie open to men of merit, of whatever rank or 
condition ; and that even the reins of state 
may be held by the son of the poorest man, if 
possessed of abilities equal to the important 
station. We are no more to look up for the 
blessings of government to hungry courtiers, 
or ,the needy dependents of British nobility ; 
but must educate our own children for these 
exalted purposes. When subjects, we had 
scarce any other share in government, but to 
obey the arbitrary mandates of a British parlia- 
ment : But honor, with her dazzling pomp, 
interest, with her golden lure, and patriotism, 
with her heart-felt satisfaction, jointly call upon 
us now to qualify ourselves and posterity for the 
bench, the army, the navy, the learned profes- 
sions, and all the departments of civil govern- 
ment. The independence of our country holds 
forth such generous encouragement to youth, as 
cannot fail of making many of them despise the 
syren calls of luxury and mirth, and pursue hea- 
ven-born wisdom with unwearied application. 
A few years will now produce a much greater 
number of men of learning and abilities, than 
we could have expected for ages in our boyish 
state of minority, guided by the leading strings 
of a parent country. 

How trifling the objects of deliberation that 
came before our former legislative assemblies, 
compared with the great and important mat- 
ters, on which they must now decide ! They 
might then, with the leave of the king, his gov- 
ernors and councils, make laws about yoking 
hogs, branding cattle, or making rice ; but 



376 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



they are now called upon to determine on 
peace and war, treaties and negotiations with 
foreign states, and other subjects interesting to 
the peace, liberty, sovereignty, and independ- 
ence of a wide extended empire. No wonder 
that so little attention has been paid to learn- 
ing ; for ignorance was better than knowledge, 
while our abject and humiliating condition so 
effectually tended to crush the exertions of the 
human mind, and to extinguish a generous 
ardor for literary pre-eminence. 

The times in which we live, and the govern- 
ments we have lately adopted, all conspire to 
fan the sparks of genius in every breast, and 
kindle them into flame. When, like children, 
we were under the guardianship of a foreign 
power, our limited attention was naturally en- 
grossed by agriculture, or directed to the low 
pursuit of wealth. In this state, the powers of 
the soul, benumbed with ease and indolence, 
sunk us into sloth and effeminacy. Hardships, 
dangers, and proper opportunities give scope to 
active virtues, and rouse the mind to such vigor- 
ous exertions, as command the admiration of an 
applauding world. Rome, when she filled the 
earth with the terror of her arms, sometimes 
called her generals from the plough. In like man- 
ner, the great want of proper persons to fill high 
stations, has drawn from obscurity many illus- 
trious characters, which will dazzle the world 
with the splendor of their names. The neces- 
sities of our country require the utmost exer- 
tions of all our powers ; from which vigorous, 
united efforts, much more improvement of the 
human mind is to be expected, than if we had 
remained in a torpid state of dependence. 

Eloquence is the child of a free state. In 
this form of government, as public measures 
are determined by a majority of votes, argu- 
ments enforced by the arts of persuasion, must 
evermore be crowned with success. The rising 
patriot, therefore, who wishes the happiness 
of his country, will cultivate the art of public 
speaking. In royal governments, where the 
will of one or a few has the direction of public 
measures, the orator may harangue, but most 
probably will reap prosecution and imprison- 
ment, as the fruit of his labor. Whereas, in 
our present happy system, the poorest school 
boy may prosecute his studies with increasing 
ardor, from the prospect, that in a few years 
he may, by his improved abilities, direct the 
determinations of public bodies, on subjects of 
the most stupendous consequence. 

Thus might I go through the whole circle of 
the arts and sciences, and shew that while we 
remained British subjects, cramped and re- 
strained by the limited views of dependence. 



each one of them would dwindle and decay, 
compared with the perfection and glory ia 
which they will bloom and flourish, under the 
enlivening sunshine of freedom and inde- 
pendence. 

I appeal to the experience of all, whether 
they do not feel an elevation of soul, growing 
out of the emancipation of their country-, while 
they recollect that they are no longer subject 
to lawless will, but possess the powers of self- 
government, and are called upon to bear an 
active part in supporting and perpetuating the 
sovereignty of the United States; and in organ- 
izing them in such a manner, as will produce 
the greatest portion of political happiness to 
the present and future generations. In this 
elevation of soul, consists true genius ; which is 
cramped by kingly government, and can only 
flourish in free states. 

The attention of thousands is now called 
forth from their ordinary employments to sub- 
jects connected with the sovereignty and hap- 
piness of a great continent. As no one can tell 
to what extent the human mind may be culti- 
vated, so no one can foresee what great events 
may be brought into existence, by the exertions 
of so many minds expanded by close attention 
to subjects of such vast importance. 

The royal society was founded immediately 
after the termination of the civil wars in Eng- 
land. In like manner, may we not hope, as 
soon as this contest is ended, that the exalted 
spirits of our politicians and warriors will en- 
gage in the enlargement of public happiness, by 
cultivating the arts of peace, and promoting 
useful knowledge, with an ardor equal to that 
which first roused them to bleed in the cause 
of liberty and their country ? Their genius, 
sharpened by their present glorious exertions, 
will naturally seek for a continuance of suitable 
employment. Having, with well tried swords 
and prudent councils, secured liberty and inde- 
pendence for themselves and posterity, their 
great souls will stoop to nothing less than 
concerting wise schemes of civil polity and hap- 
piness — instructing the world in useful arts — 
and extending the empire of science. I foresee 
societies formed of our heroes and statesmen, 
released from their present cares ; some of 
which will teach mankind to plough, sow, 
plant, build, and improve the rough face of na- 
ture ; while others critically examine the various 
productions of the animal, vegetable and min- 
eral kingdoms, and teach their countrj'men to 
" look through nature up to nature's God." 
Little has been hitherto done towards com- 
pleting the natural history of America, or for 
the improvement of agriculture, and the peace- 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



377 



ful arts of civil life ; but who will be surprised 
at this, who considers that during the long past 
night of 150 years, our minds were depressed, 
and our activity benumbed by the low pros- 
pects of subjection ? Future diligence will 
convince the candid world, that past inatten- 
tion was the effect of our dependent form of 
government. 

Every circumstance concurs to make it prob- 
able, that the arts and sciences will be cultiva- 
ted, extended, and improved, in independent 
America. They require a fresh soil, and al- 
ways flourish most in new countries. A large 
volume of the book of nature, yet unread, is 
open before us, and invites our attentive peru- 
sal. Many uselul plants, unknown to the most 
industrious botanist, waste their virtues in our 
desert air. Various parts of our country, hith- 
erto untrod by the foot of any chemist, abound 
with different minerals. We stand on the 
shoulders of our predecessors, with respect to 
the arts that depend on e.vperiment and obser- 
vation. The face of our country, intersected 
by rivers, or covered by woods and swamps, 
gives ample scope for the improvement of me- 
chanics, mathematics, and natural philosophy. 
Our free governments are the proper nurseries 
of rhetoric, criticism, and the arts which are 
founded on the philosophy of the human mind. 
In monarchies, an extreme degree of politeness 
disguises the simplicity of nature, and " sets 
the looks at variance with the thoughts ; " in 
republics, mankind appear as they really are, 
without any false coloring. In these govern- 
ments, therefore, attentive observers have an 
opportunity of knowing all the avenues to the 
heart, and of thoroughly understanding human 
nature. The great inferiority of the moderns 
to the ancients in fine writing, is to be referred 
to this veil cast over mankind by the artificial 
refinements of modern monarchies. From the 
operation of similar causes, it is hoped, that 
the free governments of America will produce 
poets, orators, critics and historians, equal to 
the most celebrated of the ancient common- 
wealths of Greece and Italy. 

Large empires are less favorable to true 
philosophy, than small, independent states. 
The authority of a great author is apt, in the 
former case, to extinguish a free enquiry, and 
to give currency to falsehood unexamined. The 
doctrines of Confucius were believed all over 
China, and the philosophy of Descartes, in 
France. But neighboring nations, examining 
them without partiality or prepossession, ex- 
ploded them both. For the same reason, our 
separate states, jealous of the literary reputa- 
tion of each other, and uninfluenced by any 



partial bias, will critically pry into the merit of 
every new opinion and system, and naught but 
truth will stand the test, and finally prevail. 

In monarchies, favor is the source of prefer- 
ment ; but, in our new forms of government, 
no one can command the suffrages of the peo- 
ple, unless by his superior merit and capacity. 

The weight of each slate, in the continental 
scale, will ever be proportioned to the abilities 
of its representative in congress: Hence, an 
emulation will take place, each contending with 
the other, which shall produce the most ac- 
complished statesmen. From the joint influ- 
ence of all these combined causes, it may 
strongly be presumed, that literature will flour- 
ish in America ; and that our independence 
will be an illustrious epoch, remarkable for the 
spreading and improvement of science. 

A zeal for promoting learning, unknown in 
the days of our subjection, has already begun 
to overspread these United States. In the last 
session of our assembly, three societies were 
incorporated for the laudable purpose of erect- 
ing seminaries of education. Nor is the noble 
spirit confined to us alone : Even now, amidst 
the tumults of war, literary institutions are 
forming all over the continent, which must 
light up such a blaze of knowledge, as cannot 
fail to burn, and catch, and spread, until it has 
finally illuminated, with the rays of science, the 
most distant retreats of ignorance and bar- 
barity. 

Our change of government smiles upon our 
commerce with an aspect peculiarly benign 
and favorable. In a few years, we may expect 
to see the colors of France, Spain, Holland, 
Prussia, Portugal, and those of everj- other 
maritime power, waving on our coasts ; whilst 
Americans unfurl the thirteen stripes in the 
remotest harbors of the world. Our different 
climates and soils produce a great variety of 
useful commodities. The sea washes our 
coast along an extensive tract of two thousand 
miles ; and no country abounds in a greater 
plenty of the materials for ship-building, or 
has a better prospect of a respectable navy. 
Our stately oaks, the greater part of which 
would probably have withered in their native 
spots, had we remained subjects, will now be 
converted into ships of war, to ride triumphant 
on the ocean, and to carry American thunder 
around the world. Whole forests will be 
transformed into vessels of commerce, en- 
riching this independent continent with the 
produce of every clime and every soil. The 
wealth of Europe, Asia, and Africa, will flow 
in upon America : Our trade will no longer 
be confined by the selfish regulations of an 



3/8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



avaricious step-dame, but follow wherever 
interest leads the way. Our great object, as a 
trading people, should be to procure the best 
prices for our commodities, and foreign articles 
at the most reasonable rates : But all this 
was cruelly reversed by acts of the British 
parliament regulating our trade in a subservi- 
ency to their own emolument; our interest 
being entirely out of the question. It requires 
but a moment's recollection to convince us, 
that as we now have a free trade with all the 
world, we shall obtain a more generous price 
for our produce, and foreign goods on easier 
terms, than we ever could, while we were 
subject to a British monopoly.* The boasted 
act of navigation was not intended for our 
advantage, nor for the advantage of the whole 
empire : but was a glaring monument of the 
all-grasping nature of unlimited power. To 
enumerate all the ungenerous restrictions im- 
posed by the British government on American 

* That British merchants gave us a low price for our 
commodities, appears from this single consideration— they 
made money by exporting them from England. If they 
found it profitable to export tobacco, rice, indigo, etc. , 
from Britain, it must be in consequence of their allowing 
the American colonists less for those articles, than they 
would have brought in European markets. In this man- 
ner, much of our produce was sold to the consumers, 
loaded with double freight, insurance, and commission, 
over and above the additional expense of unloading and 
reloading in Great Britain. The industrious .\merican 
planter received no more for his produce than the pittance 
the British merchant, after reserving his own profit, was 
pleased to allow on the sale thereof, brought to market 
charged with this unnecessary expense. The distance 
from America to those places of Europe which consumed 
our staples, is generally less than to the British ports. 
From all which premises, it appears undeniably evident 
that .■American commodities, carried directly to the coun- 
tries where they are consumed, will produce much more 
clear profit to the planter, than when they arrived there 
by the circuitous way of Great Britain. 

The same reasoning holds good with respect to many 
articles imported from England, which were not of its own 
growth or manufacture ; for they would come much 
cheaper from the countries where they were made, than 
they ever could, while we were obliged to receive them 
through the hands of British merchants, loaded with 
double freight, insurance, commissions, and sometimes 
with duties. If interest had not silenced the voice of 
justice. Great Britain, while she obliged us to buy at her 
market, would have considered herself as bound to sup- 
ply our wants as cheap as they could be supplied else- 
where : But instead of this, she not only fixed exorbitant 
prices on articles of her own production, but refused us 
the liberty of buying from foreigners those articles which 
her own markets did not afford, and had also begun the 
fatal policy of super-adding additional duties. What a 
scene of oppression does this open to us? A great part 
of the price for which our commodities sold in Europe 
was lodged in British coffers ; and we were obliged to 
buy manufactures other production, at prices of her own 
fixing, and were restrained from buying even those arti- 
cles which she could not raise, where they could be got 
cheapest : Besides, as we durst not buy from any others, 
they had it in their power to fix any advance on the first 
cost that their avarice prescribed, and our necessities 
would permit. 



commerce, would be an outrage on patience. 
Time only will unfold the whole of this mystery 
of iniquity. A few years' experience will show 
such an amazing difference between the fet- 
tered trade of the British colonies, and the ex- 
tensive commerce of the free, independent 
states of America, as will cause us to stand 
amazed, that we so long and so patiently sub- 
mitted to so many and such cruel restrictions. 
In one word, so long as we remained depen- 
dent, the commerce of this great continent 
would have been sacrificed to the interest of a 
selfish European island. 

Carolina had particular reason to wish for 
the free trade of independence.* The whole 
island of Great Britain did not annually con- 
sume more than 5000 barrels of her staple 
commodity, rice, and yet it was an enumerated 
article. The charge on unloading, reloading, 
and shifting every cask, owing to this enumera- 
tion, was immense, though it sen'ed no other 
purpose, but to procure jobs for British coopers 
and wharfingers. So little regard was had to 
our interest, while dependent, that this enu- 
meration was obtained by the instigation of a 
captain Cole: Several vessels coming from 
England before him, and purchasing rice for 
Portugal, prevented the aforesaid captain of a 
loading : he returned, and in resentment said, 
carr)ing rice to Portugal was a prejudice to the 
trade of England : And on this single instance, 
so ill founded and supported, rice became an 
enumerated article.! How could our trade 
flourish, or our produce bring its full value, 
while restricted by a legislature so regardless 
of our interest, that a petty captain, to secure 
himself a cargo, could prevent our staple from 
being sent directly to a foreign market ? 

Union with Great Britain confined us to the 
consumption of her manufactures, and re- 
strained us from supplying our wants by the 
improvement of those articles which the bounty 
of Heaven had bestowed on our country. So 
numerous were the inhabitants of some pro- 
vinces, that they could not all find employment 
in cultivating the earth ; and yet a single hat, 
manufactured in one colony, and exported for 
sale to another, forfeited both vessel and cargo. 
The same penalties were inflicted for transport- 

* The tobacco colonies were also great losers by the 
British monopoly of trade. The duties on their staple, 
amounted to more than half the first cost. Tobacco, ex- 
ported from Britain, sold in European markets for more 
than double the sum the American planter received for 
it. If it should become a custom in the United States, to 
celebrate the anniversary of independence with an annual 
oration, it is hoped that some citizen of Virginia or Mary- 
land, will place the selfish restrictions on the exportatioc 
of this valuable commodity, in a proper light. 

t Gee on Trade, page 21. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



379 , 



ing wool from one to another. Acts of parlia- 
ment have been made to prohibit the erection 
of slitting mills in America. Thus did British 
tyranny exert her power, to make us a needy 
and dependent people, obliged to go to her 
market, and to buy at her prices ; and all this 
at a time when, by her exclusive trade, she 
fixed her own prices on our commodities. 

How widely different is our present situation ? 
The glorious fourth of July, MDCCLXXVI, 
repealed all these cruel restrictions, and holds 
forth generous prices, and public premiums, for 
our encouragement in the erection of all kinds 
of manufactures. 

We are the first people in the world who 
have had it in their power to choose their own 
form of government. Constitutions were forced 
on all other nations, by the will of their con- 
querors ; or, they were formed by accident, 
caprice, or the over-bearing influence of pre- 
vailing parties or particular persons : But hap- 
pily for us, the bands of British government 
were dissolved at a time when no rank above 
that of freemen e.xisted among us, and when 
we were in a capacity to choose for ourselves 
among the various forms of government, and 
to adopt that which best suited our country 
and people. Our deliberations, on this occa- 
sion, were not directed by the over-grown 
authority of a conquering general, or the ambi- 
tion of an aspiring nobility, but by the pole- 
star of public good, inducing us to prefer those 
forms that would most effectually secure the 
greatest portion of political happiness to the 
greatest number of people. We had the ex- 
ample of all ages for our instruction, and many 
among us were well acquainted with the causes 
of prosperity and misery in other governments. 

In times of public tranquility, the mighty 
have been too apt to encroach on the rights of 
the many : But it is the great happiness of 
America, that her independent constitutions 
were agreed upon by common consent, at a 
time when her leading men needed the utmost 
support of the multitude, and therefore could 
have no other object in view, but the formation 
of such constitutions as would best suit the 
people at large, and unite them most heartily 
in repelling common dangers. 

As the strength of a people consists in their 
numbers, our separate states, sensible of 
their weakness, were actually excited by self- 
interest to form such free governments, as 
would encourage the greatest influx of inhabi- 
tants. In this manner, an emulation has 
virtually taken place in all the thirteen states, 
each contending with the others, who should 
form the freest constitution. Thus independ- 



ence has been the fruitlul parent of govern- 
ments formed on equal principles, more favora- 
ble to the liberty and happiness of the gov- 
erned, than any that have yet been recorded in 
the annals of history. 

While we were dependent on Britain, our 
freedom was out of the question ; for what is a 
free state, but one that is governed by its own 
will .' What shadow of liberty then could we 
possess, when the single NO of a king, 3000 
miles distant, was sufficient to repeal any of 
our laws, however useful and salutary ; and 
when we were to be bound in all cases whatso- 
ever by men, in whose election we had no vote 
who had an interest opposed to ours, and over 
whom we had no control ? The wit of man 
could not possibly devise any mode that would 
unite the freedom of America with Britain's 
claim of unlimited supremacy. We were there- 
fore reduced to the alternative of liberty 
and independence, or slavery and union. We 
wisely chose to cut the Gordian knot, which 
tied old Britain to the new, and to assume our 
independent station among the empires of the 
world. Britain, had she honestly intended it, 
was incapable of governing us for the great 
purposes of government. Our great distance, 
and other local circumstances, made it impos- 
sible for her to be sufficiently acquainted with 
our situation and wants : But, admitting it 
was in her power, we had no reason to expect 
that she would hold the reins of government 
for any other end but her own advantage. 
Human nature is too selfish, too ambitious, for 
us to expect, that one country will govern 
another, for any but interested purposes. To 
obtain the salutary ends of government, we 
must blend the interests of the people and their 
rulers ; or else, the former will infallibly be 
sacrificed to the latter. Hence, the absurdity of 
our expecting security, liberty and safety, while 
we were subjects of a state a thousand leagues 
distant. 

Connection with Britain involved us in all 
her quarrels ; and such is the fluctuating state 
of her politics, that we could not long expect a 
political calm. In vain did the .Atlantic ocean 
interpose ; for, by our unnatural union, we 
were necessarily dragged into every war which 
her pride or ambition might occasion. Besides, 
as she considered the colonies as her property, 
what was to hinder her from ceding any or all 
of them to the different European states. Thus, 
while we had no independent government of 
our own, we might have been the support of 
various contending powers, and tossed about, 
like a foot-ball, from one to the other. 

Our independence will naturally tend to fill our 



38o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



country with inhabitants. Where life, liberty, 
and property, are well secured, and where land 
is easily and cheaply obtained, the natural in- 
crease of people will much exceed all European 
calculations. Add to this, the inhabitants of 
the old world, becoming acquainted with our 
excellent forms of government, will emigrate 
by thousands. In their native lands, the hard- 
earned fruits of uninterrupted labor are scarcely 
equal to a scanty supply of their natural wants, 
and this pittance is held on a very precarious 
tenure : while our soil may be cheaply pur- 
chased, and will abundantly repay the toil of 
the husbandman, whose property no rapacious 
landlord dare invade. Happy America ! whose 
extent of territory, westward, is sufficient to ac- 
commodate with land thousands and millions 
of the virtuous peasants, who now groan be- 
neath tyranny and oppression in three quarters 
of the globe. Who would remain in Europe, a 
dependent on the will of an imperious landlord, 
when a few years' industry can make him an 
independent American freeholder .' 

Such will be the fruits of our glorious revolu- 
tion, that in a little time gay fields, adorned 
with the yellow robes of ripening harvest, will 
smile in the remotest depths of our western 
frontiers, where impassable forests now frown 
over the uncultivated earth. The face of our 
interior country' will be changed from a barren 
wilderness into the hospitable abodes of peace 
and plenty. Cities, too, will rise majestic to 
the view, on those very spots which are now 
howled over by savage beasts and more savage 
men. 

The population of this country has been 
heretofore very rapid ; but it is worthy of obser- 
vation, that this has varied, more or less, in 
proportion to the degrees of liberty that were 
granted to the different provinces, by their re- 
spective charters. Pennsylvania and New 
England, though inferior in soil, being blest 
originally with the most free forms of govern- 
ment, have outstripped others in the relative 
increase of their inhabitants. Hence I infer, 
that as we are all now completely free and in- 
dependent, we shall populate much faster than 
we ever have done, or ever would, while we 
were controled by the jealous policy of an in- 
significant island. 

We possess thousands and millions of acres, 
which we may sell out to new settlers, on terms 
very easy to them, and yet sufficient to defr.ay 
the whole expense of the present war. When 
the quit-rents, formerly paid to the king, shall 
be appropriated to the benefit of the inde- 
pendent states, they will fill our treasuries to 
so great a degree, that foreign nations, know- 



ing that we abound in the sinews of war, will 
be afraid to provoke us. In a few years, when 
our finances are properly arranged, the stop- 
page of those sums which were formerly drained 
from us, to support the pride and extravagance 
of the British king, will be an ample provision, 
without taxes, for defraying the expense of our 
independent governments. 

It is difficult to compute the number of advan- 
tages arising from our present glorious strug- 
gle ; harder still, perhaps impossible, precisely 
to ascertain their extent. It has attracted the at- 
tention of all Europe to the nature of civil lib- 
erty, and the rights of the people. Our constitu- 
tions, pregnant with the seeds of liberty and 
happiness, have been translated into a variety 
of languages, and spread far and wide. Who 
can tell what great events, now concealed in the 
womb of time, may be brought into existence 
by the nations of the old world emulating our 
successful efforts in the cause of liberty ? The 
thrones of tyranny and despotism will totter, 
when their subjects shall learn and know, by 
our example, that the happiness of the people 
is the end and object of all government. The 
wondering world has beheld the smiles of 
Heaven on the numerous sons of America, 
resolving to die or be free : Perhaps this noble 
example, like a wide spreading conflagration, 
may catch from breast to breast, and extend 
from nation to nation, till tyranny and oppres- 
sion are utterly extirpated from the face of 
the earth.* 

The tyrants and landlords of the old world, 
who hold a great part of their fellow men in 
bondage, because of their dependence for land, 
will be obliged to relax of their arbitrary 
treatment, when they find that America is an 
asylum for freemen from all quarters of the 
globe. They will be cautious of adding to the 
oppressions of their poor subjects and tenants, 
lest they should force them to abandon their 
country, for the enjoyment of the sweets of 
American liberty. In this view of the matter, 
I am confident that the cause of America 

* Britain will eventually lose less by our independence 
than is commonly supposed. The king and ministers may 
be cured of their lust of domination, and will be deprived 
of influence and the means of corruption. While she had 
a monopoly of our trade, it encouraged idleness and ex- 
travagance in her manufacturers ; because they were sure 
of a market for their goods, though dear and ill made. 
But, as independence will bestow our commerce on those 
who most deserve it, this will be the means of introducing 
frugality and industry among her laboring poor. Our 
population will be so much the more rapid for our free 
governments, that, in my humble opinion, that part of 
our trade which will fall to the share of Great Britain, if 
she has the wisdom to conclude a speedy peace, will be 
more to her advantage than a monopoly of the whole of 
it, if we had remained subjects. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



38-1 



is the cause of human nature, and that it 
will extend its influence to thousands who 
will never see it, and procure them a mitigation 
of the cruellies and oppressions imposed by 
their arbitrary task-masters. 

If such be the glorious consequences of inde- 
pendence, who can be so lost to every generous 
sentiment, as to wish to return under royal 
domination ? Who would not rather count it 
an honor to stand among the foremost, in doing 
and suffering in a cause so intimately con- 
nected with the happiness of human nature? 
Away with all the peevish complaints of the 
hardness of the times, and the weight of the 
taxes. The prize for which we contend, would 
be cheaply purchased with double the expense 
of blood, treasure and difficulty, it will ever 
cost us. 

Our independent constitutions, formed on 
the justest principles, promise fair to give us 
the most perfect protection to life, liberty and 
property, equally to the poor and the rich. As 
at the conflagration of Corinth, the various 
melted metals running together, formed a new 
one, called Corinthian brass, which was supe- 
rior to any of its component parts : in like 
manner, perhaps it is the will of Heaven, that 
a new empire should be here formed, of the dif- 
ferent nations of the old world, which will rise 
superior to all that have gone before it, and 
extend human happiness to its utmost possible 
limits. None can tell to what perfection the 
arts of government may be brought. May we 
not therefore expect great things from the 
patriots of this generation, jointly co-operating 
to make the new born republic of America as 
complete as possible.' Is it not to be hoped, 
that human nature will here receive her most 
finished touches.' That the arts and sciences 
will be extended and improved ? That relig- 
ion, learning, and liberty, will be diffused over 
this continent .' and in short, that the Ameri- 
can editions of the human mind will be more 
perfect than any that have yet appeared ? 
Great things have been achieved in the infancy 
of states ; and the ardor of a new people, rising 
to empire and renown, with prospects that 
tend to elevate the human soul, encourages 
these flattering expectations. 

Should any puny politician object, that all 
these prospects are visionary, till we are cer- 
tain of independence, I reply, that we have 
been in possession of it for two years, and are 
daily more able to support it, and our enemies 
less able to overset it. When we first dared to 
contend with Britain, we were a loose, dis- 
jointed people, under no other government but 
that of a well-regulated mob. If in these cir- 



cumstances, we were able to defend ourselves, 
what may we not expect, when we can draw 
forth our whole strength in a regular, constitu- 
tional manner? If the maiden courage of our 
new levies, has successfully withstood the well 
trained bands of our enemies, can we distrust, 
when three campaigns have made them equal 
in discipline, with those whom they are to con- 
tend ? Such is the situation of Britain that 
were we only able to keep up the appearance 
of an army, she could not afford to protract the 
war. But instead of this, our troops are more 
numerous, better disciplined, clothed and 
armed, than they ever were. The most timid 
may dismiss all their doubts, since Louis the 
XVI. of France, that illustrious protector of the 
rights of human nature, with a magnanimity 
worthy of himself, has guaranteed to us our 
independency. If Britain could not subdue 
America, when she stood single and alone, 
how abortive must all her attempts prove, 
when we are aided by the power of the great- 
est European monarch ? 

The special interposition of Providence in 
our behalf, makes it impious to disbelieve the 
final establishment of our heaven-protected in- 
dependence. Can any one seriously review the 
beginning, progress, and present state of the 
war, and not see indisputable evidence of an 
over-ruling influence on the minds of men, pre- 
paring the way for the accomplishment of this 
great event ? 

As all the tops of com, in a waving field, 
are inclined in one direction by a gust of wind, 
in like manner, the governor of the world has 
given one, and the same universal bent of in- 
clination to the whole body of our people. Is 
it a work of man that thirteen states, fre- 
quently quarreling about boundaries, clashing 
in interests, differing in policy, manners, cus- 
toms, forms of government, and religion, scat- 
tered over an extensive continent, under the 
influence of a variety of local prejudices, jeal- 
ousies, and aversions, should all harmoniously 
agree, as if one mighty mind inspired the 
whole ? 

Our enemies seemed confident of the impos- 
sibility of our union ; our friends doubted it ; 
and all indilTerent persons, who judged of 
things present, by what has heretofore hap- 
pened, considered the expectation thereof as 
romantic. But He, who sitteth at the helm of 
the universe, and who boweth the hearts of a 
whole nation as the heart of one man, for the 
accomplishment of his own purposes, has 
effected that, which to human wisdom and 
foresight seemed impossible. A review of the 
history of America, from its first discovery to 



382 



PRIN'CIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the present day, forces upon us a belief, that 
greater blessings are reserved for this conti- 
nent, than she ever could have possessed whilst 
lying low at the foot of an European island ? 

It has never yet been fairly tried how far the 
equal principles of republican government 
would secure the happiness of the governed. 
The ancients, unacquainted with the present 
mode of taking the sense of the people by rep- 
resentatives, were too apt. in their public meet- 
ings, to run into disorder and confusion. The 
distinction o{ patricians ^x\A plebeians, laid the 
foundation of perpetual discord in the Roman 
commonwealth. If the free states of Greece 
had been under the control of a common su- 
perintending power, similar to our continental 
congress,* they could have peaceably decided 
their disputes, and probably would have pre- 
served their freedom and importance to the 
present day. Happily for us, warned by expe- 
rience, we have guarded against all these evils. 
No artificial distinction of ranks has been suf- 
fered to take place among us. We can peace- 
ably convene a state in one small assembly of 
deputies, representing the whole in an equal 
proportion. All disputes between the different 
states, and all continental concerns, are to be 
managed by a congress of representatives from 
each. What a security for liberty, for union, 
for every species of political happiness ! Small 
states are weak, and incapable of defence, large 
ones are unwieldy, greatly abridge natural lib- 
erty, and their general laws, from a variety of 
clashing interests, must frequently bear hard on 
many individuals. But our confederation will 
give us the strength and protection of a power 
equal to that of the greatest ; at the same time 

* Their council of Amphictyones in some things, re- 
sembled our congress ; but their powers were too limited. 
This suggests a hint, that a consideration of the United 
States, on principles that vest the congress with ample 
powers, is most likely to perpetuate our republican gov- 
ernments and internal tranquility. The union of indepen- 
dent commonwealths, under one common head, is an 
application of the social compact to states, and requires 
powers proportionally enlarged. Treason in our govern- 
ments, puts on a new aspect, and may be committed by a 
state as well as an individual ; and therefore ought to be 
clearly defined, and carefully guarded against. 

To give permanency to our confederation on republican 
principles, the following regulations seem expedient. 
That congress should have a power to limit or to divide 
large states, and to erect new ones. To dispose of the 
money arising from quit-rents and vacant lands, at least 
till all the expenses of the war are sunk. To establish a 
general intercourse between the states, by assigning to 
each, one or more manufactories, with which it should 
furnish the rest ; so as to create a reciprocal dependence 
of each, upon the whole : To erect a great continental 
university, where gentlemen from all the states may form 
an acquaintance, receive the finishing touches of educa- 
tion, and be inspired with continental liberality of mind, 
superior to local prejudices, and favorable to a confedera- 
ted union. 



that, in all our internal concerns, we have the 
freedom of small independent commonwealths. 
We are in possession of constitutions that con- 
tain in them the excellencies of all forms of 
government, free from the inconveniences of 
each ; and in one word, we bid fair to be the 
happiest and freest people in the world forages 
yet to come. 

When I anticipate in imagination the future 
glory of my country, and the illustrious figure 
it will soon make on the theatre of the world, 
my heart distends with generous pride for 
being an American. What a substratum for 
empire ! compared with which, the foundation 
of the Macedonian, the Roman, and the British, 
sink into insignificance. Some of our large 
states have territory superior to the island of 
Great Britain ; while the whole, together, are 
little inferior to Europe itself. Our independ- 
ence will people this extent of country with 
freemen, and will stimulate the innumerable 
inhabitants thereof, by every motive, to perfect 
the acts of government, and to extend human 
happiness. 

I congratulate you on your glorious prospects. 
Having for three long years weathered the 
storms of adversity, we are at length arrived 
in view of the calm haven of peace and security. 
We have laid the foundations of a new empire, 
which promises to enlarge itself to vast dimen- 
sions, and to give happiness to a great conti- 
nent. It is now our turn to figure on the face 
of the earth, and in the annals of the world. 
The arts and sciences are planted among us, 
and, fostered by the auspicious influence of 
equal governments, are growing up to matu- 
rity ; while truth and freedom flourish by their 
sides. Liberty, both civil and religious, in her 
noon-tide blaze, shines forth with unclouded 
lustre on all ranks and denominations of men. 

Ever since the flood, true religion, literature, 
arts, empire and riches, have taken a slow and 
gradual course from east to west, and are now 
about fixing their long and favorite abode in 
this new western world. Our sun of political 
happiness is already risen, and hath lifted its 
head over the mountains, illuminating our 
hemisphere with liberty, light, and polished 
life. Our independence will redeem one quar- 
ter of the globe from tyranny and oppression, 
and consecrate it the chosen seat of truth, 
justice, freedom, learning and religion. We are 
laying the foundation of happiness for count- 
less millions. Generations yet unborn will 
bless us for the blood-bought inheritance, we 
are about to bequeath them. Oh happy times ! 
Oh glorious days ! Oh kind, and indulgent, 
bountiful Providence, that we live in this highly 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



383 



favored period, and have the honor of helping 
forward these great events, and of suffering in 
a cause of such infinite importance ! 



AN ORATION 



Delivered by the late Dr. Ladd, 

Before his excellency the governor of South 
Carolina, and a number of other gentlemen, 
on Monday, the fourth of July, 1785, the 
celebration of American independence — al 
Charleston, Sottth Carolina. 

" Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell 
their children, and their children another generation." 

A prophet divinely inspired, and deeply im- 
pressed, with the importance of an event which 
had just taken place, breaks into this exclama- 
tion — an exclamation happily adapted to the 
present occasion ; tending to "perpetuate the 
remembrance of an event which is written 
upon the heart of every true American — every 
friend to his country. 

When we consider this as the natal anniver- 
sary of our infant empire, we shall ever be led 
to call into grateful recollection the fathers of 
our independence : those to whom (under 
God) we are indebted for our political existence 
and salvation. A short eulogium upon them, 
their merits, and their honors, will be the sub- 
ject of the present discourse ; for what more 
happy subject can be chosen on this day, than 
the great authors of our liberty .' they ! who 
" digged it out with their swords ! " — who, in 
the grim face of death, amidst perils innumer- 
able, gave the purchase of their blood — who 
built it upon their tombs, and whose spirits, 
bending from the sky, point with pleasure to 
its foundation. But where am I ? Fairy 
scenes open around me, and I seem to press 
the ground of enchantment. Behold yon vast 
structure, which towers to the very heavens ! 
Is it not cemented with blood, and built upon 
the slaughtered carcass of many a gallant 
soldier? on its broad front, American inde- 
pendence shines conspicuous, in characters 
of crimson ! — surrounding nature appears ani- 
mated ! the very tombs accost the traveller, 
and seemingly repeat — 

" How beautiful is death when earn'd by virtue ! 
Who would not sleep with those ? what pity is it 
That we can die but once to save our country ! " 

Add. Cato. 

The eventful history of our great revolution, 
is' pregnant with many a source of sublime 
astonishment I Succeeding ages shall turn 



the historic page, and catch inspiration from 
the era of 1776; they shall bow to the rising 
glory of America ; and Rome, once mistress of 
the world, shall fade on their remembrance. 

The commencement of our struggles, their 
progress, and their periods, will furnish a use- 
ful lesson to posterity — they will teach them 
that men — desperate for freedom — united in 
virtue — and assisted by the God of armies, can 
never be subdued. The youthful warrior — the 
rising politician, will tremble at the retrospect, 
and turn pale at the amazing story. America 
— the infant America, all defenceless as she is, 
is invaded by a most powerful nation : her 
plains covered by disciplined armies, her har- 
bors crowded with hostile fleets. Destitute of 
arms ; destitute of ammunition ; with no dis- 
cipline but their virtue, and no general but 
their God, behold our brave countrymen aris- 
ing to resistance — see the first encroachments 
of hostility withstood at Lexington ; and O 
Britain ! write that page of thy history in crim- 
son, and margin it with black, for thy troops 
fled ! — routed with stones, with clubs, and 
every ignominious weapon — they fled from our 
women ; they were defeated by our children. 

At this very time, a member of the British 
parliament could assert in open day, that a 
single regiment of disciplined troops, would 
march through America, and crush the rebels 
to subjection. The experiment was tried ; it 
was reiterated, and the success was everj' way 
worthy of the rash attempt. Such has the in- 
consistency been of theory and practice, relative 
to American subjugation. 

But were freemen — were Americans to be 
intimidated by the military parade of hostile 
regiments .'' Answer, ye Britons ! for by a 
bloody experience, have ye been taught the re- 
verse ; by a bloody experience were ye taught 
never to oppose men desperate for their coun- 
try ; and by that bloody experience will your 
children, and your children's children acquire 
instruction. They will learn wisdom from the 
history of defenceless Americans, who when 
threatened with the loss of their liberties, (lib- 
erties ! which were coeval with their existence, 
and dearer than their lives) arose in resistance, 
and were nerved by desperation 1 what was the 
consequence? the invaders were repulsed, their 
armies captured, their strong works demolished, 
and their fleets driven back. Behold the terri- 
ble flag, that glory of Great Britain, drooping 
all tarnished from the mast, bewails its sullied 
honors. 

This, my countrymen, by assistance super- 
human, have we at length accomplished— I say 
superhuman assistance, for one of us has 



384 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



" chased a thousand, and put ten thousand to 
flight. The Lord of hosts was on our side, the 
God of the armies of Israel ; " and at every 
blow we were ready to exclaim with glorious 
exultation, " The sword of the Lord and of 
Washington." 

Yet how did even America despair, when 
the protecting hand of her great leader was 
one moment withheld ! Witness our veteran 
army retreating through the Jerseys ; an almost 
total withering to our hopes, while America 
trembled with expectation — trembled ! though 
shielded and protected by the King of kings, 
and her beloved Washington. 

But brilliant, rapid, and successive have our 
conquests been : while the gloomy " times 
that try men's souls," were few, and of short 
duration. America, born to be independent, 
gathered strength amidst surrounding difficul- 
ties. She rose, like Antseus, vigorous from 
every fall. Her resentment was accompanied 
by the winged bolt of destruction. It flashed, 
like lightning from heaven, against her ene- 
mies, and blasted as it smote. Opposition like 
this, what mortals could withstand ? for it is 
written in the volumes of eternity, that even 
Britain, that hardy, that gallant nation, was 
unequal to the conflict. 

Yet, while we justly admire the valor and 
success of our veteran armies, let us shed one 
tear to the memory of those " unfortunately 
brave," who were martyrs in common cause ; 
and, while we celebrate their actions— while 
we glory in their virtues — let us deplore the 
catastrophe, and lament their misfortunes. 

What catastrophe .■■ what misfortunes ? Par- 
don me, my respected auditors. Let your 
indulgent bosoms plead in my favor ; and re- 
member, that the timid perturbation of a young 
orator, before so august an assembly, must 
lead him into frequent improprieties. I said 
we should lament their misfortunes. I beg 
leave to correct that too hasty expression ; for 
surely it is no misfortune to the brave man, that 
he has died for his country. Quite the reverse ; 
it is the highest acme of military ambition, and 
plays around the soldier's character with a 
sun-beam of never ending glorj'. 

" The gallant man though slain in fight he be, 
Yet leaves his country safe, his nation free ; 
Entails a debt on all the grateful state ; 
His own brave friends shall glory in his fate, 
His wife live honor'd, all his race succeed ; 
And late posterity enjoy the deed." 

Pope's Homer. 

The fall of the brave man is by no means 



the death of the \'ulgar: it is the birth-day of 
his glory, and opens to a blessed immortality. 
There the hoary warrior who has learned the 
rudiments of his profession under Washington 
or Wolfe, Montcalm or the great Montgomery, 
shall then commence his soldiership; then, en- 
listed in the armies of Michael, that archangelic 
chieftain, he shall fight the battles of the Lord : 
nor shall his earthly fame be unremembered, 
but, when the historic leaf shall shiver in the 
blaze — when all human work, the great Iliad 
itself, receive their finish from the fire, the 
soldier's memory must survive, for it is regis- 
tered in heaven. 

Yes ! ye shall live in fame, ye shades of 
Warren, of Mercer, of Laurens, and the brave 
Montgomery ! and when in remotest ages, pos- 
terity shall call forth every distinguishing char- 
acteristic of human excellence, the genius of 
your country shall bend his drooping head, and 
one tear, one grateful tear be shed to your re- 
membrance. Then the young warrior, emulous 
of your fates and your fame, shall in specula- 
tion.* It contradicts our habits and opinions 
in every other transaction of life. Do we feel 
his burning soul — and while he unsheaths the 
patriotic blade, he shall exclaim with tran- 
sport — • 

*' How beautiful is death when earn'd by virtue." 

But peace to your manes, ye dear departed 
brethren ! ye have trodden the path of honor 
before us ; and obtained the crown of glory. 
Brethren, it is all your own, for bravely did ye 
obtain it. May the green sod lie light on your 
breasts, and sweet your slumbers be in the 
dark house appointed for all living. 

*' So sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
With all their country's wishes blest ; 
When spring, with dewy fingers cold 
Returns to deck their hallow'd mould 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than fancy's feet have ever trod. 
By fairy hands their knell is rung ; 
By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
There honor coraes. a prilgrim grey. 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay, 
KnA /reedcim shall a while repair, 
To dwell a weeping hermit there." — Collins, 

But we turn to take a view of those worthy 
authors of our independence, who have sur- 
vived the contest. — A living patriot ! Where is 
the bosom that does not vibrate with pleasure 
at the sound i The dead can only receive the 
tribute of remembrance ; and long shall they 
possess it ; but the living are entitled to our 
warmest thanks, our united benedictions. — 
Here words must fail ; for who can duly praise 

* An omissioo in original print 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



385 



the living patriots of America? Alas ! barely 
to recount their names, their merits, and their 
honors, would exhaust the powers of language ; 
to do them justice is above all Ciceronian 
rhetoric, and calls for the eloquence of angels. 

You, and you, with a very respectable part 
of my audience, have fronted danger in the 
bloody field. — With a truly masonic fortitude 
have we assisted in the structure of our inde- 
pendence ; and ye will tell the story to your 
children and your children shall tell their child- 
ren, and their children another generation. Thus 
shall your honors succeed with undiminished 
lustre to posterity ; and future writers shall 
praise the brave man, and crown their eulogium 
with — " his father was an American." 

Allow me, my auditors, one claim on your 
attention to the beloved name of Washington : 
for how, upon a celebration like this, can the 
name of Washington be distant.' he whose 
unbiassed virtue, firm patriotism, unequalled 
abilities, and steady perseverance, are written 
upon the hearts of his brethren. — Though 
retired from the theatre of action, in the full 
splendor of meridian glories, he can never be 
lost to his country — we see him in our liberties, 
and shall forever see him, while that opus mag- 
num, the independence of America, remains in 
existence. 

Where are those who admire the unexampled 
patriot, and " in whose ears the name of a 
soldier sounds like the name of a friend?" 
O that upon this day ye would join your friendly 
voices with mine, to eternize the name of 
Washington ! — The august veteran of Prussia 
has himself led the way, and left it upon ever- 
lasting record, that " Frederic was the oldest 
general in Europe, when Washington was the 
greatest general upon earth." 

But I proceed to pay that attention due to the 
memory of another distinguished character; 
For to what is America more indebted than to 
the gallant exertions of her beloved Greene ? in 
whose amiable character the great soldier and 
the good citizen are so conspicuously blended 
— Long shall this country in particular retain 
his memory — long as the palmetto, that emble- 
matic tree, shall flourish in Carolina. 

" To thee, O Greene, each muse her tribute pays, 
Great chieftain crown'd with never fading bays ; 
Thy worth, thy country, ever grateful, owns, 
Her first of warriors and her best of sons." 
***** 
But see the long list ! upon which the names 
of Gates, Lincoln, the brave Stark, and the 
gallant Wayne are conspicuously lettered ! 
Men whose names shall descend to posterity 
with co-eternal honor ; among them shall the 

25 



brave Sullivan be often mentioned ; and the 
name of St. Clair though sullied by malign 
censure, will shine untarnished there ; and 
there shall the venerable name of Putnam be 
found, that hoary chieftain, who, 

" The fame of battle spread, 
When fourscore years had blanch'd his laurel'd head.* 

But there is no end of this ! the list of deserv- 
ing characters is swelling to my view, and I 
shall grow hoarse in repeating it ; I will there- 
fore quit the attempt, and hasten to conclude : 

" For should I strive to mention ev'ry name. 
With which my country swells the list of fame. 
Amidst the labor of the arduous tale, 
Mj' time, my periods, and my voice would fail." 

Previous to my quitting this subject, permit 
me, gentlemen of South Carolina, to observe, 
that the very man who fills the seat of your 
government for the present year, must long 
remain high in his country's honors — honors, 
which he has most bravely acquired. — The 
gallant defence of Fort Moultrie will decorate 
the page of many a future history, and give at 
once immortal fame to the hero and historian. 

And now, my most respected auditors, hav- 
ing in some measure paid our debt of acknowl- 
edgment to the visible authors of our independ- 
ence, let us lay our hands upon our hearts in 
humble adoration of that monarch, who (in the 
place of George the third) was this day chosen 
to reign over us : let us venerate the great 
generalissimo of our armies, from whom all 
triumphs flow : and be it our glory, that not 
George the Third, but Jehovah the first, and 
the last, is king of America — He who dwelleth 
in the clouds, and whose palace is the heaven 
of heavens : — For independent as we are with re- 
spect to the political systems of this world, we 
are still a province of the great kingdom, and 
fellow subjects with the inhabitants of heaven. 



PATRIOTIC CHARGE 

Of Judge Pendleton, to the grand 
Jurors of Georgetown, Cheraws, and 
Camden Districts, 1787, upon the Con- 
dition of Society. 

Gentlemen of the grand jury — Is this fatal 
passion for sudden riches, so generally pre- 
valent among us, to extinguish every sentiment 
of political and moral duty? Is it to be ex- 
pected, that one assembly after another will be 
on the side of the debtor? No, gentlemen: 
the period is not far distant, when the laws of 
the state must be voluntarily obeyed, or ex- 
ecuted by force. No society ever long en- 



386 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



dured the miseries of anarchy, disorder, and 
licentiousness. The most vile despotism will 
be embraced in preference to it. The nations, 
from which we derive our origin, afford innu- 
merable examples of this. I will, however, 
mention but one. When the parliament of 
England had dethroned and beheaded that 
faithless tyrant, Charles the first — subdued all 
their enemies at home and abroad — and 
changed their monarchy into a republic — one 
would have supposed, that an assemblage of as 
great talents as ever adorned human nature, 
which so highly distinguished the patriots of 
that time, could not fail of forming a wise and 
just government, and of transmitting it to their 
^sterity. But the event shewed that the dis- 
orderly temper of the people, occasioned by 
the civil war, would not bear the strong curb 
of legal authority. E.xpedient after expedient 
was tried : and government assumed many 
different shapes to humor their passions and 
prejudices, and lead them to a willing obedi- 
ence ; but all to no purpose. The public dis- 
orders daily increased. Every little club of 
politicians were for making laws for the whole 
nation. The fair form of equal and legal 
liberty became defaced by a thousand fanciful 
and impracticable whimsies, until the general 
distress became insupportable. What fol- 
tewed ? The very people, who, a few years 
before had dazzled the world with the splendor 
of their actions, invited back, and enthroned 
the son of that king, whom they had formerly 
put to death ; gave him carte blanche to do as 
he pleased : and seemed to have forgotten, 
that they had ever lost a drop of blood, or spent 
a shilling, in defence of their liberty. 

Gentlemen, let us not lose sight of this awful 
precedent. To acquire freedom is nothing, in 
comparison to a wise and profitable use of it. 
Nothing can be more certain, than that Great 
Britain would eagerly seize any opportunity to 
compass our destruction. She would, to-mor- 
row, pour her fleets and armies into this coun- 
try, particularly the southern states, if the great 
powers of Europe could be so allied and con- 
nected, as to secure her from a hostile confed- 
eracy. The history of those nations ever)' where 
shews us, what trivial causes occasion the most 
important changes in their political systems. 
Surely, then, it is wise to be on our guard, and 
in the first place to secure a free and just, but, 
at the same time, a strong government at home. 
Without this, the citizens are insecure in their 
persons and estates : that insecurity produces 
murmuring and discontent : and that discon- 
tent will ever produce a disposition favorable 
for trying new changes. In such a state, to be 



attacked by a formidable enemy, without sol- 
diers or military stores, and without authority 
to compel even our own citizens to obey the 
laws, we must fall a prey to any foreign power, 
who may think it worth the cost to subju- 
gate us. 

I have heard, gentlemen of the grand jury, 
great complaints against the illiberal and mo- 
nopolizing spirit of the British government, on 
the subject of commerce with America — her 
numerous duties on American produce — and 
her refusal to enter into treaties for mutual 
benefits in trade. It must surely be highly 
ridiculous to abuse one nation for profiting by 
the follies of another. Do we expect that 
Great Britain, as a trading nation, will not 
exert every nerve to hold fast the commercial 
advantages, which our avidity for her negroes 
and manufactures hath given her.' Is it not 
the steady policy of every nation in Europe, to 
promote and extend their own commerce by 
every possible means, let it be at the expense 
of whomsoever it will .' Yes, gentlemen : and 
let us act with such caution and punctuality, as 
to make it her interest to solicit, and we shall 
soon find her courting, with douceurs, those 
commercial compacts, which she now so con- 
temptuously declines. At the close of the war, 
indeed, she stood trembling with apprehension, 
lest our two allies, France and Holland, should 
monopolize our trade. A treaty, pressed at 
that moment, and properly urged — the sine 
qua non of all future amity and intercourse, 
would, in all probability, have produced an 
inlet of American built vessels into her islands, 
and an exemption from many other injurious 
restraints. But the favorable moment slipt 
through our hands unimproved, and (I fear) 
never to return. The only possible way left us 
to recover it, is, to live within our income ; to 
secure a balance of trade in our favor ; and to 
urge the federal government to such general 
regulations, as shall secure us from the infa- 
mous vassalage into which we are hurrying. 
If three or four thousand pounds sterling 
worth of merchandise, (annually) which sum 
will include a great many luxuries, be suffi- 
cient for all our rational wants, when our 
exports greatly exceed that sum, and are annu- 
ally increasing — is it not obvious to the mean- 
est capacity, that a large balance must yearly 
return to us in gold and silver .' which, in spite 
of all the paper-money casuists in the world, is 
the only wholesome political blood that can 
give union, health, and vigor to the body politic. 

If we do not curtail our expenses, and 
export more than we import, a general bank- 
ruptcy must be the inevitable consequence. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



S87 



Many people cafl for large emissions of pa- 
per-money. For what .' — To shift the burdens, 
which they have incurred by their avarice and 
folly, from themselves to their better, and 
more deserving, creditors, whose property they 
choose to hold fast. Can anything be more 
fraudulent or astonishing? No, gentlemen; 
paper medium and sherifis' sale bills, are only 
temporary expedients, a repetition of which, in 
a ver>' short time, would be insupportable. 
They were intended, at a singular crisis, to 
open a retreat even to the foolish and ex- 
travagant, as well as the unfortunate debtor, 
by affording an opportunity to retrieve, but not 
to give impunity to the one, or a release to 
the other. The honest and industrious man 
will seize the opportunity to lay up against the 
day of account and payment, while nothing 
will correct or reclaim the indolent and fraudu- 
lent knave. But, as I said, the period is at 
hand, when the punctual payment of taxes and 
debts must take place voluntarily : or the unin- 
terrupted recovery- of them, in the courts of 
justice, be enforced. Palliatives are exhausted. 
We must either relinquish government, resign 
our independence, and embrace a military 
master — or execute our laws by force of arms, 
if no alternative is left us. But, before we are 
compelled to resort to this disgraceful and 
painful ultimahem, let us all exert ourselves, 
and support each other, as free citizens, ac- 
knowledging no master but the laws, which we 
ourselves have made for our common good — 
obeying those laws, and enforcing them, when 
and where we can. Let no man say, this or 
that is not my business. Whatever materially 
affects the honor and interest of the state, is 
every man's business ; because he must, in 
common with all others, share the good or evil 
brought upon his country. The man who re- 
fuses or evades the payment of taxes imposed 
by his immediate representative, or excites or 
co-operates in the resistance of lawful autho- 
rity, is the parricide of his country, as well as 
the voluntary assassin of his own interest ; 
since it is impossible he can be tranquil or hap- 
py, or enjoy his property in peace and security, 
while his country is convulsed and distracted. 

As grand jurors, gentlemen, the laws have 
selected you, as their principal auxiliary and 
most responsible guardians. On you, then, it 
is peculiarly incumbent to interest yourselves 
in the conduct of all around you. You have 
the greatest property to lose ; and your exam- 
ple, therefore, must be of the greatest weight. 
Investigate the police of your district : and, 
wherever any person has accepted a public 



trust, and neglects or abuses it, drag him forth, 
let his office, fortune, or character be what it 
may. If keepers of ferries, highways, or bridges, 
do not discharge their duty — if the officers of 
justice violate the trust reposed in them — you 
are bound, in duty to your country, to your- 
selves and to your children, as well as by the 
solemn oath you have just taken, to name them 
in your presentments, together with the names 
of such witnesses as can prove the charge. 
Even in your private capacity, as citizens, to 
inform against and prosecute all such offenders, 
is highly meritorious. The malevolence which 
may, for a time, be directed against an honest, 
spirited and patriotic citizen, is like the harm- 
less hissing of serpents, that cannot bite. He 
will soon triumph over their impotent clamor, 
and obtain the esteem and support of all 
good men. 

I have been actuated in the plain and pointed 
observations you have just heard, by an ardent 
zeal for the honor and prosperity of my coun- 
try. This is not a time to lessen or extenuate 
the terror, which the present dangerous crisis 
must inspire. To know our danger, to face it 
like men, and to triumph over it by constancy 
and courage, is a character this country once 
justly acquired. Is it to be sacrificed in the 
hour of peace, with every incentive to preserve 
it ? I repeat again, that, without a change of 
conduct, and an union of all the good men in 
the state, we are an undone people : the gov- 
ernment will soon tumble about our heads, and 
become a prey to the first bold ruffian, who 
shall associate a few desperate adventurers, 
and seize upon it. 

I confess the subject very deeply affects me. 
I shall, therefore pursue it no farther. I do 
not, however, despair of the republic. There 
are honest and independent men among us, 
to retrieve every thing, whatever may be op- 
posed by the vicious and unprincipled, if they 
will but step forth, and act with union and 
vigor. If they will not, the miseries resulting 
to their country from the utter destruction of all 
public and private credit, a bankrupt treasury, 
and the triumph of all manner of fraud, rapine-, 
and licentiousness, together with the scorn and 
derision of our enemies, if we should have any 
left, be on their heads ! 



GENERAL MARION. 

Interesting Sketches relating to his 
services. 

A biography of this revolutionary hero, it ap>- 
pears, by an article in the Southern Patriot, 



388 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



has been written by Judge James, of South 
"^Carolina ; and the following extract has been 
given in that paper as a specimen of the work 
about to be published : 

" To people of good principles, particularly 
the religious, at this period (1780 and 1781), 
was truly distressing. Those fit for military- 
service, including men of sixty years of age and 
boys of fourteen, few of whom dared to stay at 
home, were engaged in active warfare, and 
had their minds in constant occupation, which, 
in whatever situation man may be placed, 
brings with it a certain degree of satisfaction, 
if not content. But to the superannuated 
and the female sex, no such satisfaction was 
afforded. Most of those had relatives to whom 
they were bound by the most tender and sa- 
cred ties, who were exposed to constant danger, 
and for whose fate they were unceasingly anx- 
ious. Asa comfort in this situation, they might 
employ themselves in household affairs, or re- 
sort to private devotion ; but those refined 
pleasures, which arise from social intercourse, 
were wanting ; and particularly that faint pic- 
ture of heaven, the consolation which is derived 
from meeting one's friends in public worship, 
was wholly denied them. Most of the churches 
in towns and in the country were burnt or 
made depots for the military stores of the 
enemy — some, in fact, were converted into 
stables ; and of the remainder, all in the coun- 
try were closed. In a war of such atrocity 
there was no safety, where members, however 
peaceful, were collected ; we have seen that 
the British tories* violated the sanctity of pri- 
vate dwellings by their murders, and how 
-could it be expected they would be awed by 
the holiness of a church .' In a camp where 
was no permanency, and but little rest, there 
was no place for chaplains — and at home there 
was no security, even for the pastors of the 
church ; consequently they were compelled to 
go into exile. Had they gone out of their own 
families to administer comfort, it would have 
been said they were stirring up sedition ; and, 
like some bigots of old, they would have made 
themselves voluntary martyrs. They took the 
wiser course of retiring with their families from 
the murderous rage of the times." 



• The British, under Tarleton, had already, (in May, 
1780I, cut to pieces Mr. Samuel Wyley, in his own house, 
at Camden, whom they mistook for his brother, John 
Wyley, who was sheriff of the district ; and the tories, 
under Harrison, had murdered in their dwelling's, the two 
Mr. Bradleys, Mr. Roberts, and others, in that part of 
Salem which lies on Lynch's creek. Lord Cornwallis 
soon made Harrison a colonel. 



" Near the close of the year 1780, there took 
place a skirmish between a small patrol of 
whigs, under Captain Melton, and a large party 
of tories, under major Ganey, near White's 
Bridge two miles from Georgetown ; a few shots 
were exchanged, and Melton was obliged to re- 
treat. But, in this short affair, Gabriel Marion, 
nephew to the general, was first taken prisoner, 
and when his name was announced, inhumanly- 
shot. The instrument of death was placed so 
near that it burnt his linen at the breast. He 
was a young gentleman, who had received a 
good education — of whom high expectations 
were formed, and who was much beloved in 
the brigade. The general had no children, 
and he mourned over this youth, as would a 
father over an only child, and all his men con- 
doled with him, but he soon publicly expressed 
this consolation for himself that his nephew 
was a virtuous young man — that he died in de- 
fence of his country, and that he would mourn 
over him no more. 

" At that same place a worthy man, Mr. Swai- 
neau, was killed. Ere this he had been a 
schoolmaster, but, finding there was no em- 
ployment for men of his peaceful profession 
now, he boldly shouldered the musket and 
died a soldier. But so prone are mankind to 
pass over the merits of this useful class of citi- 
zens, that, had he not fallen by the side of a 
Marion, perhaps his memory would have been 
forgotten. About the same time Mr. Bently, 
another schoolmaster, was killed in action. 
The suspension of all public education, which 
led to the fate of such men, and the fact stated 
above, that all public worship w-as now at an 
end, most forcibly shewed the calamitous state 
of the counti;y during this eventful period." 

" Men at this time, and their generals too, 
had nothing but water to drink — they com- 
monly wore homespun clothes, which lacked 
warmth — they slept in damp places, according 
to their means, either with or without a blan- 
ket ; he was well off who had one to himself 
the one half of the general's had been burnt — 
they were content to feed upon sweet potatoes, 
either with or without beef; there being neither 
mills nor leisure to grind corn — but all sighed 
for salt — for salt ! that article of the first neces- 
sity to the human race. Little do the luxurious 
of the present day know of the pressure of 
such a want. Salt, when brought from the 
sea-shore off Waccanaw, where it was coarsely 
manufactured, brought at that time ten silver 
dollars, each more than ten at present ; thus 
bay salt, one half brine, sold for at least one 
hundred dollars value of this day. As soon as 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



389 



General Marion could collect a sufficient quan- 
tity of this desirable article, he distributed it 
out from Snow's Island, on Pedee, in quantities 
not exceeding a bushel, to each Whig family, 
and thus endeared himself the more to his fol- 
lowers." 



Marion's Escape from the British 
Dragoons. 

General Marion was a native of South Caro- 
lina, and the immediate theatre of his exploits 
was a large section of maritime district of that 
state. The peculiar hardihood of his constitu- 
tion, and his being adapted to a warm climate, 
and low marshy countr}-, qualified him to 
endure hardships and subrnit to exposure, 
which, in that sickly region, few other men 
would have been competent to sustain. With 
the small force he was enabled to embody, he 
was continually annoying the enemy, cautious 
never to risk an engagement, till he could 
make victory certain. General Marion's per- 
son was uncommonly light, and he rode, when 
in service, one of the fleetest and most pow- 
erful chargers, the South could produce : — 
when in fair pursuit nothing could escape, and 
when retreating nothing could overtake him. 
Being once nearly surrounded by a party of 
British dragoons, he was compelled, for safety, 
to pass into a cornfield, by leaping the fence — • 
this field, marked with considerable descent of 
surface, had been in part a marsh ; Marion 
entered in at the upper side, the dragoons in 
chase, leaped the fence also, and were but a 
short distance behind him. So completely was 
he now in their power, that his only mode of 
escape was to pass over the fence at the lower 
side. To drain the field of its superfluous 
water, a trench had been cut around this part 
of the field, four feet wide, and of the same 
depth ; of the mud and clay removed in cutting 
it, a bank had been formed on its inner side, 
and on the top of this was erected the fence, 
the elevation amounting to nearly eight feet 
perpendicular height — a ditch four feet in width 
running parallel with it on the outer side, a foot 
or more intervening, between the fence and 
ditch. 

The dragoons, acquainted with the nature and 
extent of this obstacle, and considering it impos- 
sible for their enemy to pass it, pushed towards 
him with loud shouts of exultation and insult, and 
summoning him to surrender or perish by the 
sword ; regardless of their rudeness and empty 
clamor, and inflexibly determined not to be- 
come their prisoner, Marion spurred his horse 
to the charge. The noble animal, as if conscious 



that his master's life was in danger, and that 
on his exertions depended his safety, ap- 
proached the barrier in his finest style, and 
with a bound that was almost supernatural, 
cleared the fence and ditch completely, and 
recovered himself without loss of time on the 
opposite side — Marion instantly wheeled about 
and saw his pursuers unable to pass the ditch, 
discharged his pistol at them without eftect, 
and then wheeUng his horse, and bidding them 
good morning, departed. The dragoons, 
astonished at what they had witnessed, and 
scarcely believing their foe to be mortal, gave 
up the chase. 



MR. HUNTER, 



Of Darlington district. South Car- 
olina. Interesting account of his 

ESCAPE from the TORIES. 

The following fact, though altogether 
worthy of being remembered, has never, I 
believe, been reported by the pen of any 
historian. 

Lest it should be thought a mere fabrication 
to occupy a vacant column in the newspaper, I 
think it not unimportant to state, that the sub- 
ject of this memoir, Mr. Hunter, is well known 
in Darlington district. South Carolina ; and 
the following narrative, which I had from him- 
self, is familiar to his friends and acquaintances. 

Hunter, though a youth of perhaps eighteen 
years old, was very active in defence of his 
country's rights during the revolutionary war. 
It was the fate of this tyro in arms to fall into 
the hands of major Fanning, whose deeds as a 
cruel partisan leader in the service of Great 
Britain, are written in North and South Caro- 
lina, in characters of blood. Hunter, whose 
active ser\'ices had roused the ire of the major, 
was told upon the spot to prepare for his fate, 
which was nothing less than death, for which 
awful event a few minutes only were allowed 
him to prepare. A band of tories, thirsting 
for the blood of a patriot, instantly formed a 
circle round the boy, leaving him no reasonable 
chance for escape. 

At this moment thought followed thought 
in quick succession. His home, his friends, 
his country, and the circumstances under 
which he was about to be torn from them all, 
together with the reflection that he must 
quickly realize a state of untried being, 
crowded upon his mind, and called up feelings 
not to be described. 

For the first time he bent his knees to the 



390 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



power which wields the destinies of man, and 
no sooner had he breathed a wish to the 
throne of mercy, than he felt a strong persua- 
sion that deliverance was possible. This im- 
portant point settled in his mind, he cast his 
eyes round in search of the means to be em- 
ployed. At the distance of a few paces from 
the encircling band stood a beautiful filly, fur- 
jiished with the major's riding establishment, 
complete. This animal, late the idol of sports- 
men in Virginia, had fallen into the hands of 
the present owner, and was highly prized as 
affording the means of escape from impending 
danger. 

" Cannot I," thought Hunter, " spring from 



my knees, gain the saddle, and under the favor 
of that power which has so fully assured my 
heart, escape this threatening death .' " Having 
resolved, if he must perish to perish in the at- 
tempt, he darted like lightning through his ene- 
mies, and seizing the bridle, which was held by 
a servant boy, as he vaulted into the saddle, he 
put the major's courser to the speed, and went 
off with his booty, to the no small disappoint- 
ment and mortification of the astonished be- 
holders. After gazing a while in stupid amaze- 
ment, the redoubtable Fanning recollected that 
his soldiers had guns, but it was too late ; and 
the order io " shoot at the rebel," yi3.s obeyed 
without effect. 



GEORGIA. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
Written by Sir James Wright, governor 

AND captain general OF GEORGIA. 



[The reviser of this work is indebted through the cour- 
tesy of the Governor of Georgia, to the Hon. H. R. Jack- 
son, President of the Historical Society of that State, for 
the following interesting extracts (furnished March 7th, 
*S76) from the correspondence of Sir James Wright, 
^hen colonial Governor) with the Home government, 
relating to the Revolutionary movement in the colonies.'"] 



" Savannah in Georgia, the a4TH of Augi^si, 1774. 

I conceive that the licentious spirit in Ameri- 
ca has received such countenance and encour- 
agement from many persons' speeches, and 
declaradons at the time of the Stamp Act, and 
ever since, in Great Britain, and has now gone 
to so great a length, and is at such a height, 
that neither coercive nor lenient measures will 
settle matters, and restore any tolerable degree 
of cordiality and harmony with the Mother 
country ; and in short things and circumstances 
in America have increased so fast, and at this 
time so amazingly exceed what at the first set- 
tling and planting the colonies could probably 
have been supposed or expected, and America 
is now become, or indisputably ere long will be, 
such a vast, po^verful, and opulent country or 
dominion, that I humbly conceive, in order 
to restore and establish real and substantial 
harmony, affection and confidence, and that 
Great Britain may receive that benefit and 
advantage which she has a right to expect 



from the colonies, it may be found advisable to 
settle the line with respect to taxation, etc., by 
some new mode or constitution ; and without 
which my real and candid opinion is, that how- 
ever matters may be got over at present, and 
whatever appearance there may be of amity 
and union, the flame will only be smothered for 
a time and break out again at some future day 
with more violence. But be these things as 
they may, I doubt not but your Lordship will 
judge it is absolutely necessary that they are 
brought to a point and clearly settled and es- 
tablished somehow or other, and not suffered 
to remain as they are. Nothing but jealousies, 
rancor and ill-blood : law and no law, gov- 
ernment and no government, dependence and 
independence, if I may be allowed the expres- 
sions, and everything unhinged and running 
into confusion, so that in short a man hardly 
knows what to do or how to act ; and it's a 
most disagreeable state to one who wishes to 
support law, government and good order, and to 
discharge his duty with honor and integrity." 



'• 2oth June, \Tii . . . By the enclosed paper 
your lordship will see the extraordinary resolves 
by the people in Charlotte-town, Mecklen- 
burg county, and I should not be surprised 
if the same should be done every where 
else."* 

* This extract confirms the genuineness of the Declara- 
tion of Independence declared by the people of Mecklea- 
burg county, North Carolina, May 30th, 1775. See p. 313. 



GEORGIA. 



391 



ADDRESS 

From Provincial congress, requesting 
that a day may be appointed for 
fasting and prayer by the governor. 

Georgia, July 8, 1775. 

To his excellency, sir James Wright, Bart, 
captain-general, governor, and commander-in- 
chief in and over his majesty's said province, 
chancellor and ordinar}' of the same. 
May it please your excelleticy — 

The Provincial congress, deeply concerned at 
the present alarming state of affairs and dis- 
tresses of America, humbly request that your 
excellency would appoint a day of fasting and 
prayer, to be observed throughout this province. 
That a happy reconciliation may soon take place 
between America and the parent state, and 
that under the auspicious reign of his majesty 
and his descendants, both countries may re- 
main united, virtuous, free and happy until 
time shall be no more. 

By order of the congress. 
Arch. Bullock, President." 

Dated in provincial congress ) 
the 7th day of July, 1775." \ 



Answer of Governor Wright. 

Savannah, yuly 9, 1775. 

Gentlemen, — I have taken the opinion of 
his majesty's council relative to the request 
made by the gentlemen, who have assembled 
together by the name of a Provincial congress, 
and must premise that I cannot consider that 
meeting as constitutional. But as the request 
is expressed in such loyal and dutiful terms, 
and the ends proposed being such as ever/ 
good man must most ardently wish for, I 
will certainly appoint a day of fasting and 
prayer, to be observed throughout this province. 

Ja. Wright. 

To Stephen Drayton junior, and the other 
gentlemen who waited on the governor." 



GOVERNOR JAMES WRIGHT 

Relating to the action of the people 
in sympathy with the revolution. 

"\^h October, 1775. . . I wrote your lord- 
ship before in what manner the command of the 
militia was wrested from me ; they have not 
yet attempted to obstruct the court of Chan- 
cer)-, but except that I have scarce any power 
left, but proving wills and granting letters 
of administration." 



"id January, iTjt. . . They say that now 
they have gone so far, that neither fortune or 
lives are to be regarded, and that they will go 
every length. But still if we had proper sup- 
port and assistance, I think numbers would 
join the king's standard ; but no troops, no 
money, no orders or instructions, and a wild 
multitude gathering fast, what can any man do 
in such a situation .'' No arms, no ammuni- 
tion, not so much as a ship of war of any kind, 
and the neighboring Province at the same time 
threatening vengeance against the friends of 
government, and to send 1000 men to assist 
the liberty people if they want assistance, all 
these things my Lord are really too muc/t. They 
have also publicly declared that every man 
shall sign the association or leave the Province ; 
that is, private persons, but that no King's 
officer shall be suffered to go: they will take 
care to prevent any of them from stirring. 
Surely my Lord, His Majesty's officers and du- 
tiful and loyal subjects will not be suffered to 
remain under such cruel tyranny and oppression. 

"loth March, 1776 . . . Your Lordship 
will judge of the cruel state and situation we 
are reduced to ; the rebels encouraged and ex- 
ulting ; their numbers in and about town in- 
creased, according to the best information I 
can get, to about 800 men in arms ; about 200 
of their regiment or battalion already enlisted 
and daily increasing ; a considerable part of my 
property seized upon, and the negroes employed 
in throwing up and making military works in 
and about the town ; the King's officers and 
friends to government, some seized upon and 
kept prisoners, and others hiding and obliged 
to desert their families and property to save 
their lives and liberties, and some threatened 
to be shot whenever met with : which distresses 
my Lord I humbly conceive would not have 
happened, had no King's ships or troops come 
here, until there was sufficient to reduce the 
rebels at once." 



SPEECH 

Of Governor Archibald Bullock to 
the provincial congress of Georgia. 

Savannah (Georgia) ^une 20, 1776. 

Our provincial congress met here on the 6th 
inst., when his excellency Archibald Bullock, 
esq. president and commander in chief of the 
province of Georgia, delivered the following 
speech : 

Mr. Speaker, and gentlernen of the congress 
— The state of the province at your last meet- 



393 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ing made it absolutely necessary to adopt some 
temporary regulations for the preservation of 
the public peace and safety ; and your appoint- 
ment of me to carry these things into execution, 
at a time so practical and ijnportant to the wel- 
fare of this country, requires an exertion of the 
greatest prudence and abilities. 

At a time, when our rights and privileges 
are invaded, when the fundamental principles of 
the constitution are subverted, and those men 
whose duty should teach them to protect and 
defend us, are become our betrayers and mur- 
derers ; it calls aloud on every virtuous member 
of the community to stand forth, and stem the 
prevailing torrent of corruption and lawless 
power. 

The many and frequent instances of your 
attachment towards me, and an ardent desire 
to promote the welfare of my country, have 
induced me to accept of this weighty and im- 
portant trust ; for your interest only I desire to 
act ; and relying on your aid and assistance in 
every difficulty, I shall always most confidently 
expect it. 

Some venial disaffected men may endeavor 
to persuade the people to submit to the man- 
dates of despotism ; but surely every freeman 
would consider the nature, and inspect the 
designs and execution of that government, 
under which he may be called to live. The 
people of this province, in opposing the designs 
of a cruel and corrupt ministry-, have surmounted 
what appeared insuperable difficulties ; and not- 
withstanding the artifice and address that for a 
long time were employed to divert their atten- 
tion from the common cause, they, at length by 
imperceptible degrees, succeeded, and declared 
their resolutions to assert their liberties and to 
maintain them, at all events, in concurrence 
with the other associated colonies. — For my 
part, I most candidly declare that, from the 
origin of these unhappy disputes, I heartily 
approved of the conduct of the Americans. My 
approbation was not the result of prejudice or 
partiality, but proceeded from a firm persuasion 
of their having acted agreeable to constitutional 
principles, and the dictates of an upright disin- 
terested conscience. 

We must all acknowledge our great obliga- 
tions to our ancestors, for the invaluable liberties 
we enjoy ; it is our indispensable duty to trans- 
mit them inviolate to posterity ; and to be neg- 
ligent, in an affair of such moment, would be 
an indelible stain of infamy on the present a;ra. 
Animated with this principle, I shall thinl: my- 
self amply rewarded, if I can be so fortunate as 
to render any service to the cause of freedom 
and posterity. 



Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the congress — 
Being sensible that colony matters of great 
importance will claim your attention at this 
meeting, I will not take up too much of your 
time from the public business. Some further 
regulations respecting the courts of justice, the 
state of the continental battalions, and the 
better ordering of the militia of this province, 
will necessarily be the subject of your disquisi- 
tions. 

You must be convinced of the many difficul- 
ties we labor under, arising from the number 
that still remain among us, under the shelter of 
an affected neutrality. The arguments alleged 
for their conduct, appear too weak to merit a 
refutation. This is no time to talk of modera- 
tion ; in the present instance it ceases to be a 
virtue. An appeal, an awful appeal, is made to 
Heaven, and thousands of lives are in jeopardy 
every hour. Our northern brethren point to 
their wounds, and call for our most vigorous 
exertions ; and God forbid that so noble a con- 
test should end in an infamous conclusion. 
You will not, therefore, be biassed by any sug- 
gestions from these enemies of American lib- 
erty, or regard any censure they may bestow 
on the forwardness and zeal of this infant 
colony. — You must evidently perceive the 
necessity of making some further laws respect- 
ing these non-associates; and though there 
may be some who appear at present forward to 
sign the association, yet it becomes us to keep 
a watchful eye on the motive and conduct of 
these men, lest the public good should be en- 
dangered through this perfidy and pretended 
friendship. 

By the resolves of the general congress, the 
inhabitants of the united colonies are permitted 
to trade to any part of the world, except the 
dominions of the king of Great Britain and in 
consequence of which, it will be necessary to 
fix on some mode of proceedings, for the clear- 
ance of vessels and other matters relative there- 
to ; and perhaps you may think it further re- 
quisite, to appoint proper officers to despatch 
this business, that the adventures in trade may 
meet with as little obstruction as possible. And 
I would at the same time recommend to yout 
consideration, the exorbitant prices of goods, 
and other necessaries of life, in the town of 
Savannah, and every part of the province. This 
certainly requires some immediate regulations, 
as the poor must be greatly distressed by such 
alarming and unheard of extortions. 

With respect to Indian affairs, I hoped to 
have the pleasure of assuring you, from the 
state of the proceedings of the commissioners, 
that they were in every respect friendly and 



GEORGIA. 



393 



warmly attached to our interest, and that there 
was the greatest reason to expect a continu- 
ance of the same friendly disposition ; But I 
have received some accounts rather unfavor- 
able. As this is of the highest consequence to 
the peace and welfare of the colony, I would 
here suggest, whether it would not be neces- 
sary to enter into some resolves, in order to 
prevent any future misunderstanding between 
them and our back settlers ; and to this I think 
I may add, that the putting the province in the 
best posture of defence, would be an object 
very requisite at this juncture. 

The continental congress have always been 
solicitous to promote the increase and im- 
provement of useful knowledge, and with the 
highest satisfaction contemplating the rapid 
progress of the arts and sciences in America, 
have thought proper to recommend the en- 
couraging the manufactory of salt-petre, sul- 
phur, and gunpowder. — The process is extremely 
easy, and I should be very glad to see any of 
the good people of this province exerting 
themselves in the manufacture of these useful 
and necessary articles. If they once consider 
it is for the public good, they will need no other 
inducement. 

Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the congress 
— Remember in all your deliberations you are 
engaged in a most arduous undertaking. Gen- 
erations yet unborn may owe their freedom and 
happiness to your determination, and may 
bestow blessings or execrations on your memory, 
in such manner as you discharge the tnist 
reposed in you by your constituents. Thoughts 
like these will influence you to throw aside 
every prejudice, and to exert your utmost efforts 
to preserve unanimity, firmness and impar- 
tiality in all your proceedings. 

Archibald Bullock. 



SERGEANT JASPER. 

The following biographical sketch of sergeant 
Jasper, whose name has been given to one of 
the counties of Georgia, in commemoration of 
his gallant deeds and signal services during the 
revolutionary war, is extracted from the second 
volume of M'Call's history of Georgia. 

" The conduct of sergeant Jasper, meets par- 
ticular notice in the history of Georgia, and his 
name is entitled to a page in the history of 
fame, while many others, high in rank, might 
justly be forgotten. He was a man of strong 
mind, but as it had not been cultivated by edu- 
cation, he modestly declined the acceptance of 



a commission, which was offered to him. At 
the commencement of the war, he enlisted in 
the second South Carolina regiment of infantry, 
commanded by colonel Moultrie. He distin- 
guished himself in a particular manner, at the 
attack which was made upon fort Moultrie, on 
Sullivan's Island, on the 28th of June, 1776. 
In the warmest part of that contest, the flag- 
staff was severed by a cannon ball, and the flag 
fell to the bottom of the ditch on the outside of 
the works. This accident was considered by 
the anxious inhabitants in Charleston, as put- 
ting an end to the contest by striking the 
American flag to the enemy. The moment 
Jasper made the discovery that the flag had 
fallen, he jumped from one of the embrasures, 
and mounted the colors, which he tied to a 
sponge-staff, and re-planted them on the para- 
pet, where he supported them until another 
flag-staff was procured. The subsequent ac- 
tivity and enterprise of this patriot, induced 
colonel Moultrie to give him a sort of roving 
commission, to go and come at pleasure, con- 
fident that he was always usefully employed. 
He was privileged to select such men from the 
regiment as he should choose to accompany 
him in his enterprises. His parties consisted 
generally of five or six, and he often returned 
with prisoners before Moultrie was apprised of 
his absence. Jasper was distinguished for his 
humane treatment, when an enemy fell into his 
power. His ambition appears to have been 
limited to the characteristics of bravery, hu- 
manity and usefulness to the cause in which he 
was engaged. When it was in his power to 
kill, but not to capture, it was his practice to 
permit a single prisoner to escape. By his cun- 
ning and enterprise, he often succeeded in the 
capture of those who were lying in ambush for 
him. He entered the British lines, and re- 
mained several days in Savannah, in disguise, 
and after informing himself of their strength 
and intentions, returned to the American camp 
with useful information to his commanding 
officer. In one of these excursions, an instance 
of bravery and humanity is recorded by the bi- 
ographer of general Marion, which would stag- 
ger credulity, if it was not well attested. — 
While he was examining the British camp at 
Ebenezer, all the sympathy of his heart was 
awakened by the distresses of a Mrs. Jones, 
whose husband, an American by birth, had 
taken the king's protection, and been confined 
in irons for deserting the royal cause, after he 
had taken the oath of allegiance. Her well 
founded belief was, that nothing short of the 
life of her husband would atone for the offence 
with which he was charged. Anticipating the 



394 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



awful scene of a beloved husband expiring upon 
the gibbet, had excited inexpressible emotions 
of grief and distraction. 

" Jasper secretly consulted with his com- 
panion sergeant Newton, whose feelings for the 
distressed female and her child were equally 
excited with his own, upon the practicability 
of releasing Jones ft'om his impending fate. 
Though they were unable to suggest a plan of 
operation, they were determined to watch for 
the most favorable opportunity and make the 
effort. The departure of Jones, and several 
others (all in irons,) to Savannah, for trial, un- 
der a guard, consisting of a sergeant, corporal, 
and eight men, was ordered upon the succeed- 
ing morning. Within two miles of Savannah, 
about thirty yards from the main road, is a 
spring of fine water, surrounded by a deep and 
thick underwood, where travellers often halt to 
refresh themselves with a cool draught from 
this pure fountain. Jasper and his companion 
considered this spot the most favorable for their 
enterprise. They accordingly passed the guard 
and concealed themselves near the spring. 
When the enemy came up they halted, and 
only two of the guard remained with the pris- 
oners, while the others leaned their guns against 
trees in a careless manner and went to the 
spring. Jasper and Newton sprang from their 
place of concealment, seized two of the mus- 
kets, and shot the sentinels. The possession 
of all the arms placed their enemy in their 
power, and compelled them to surrender. The 
irons were taken off, and arms put in the hands 
of those who had been prisoners, and the whole 
party arrived at Purysburgh the next morning 
and joined the American camp. There are but 
few instances upon record, where personal 
exertions, even for self-preservation from cer- 
tain prospects of death, would have induced 



resort to an act so desperate of execution ; 
how much more laudable was this, where the 
spring to action was roused by the lamenta- 
tions of a female unknown to the adven- 
turers. 

" Subsequent to the gallant defence at Sulli- 
van's Island, colonel Moultrie's regiment was 
presented with a stand of colors by Mrs. Elliot, 
which she had richly embroidered with her own 
hands, and as a reward for Jasper's particular 
merits, governor Rutledge presented him with 
a very handsome sword. During the assault 
against Savannah, two officers had been killed 
and one wounded endeavoring to plant these 
colors upon the enemy's parapet of the Spring 
hill redoubt. Just before the retreat was or- 
dered, Jasper endeavored to replace them upon 
the works, and while he was in the act, received 
a mortal wound and fell into the ditch. — When 
a retreat was ordered he recollected the hon- 
orable conditions upon which the donor pre- 
sented the colors to his regiment, and among 
the last acts of his life, succeeded in bringing 
them off. Major Horry called to see him soon 

after the retreat, to whom, it is said, he made 

• 

the following communication : ' I have got 
my furlough. That sword was presented to 
me by governor Rutledge, for my services in 
the defence of fort Moultrie — give it to my fa- 
ther, and tell him I have worn it with honor. 
If he should weep, tell him his son died in the 
hope of a better life. Tell Mrs. Elliot that I 
lost my life in supporting the colors which she 
presented to our regiment. If you should ever 
see Jones, his wife, and son, tell them that 
Jasper is gone, but that the remembrance of 
the battle which he fought for them brought a 
secret joy to his heart, when it was about to 
stop its motion forever.' He expired a few 
minutes after closing this sentence." 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



395 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



INTERESTING PROCEEDINGS. 

Fragment of an eloquent Speech, 

iHade in the general congress of America, by 
one of the delegates in lyj^— author un- 
known. 

FROM ALMON's remembrancer. 

The great God, sir, who is the searcher of all 
things will witness for me, that I have spoken 
to you, from the bottom and purity of my heart. 
We have heard that this is an arduous consid- 
eration. And surely, sir, we have considered 
it earnestly. I may think of every gentleman 
here, as I know of myself, that, for seven years 
past, this question has filled the day with anx- 
ious thought, and the night with care. The 
God to whom we appeal, must judge us. If 
the grievances, of which we complain, did not 
come upon us unprovoked and unexpected — 
when our hearts were filled with respectful 
affection for our parent state, and with loyalty 
to our king — let slavery, the worst of human 
ills, be our portion. Nothing less than seven 
years of insulted complaints and reiterated 
wrongs, could have shaken such rooted senti- 
ments. Unhappily for us, submission and 
slavery are the same ; and we have only the 
melancholy alternative left — of ruin or resist- 
ance. 

The last petition * of this congress to the 
king contained all that our unhappy situation 
could suggest. It represented our grievances ; 
implored redress, and professed our readiness to 
contribute for the general want, to the utmost 
of our abilities, when constitutionally required. 

The apparently gracious reception it met 
with, promised us a due consideration of it ; 
and that consideration relief. But, alas ! Sir, 
it seems at that moment the very reverse was 
intended. For it now appears, that in a very 
few days after this specious answer to our 
agents, a circular letter was privately written 
by the same secretary of state to the governors 
of the colonies, before parliament had been 
consulted, pronouncing the congress illegal, 
our grievances pretended, and vainly command- 
ing them to prevent our meeting again. Per- 
haps, sir, the ministers of a great nation, 
never before committed an act of such narrow 
policy and treacherous duplicity. They found 

* In 1774, presented last Christmas. 



parliament, however, prepared to support every 
one of their measures. 

I forbear, sir, entering into a detail of those 
acts, which from their atrociousness, must be 
felt and remembered forever. They are calcu- 
lated to carry fire and sword, famine and deso- 
lation, through these flourishing colonies. 
They cry " havoc, and let slip the dogs of 
war." The extremes of rage and revenge, 
against the worst of enemies, could not dictate 
measures more desperate and destructive. 

There are some people who tremble at the 
approach of war. They fear, that it must put an 
inevitable stop to the further progress of these 
colonies ; and ruin irretrievably those benefits, 
which the industry of centuries has called forth, 
from this once savage land. I may commend 
the anxiety of these men, without praising 
their judgment. 

War, like other evils, is often wholesome. 
The waters that stagnate, corrupt. The storm 
that works the ocean into rage, renders it salu- 
tary. — Heaven has given us nothing unmixed. 
The rose is not without the thorn. War calls 
forth the great virtues and efforts, which would 
sleep in the gentle bosom of peace. " Patdum 
sepulta distat inertia celaia virtus." It opens 
resources which would be concealed under the 
inactivity of tranquil times. It rouses and 
enlightens. It produces a people of animation, 
energy, adventure, and greatness. Let us con- 
sult history : Did not the Grecian republics 
prosper amid continental warfare ? Their 
prosperity, their power, their splendor, grew 
from the all-animating spirit of war— did not 
the cottages of shepherds, rise into imperial 
Rome, the mistress of the world, the nurse of 
heroes, the delight of Gods ! through the in- 
vigorating operation of unceasing wars ! — " Pet 
damna, per Cicdes, ab ipso duxit opes animum- 
que ferro." How often has Flanders been the 
theatre of contending powers, conflicting hosts, 
and blood ! Yet what country is more flourish- 
ing and fertile.' Trace back the history of 
our parent state. Whether you view her 
arraying Angles against Danes ; Danes against 
Saxons ; Saxons against Normans ; the barons 
against the usurping princes, or the civil wars 
of the red and white roses, or that between the 
people and the tyrant Stuart — you see her in a 
state of almost continual warfare. In almost 
every reign, to the commencement of that of 



396 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Henry the Vllth, her peaceful bosom (in her 
poet's phrase) was gored with iron war. It 
was in the peaceful reigns of Henry VII. Henry 
VIII. and Charles 11. that she suffered the 
severest extremities of tyranny and oppression. 
But amid her civil contentions, she flourished 
and grew strong ; trained in them, she sent her 
hardy legions forth, which planted the stand- 
ard of England upon the battlements of Paris ; 
extending her commerce and her dominion. 

*^ Those noble English, who could entertain 
With half their forces, the full power of France, 
And let another half stand laughing by, 
All out of work, and cold for action." 

The beautiful fabric of her constitutional 
liberty was reared and cemented in blood. 
From this fulness of her strength those scions 
issued, which taking deep root in this delightful 
land, have reared their heads, and spread their 
branches hke the cedar of Lebanon. 

Why fear we then, to pursue, through appa- 
rent evil — real good .' The war, upon which 
we are to enter, is just and necessary." " Jus- 
turn est bclliim, iibi necessariion ; et pia anna, 
quibus nulla, nisi in armis, relinquitur spcs." 
It is to protect these regions, brought to such 
beauty through the infinite toil and hazard of 
our fathers and ourselves, from becoming the 
prey of that more desolating cruel spoiler than 
war, pestilence, or famine, — absolute rule and 
endless extortion. 

Our sufferings have been great — our endu- 
rance long. Every effort of patience, complaint, 
and supplication, has been exhausted. They 
seem only to have hardened the hearts of the 
ministers who oppress us, and double our dis- 
tresses. Let us therefore consult only how we 
shall defend our liberties with dignity and suc- 
cess. Our parent state will then think us 
worthy of her, when she sees that with her 
liberty we inherit her rigid resolution oT main- 
taining it against all invaders. Let us give her 
reason to pride herself in the relationship. 

And thou, great liberty ! inspire our souls. 
Make our lives happy in thy pure embrace, 
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence ! 



A DAY OF HUMILIATION 

And Prayer, ordered by Congress, on 
Friday, the Seventeenth day of 
May, 1776. 

In Congress, March 16, 1776. 
The congress, considering the warlike 
preparations of the British ministry to subvert 
our invaluable rights and privileges, and to 



reduce us, by fire and sword, by the savages 
of the wilderness and our own domestics, to 
the most abject and ignominious bondage ; 
desirous, at the same time, to have people of 
all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a 
solemn sense of God's superintending Provi- 
dence, and of their duty devoutly to rely in all 
their lawful enterprises on his aid and direc- 
tion, do earnestly recommend that Friday, the 
17th day of May next, be observed by the said 
colonies as a day of humiliation, fasting and 
prayer ; that we may with united hearts, con- 
fess and bewail our manifold sins and trans- 
gressions, and by a sincere repentance and 
amendment of life, appease his righteous dis- 
pleasure, and, through the merits and media- 
tion of Jesus Christ, obtain .his pardon and for- 
giveness, humbly imploring his assistance to 
frustrate the cruel purposes of our unnatural 
enemies ; and by inclining their hearts to jus- 
tice and benevolence, prevent the further effu- 
sion of kindred blood. But, if continuing deaf 
to the voice of reason and humanity, and in- 
flexibly bent on desolation and war, they con- 
strain us to repel their hostile invasions by 
open resistance, that it may please the Lord 
of Hosts, the God of armies, to animate our 
officers and soldiers with invincible fortitude, 
to guard and protect them in the day of battle, 
and to crown the continental arms by sea and 
land, with victory and success. Earnestly 
beseeching him to bless our civil rulers, and 
the representatives of the people in their several 
assemblies and conventions ; to preserve and 
strengthen their union ; to inspire them with 
an ardent disinterested love of their country ; 
to give wisdom and stability to their councils ; 
and direct them to the most efficacious meas- 
ures for establishing the rights of America on 
the most honorable and permanent basis ; that 
he would be graciously pleased to bless all the 
people in these colorlies with health and 
plenty ; and grant that a spirit of incorruptible 
patriotism, and of pure undefiled religion, may 
universally prevail : and this continent be 
speedily restored to the blessings of peace and 
liberty, and enabled to transmit them inviolate 
to the latest posterity. And it is recommended 
to Christians of all denominations, to assemble 
for public worship, and abstain from senile labor 
on the said day. By order of the congress. 
John Hancock, President. 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



397 



EXCITING DEBATE IN CONGRESS 

Upon the question of separation from 
England. 

One of the most interesting works that has 
ever appeared as a history of " the war of the 
independence of the United States of Amer- 
ica," was writen by Mr. Charles Botta, an 
Italian, a translation of which has been made 
by Mr. George Alexander Otis. From these 
volumes we extr.act the two speeches that fol- 
low — previous to the insertion of which, it is 
necessary to give the " notice of the author " 
in relation to them. By way of preface to 
his work, Mr. Botta says — 
"There will be found in the course of this 
history, several discourses, of a certain length. 
Those I have put in the mouth of the different 
speakers have really been pronounced by them, 
and upon those very occasions which are treated 
of in the work. I should, however, mention 
that I have, sometimes, made a single orator 
say what has been said in substance by others 
of the same party. Sometimes, also, but rarely 
using the liberty, granted in all times to histo- 
rians, I have ventured to add a small number 
of phrases, which appeared to me to coincide 
perfectly with the sense of the or.ator. and pro- 
per to enforce his opinion : this has happened 
especially in the two discourses pronounced 
before congress, for and against the independ- 
ence, by Richard Lee and John Dickinson. 

" It will not escape attentive readers, that in 
some of these discourses are found predictions 
which time has accomplished. I affirm that 
these remarkable passages belong entirely to 
the authors cited. In order that these might 
not resemble those of the poets, always made 
after the fact, I have been so scrupulous as to 
translate them, word for word, from the 
original." 

Patriotic speech of Richard Henry Lee. 
of Virginia, delivered June 8th, 1776, 

URGING AN immediate DECLARATION OF 

independence. 

On the 8th of June [1776] a motion being 
made in congress to declare independence, 
Richard Henry Lee, one of the deputies from 
Virginia, spoke as follows, and was heard with 
profound attention : 

" I know not, whether among all the civil 
discords which have been recorded by histori- 
ans, and which have been excited either by the 
love of liberty in the people, or by the ambition 
of princes, there has ever been presented a 



deliberation more interesting or more import- 
ant than that which now engages our attention, 
whether we consider the future destiny of this 
free and virtuous people, or that of our enemies 
themselves, who, notwithstanding their tyranny 
and this cruel war, are still our brethren, and 
descended from a common stock ; or finally, 
that of the other nations of the globe, whose 
eyes are intent upon this great specLacle, and 
who anticipate from our success more freedom 
for themselves, or from our defeat apprehend 
heavier chains and a severer bondage. For 
the question is not whether we shall acquire 
an increase of territorial dominion, or wickedly 
wrest from others their just possessions ; but 
whether we shall preserve, or lose forever, that 
liberty which we h.ave inherited from our ances- 
tors, which we have pursued across tempestuous 
seas, and which we have defended in this land 
against barbarous men, ferocious beasts, and 
an inclement sky. And if so many and distin- 
guished praises have alw.ays been lavished 
upon the generous defenders of Greek and of 
Rom.an liberty, what will be said of us who 
defend a liberty which is founded not upon the 
capricious will of an unstable multitude, but 
upon immut.able statutes and tutelary laws; 
not that which was the exclusive privilege of a 
few patricians, but that which is the property of 
all ; not that which was stained by iniquitous 
ostracisms, or the horrible decimation of armies, 
but that which is pure^ temperate and gentle, 
and conformed to the civilization of the present 
age. Why then do we longer procrastinate, 
and wherefore are these del.ays .' Let us complete 
the enterprise alre.ady so well commenced : and 
our union with England can no longer consist, 
since with that liberty and peace which are our 
chief delight, let us dissolve these fatalities, and 
conquer forever that good which we already 
enjoy ; an entire and absolute independence. 

" But ought I not to begin by observing, that 
if we have reached that violent extremity, be- 
yond which nothing can any longer exist be- 
tween America and England, but either such 
war or such peace as are made between foreign 
n.ations, this can only be imputed to the insati- 
able cupidity, the tyrannical proceedings, and 
the outrages, for ten years reiterated, of the 
British ministers. What have we not done to 
restore peace, and to re-establish harmony? 
Who has not heard our prayers, and who is 
ignorant of our supplications ? They have 
wearied the universe. England alone was 
deaf to our complaints, and wanted that com- 
passion towards us which we have found 
among all other nations. And as at tirst our 
forbearance, and then our resistance, have 



398 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE RBVOLUTION. 



proved equally insufficient, since our prayers 
were unavailing, as well as the blood lately 
shed ; we must go further, and proclaim our 
independence. — Nor let any one believe that 
we have any other option left. The time 
will certainly come when the fated separation 
must take place, whether you will or no : for 
so it is decreed by the very nature of things, 
the progressive increase of our population, the 
fertility of our soil, the extent of our tenitory, 
the industry of our countrymen, and the immen- 
sity of the ocean which separates the two 
states. — And if this be true, as is most true, 
who does not see that the sooner it takes place 
the better; and that it would be not only im- 
prudent, but the height of folly, not to seize the 
present occasion, when British injustice has 
filled all hearts with indignation, inspired all 
minds with courage, united all opinions in one, 
and put arms in every hand ? And how long 
must we traverse three thousand miles of a 
stormy sea, to go and solicit of arrogant and 
insolent men either councils or commands 
to regelate our domestic affairs .' Does it not 
become a great, rich, and powerful nation, as 
we are, to look at home, and not abroad, for 
the government of its own concerns? And 
how can a ministry of strangers judge, with 
any discernment, of our interests, when they 
know not, and when it little imports them to 
know, what is good for us, and what is not ? 
The past injustice of the British ministers 
should warn us against the future, if they 
should ever seize us again in their cruel claws. 
Since it has pleased our barbarous enemies to 
place before us the alternative of slavery or of 
independence, where is the generous minded 
man and the lover of his country who can hesi- 
tate to choose .' With these perfidious men no 
promise is secure, no pledges sacred. Let us 
suppose, which heaven avert, that we are con- 
quered ; let us suppose an accommodation. 
What assurance have we of the British modera- 
tion in victory, or good faith in treaty ? Is it 
their having enlisted and let loose against us 
the ferocious Indians, and the merciless sol- 
diers of Germany .' Is it that faith, so often 
pledged and so often violated in the course of 
the present contest ; this British faith, which is 
reputed more false than Punic ? We ought 
rather to expect, that when we shall have fallen 
naked and unarmed into their hands, they will 
wreak upon us their fury and their vengeance ; 
they will load us with heavier chains, in 
order to deprive us not only of the power, 
but even of the hope of again recovering our 
liberty. But I am willing to admit, although it is 
a thing without example, that the British gov- 



ernment will forget past offences and perform its 
promises ; can we imagine, that, after so long 
dissentions, after so many outrages, so many 
combats, and so much bloodshed, our recon- 
ciliation could be durable, and that every day, 
in the midst of so much hatred and rancor, 
would not afford some fresh subject of animos- 
ity? The two nations are already separated 
in interest and affections ; the one is conscious 
of its ancient strength, the other has become 
acquainted with its newly exerted force ; the 
one desires to rule in an arbitrary manner, the 
other will not obey even if allowed its privi- 
leges. In such a state of things, what peace, 
what concord can be expected ? The Ameri- 
cans may become faithful friends to the Eng- 
lish, but subjects, never. And even though 
union could be restored without rancor, it could 
not without danger. — The wealth and power 
of Great Britain should inspire prudent men 
with fears for the future. Having reached 
such a height of grandeur that she has no lon- 
ger anything to dread from foreign powers, in 
the security of peace the spirit of her people 
will decay, manners will be corrupted, her 
youth will grow up in the midst of vice, and 
in this state of degeneration, England will be- 
come the prey of a foreign enemy, or an ambi- 
tious citizen. If we remain united with her, we 
shall partake of her corruptions and misfor- 
tunes, the more to be dreaded as they will be 
irreparable ; separated from her, on the con- 
trary, as we are, we should neither have to fear 
the seductions of peace, nor the dangers of 
war. By a declaration of our freedom, the 
perils would not be increased ; but we should 
add to the ardor of our defenders, and to the 
splendor of wtory. Let us then take a firm 
step and escape from this labyrinth ; we have 
assumed the sovereign power, and dare not 
confess it ; we disobey a king, and acknowledge 
ourselves his subjects ; wage war against a 
people, on whom we incessantly protest our 
desire to depend. What is the consequence 
of so many inconsistencies? Hesitation para- 
lyzes all our measures ; the way we ought to 
pursue is not marked out ; our generals are 
neither respected nor obeyed ; our soldiers 
have neither confidence nor zeal ; feeble at 
home, and little considered abroad, foreign 
princes can neither esteem nor succor so timid 
and wavering a people. But independence 
once proclaimed, and our object avowed, more 
manly and decided measures will be adopted, 
all minds will be fired by the greatness of the 
enterprise, the civil magistrates will be inspired 
with new zeal, the generals with fresh ardor, 
and the citizens with greater constancy, to 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 



399 



attain so high and so glorious a destiny. There 
are some who seem to dread the effects of this 
resolution. But will England, or can she, 
manifest against us greater vigor and rage than 
she has already displayed ? She deems resist- 
ance against oppression no less rebellious than 
independence itself And where are those 
formidable troops that are to subdue the Amer- 
icans ? What the English could not do, can it 
be done by Germans .' Are they more brave 
or better disciplined .' The number of our 
enemies is increased ; but our own is not di- 
minished, and the battles we have sustained 
have given us the practice of arms and the 
experience of war. Who doubts then that a 
declaration of independence will procure us 
allies ? All nations are desirous of procuring, 
by commerce, the production of our exuberant 
soil ; they will visit our ports hitherto closed by 
the monopoly of insatiable England. They are 
no less eager to contemplate the reduction of 
her hated power ; they all loathe her barbarous 
dominion ; their succors evince to our brave 
countrjmen the gratitude they bear them for 
having been the first to shake the foundation 
of this Colossus. Foreign princes wait only 
for the extinction of all hazard of reconciliation 
to throw off their present reserve. If this 
measure is useful, it is no less becoming our 
dignity. America has arrived at a degree of 
power, which assigns her a place among inde- 
pendent nations ; we are not less entitled to it 
than the English themselves. If they have 
wealth, so also have we ; if they are brave, 
£0 are we ; if they are more numerous, 
our population, through the incredible fruitful- 
ness of our chaste wives, will soon equal theirs ; 
if they have men of renown as well in peace as 
in war, we likewise have such ; political revolu- 
tions usually produce great, brave, and gener- 
ous spirits. From what we have already 
Bchieved in these painful beginnings, it is easy 
to presume what we shall hereafter accom- 
plish, for experience is the source of sage coun- 
cils, and liberty is the mother of great men. 
Have you not seen the enemy driven from Lex- 
ington by thirty thousand citizens armed and 
assembled in one day ? Already their most cele- 
brated generals have yielded in Boston to the 
skill of ours ; already their seamen, repulsed 
from our coasts, wander over the ocean, where 
they are the sport of tempest, and the prey of 
famine. Let us hail the favorable omen, and 
fight, not for the sake of knowing on what 
terms we are to be the slaves of England, but 
to secure to ourselves a free existence, to found 
a just and independent government. Anima- 
ted by liberty, the Greeks repulsed the innum- 



erable army of Persians ; sustained by the love 
of independence, the Swiss and the Dutch 
humbled the power of Austria by memorable 
defeats, and conquered a rank among nations. 
But the sun of America also shines upon the 
heads of the brave, the point of our weapons 
is no less formidable than theirs ; here also the 
same union prevails, the same contempt of 
dangers and of death in asserting the cause of 
country. 

" Why then do we longer delay, why still 
deliberate ? Let this most happy day give 
birth to the American republic. Let her arise, 
not to devastate and conquer, but to re-estab- 
lish the reign of peace and of the laws. The 
eyes of Europe are fixed upon us! She 
demands of us a living example of freedom, 
that may contrast, by the felicity of the citi- 
zens, with the ever increasing tyranny which 
desolates her polluted shores. She invites us 
to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may 
find solace, and the persecuted repose. She 
intreats us to cultivate a propitious soil where 
that generous plant, which first sprung up and 
grew in England, but is now withered by the 
poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may re- 
vive and flourish, sheltering under its salubri- 
ous and interminable shade all the unfortunate 
of the human race. This is the end presaged 
by so many omens, by our first victories, by 
the present ardor and union, by the flight of 
Howe, and the pestilence which broke out 
amongst Dunmore's people, by the very winds 
which baffled the enemy's fleets and transports, 
and that terrible tempest which ingulfed seven 
hundred vessels upon the coast of Newfound- 
land. If we are not this day w-anting in our 
duty to country, the names of the American 
legislators will be placed, by posterity, at the 
side of those of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of Rom- 
ulus, of Numa, of the three Williams of Nas- 
sau, and of all those whose memory has been, 
and will be, forever dear to virtuous men and 
good citizens." 

Lee had scarcely ceased speaking, when no 
dubious signs of approbation were manifested 
on all parts. But the deputies of Pennsylvania 
and Maryland not being present, and the con- 
gress desirous, by some delay, to evidence the 
maturity of their deliberations, adjourned the 
further consideration of the subject to the first 
of July. Meanwhile the patriots labored 
strenuously to induce the two dissenting pro- 
vinces also to decide for independence. They 
employed the most earnest persuasions, to , 
which they added also threats, intimating that 
not only would the other colonies exclude them 
from the confederation, but that they would 



400 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



immediately treat them as enemies. The pro- 
vincial assembly of Pennsylvania remained in- 
flexible. At length the inhabitants of Penn- 
sylvania formed a convention, in which the 
debates and disputes upon the question of 
independence were many and vehemenf. 



Speech of John Dickinson of Penn- 
sylvania, FAVORING A condition OF 

UNION WITH England, delivered 
July i, 1776. 

John Dickinson, one of the deputies of 
the province to the general congress, a man 
of prompt genius, of extensive influence, and 
one of the most zealous partisans of American 
liberty, restricted however to the condition of 
union with England, harangued, it is said, in 
the following manner against independence : 

" It too often happens, fellow citizens, that 
men, heated by the spirit of party, give more 
importance in their discourses, to the surface 
and appearance of objects, than either to rea- 
son or justice ; thus evincing, that their aim is 
not to appease tumults, but to excite them ; 
not to repress the passions, but to inflame 
them, not to compose ferocious discords, but 
to exasperate and imbitter them more and 
more. They aspire but to please the powerful, 
to gratify their own ambition, to flatter the 
caprices of the multitude, in order to captivate 
their favor. Accordingly in popular commo- 
tions, the party of wisdom and of equity is 
commonly found in the minority ; and, per- 
haps, it would be safer, in difficult circum- 
stances, to consult the smaller instead of the 
greater number. L'pon this principle I invite 
the attention of those who hear me, since my 
opinion may differ from that of the majority; 
but I dare believe it will be shared by all im- 
partial and moderate citizens, who condemn 
this tumultuous proceeding, this attempt to 
coerce our opinions, and to drag us, with so 
much precipitation to the most serious and im- 
portant of decisions. But, coming to the sub- 
ject in controversy, I affirm, that prudent men 
do not abandon objects which are certain, to 
go in pursuit of those which offer only uncer- 
tainty. Now, it is an established fact, that 
America can be well and happily governed by 
tbe English laws, under the same king and the 
same parliament. Two hundred years of hap- 
piness furnish the proof of it ; and we find 
it also in the present prosperity, which is 
the result of these venerable laws and of this 
ancient union. It is not as independent, but as 
subjects ; not as republic, but as monarchy. 



that we have arrived at this degree of power 
and of greatness. 

" What then is the object of these chimeras, 
hatched in the days of discord and war? 
Shall the transports of fury have more power 
over us than the experience of ages ? Shall we 
destroy, in a moment of anger, the work ce- 
mented and tested by time .-' 

" I know the name of liberty is dear to each 
one of us ; but have we not enjoyed liberty 
even under the English monarchy ? Shall we 
this day renounce that to go and seek it in I 
know not what form of republic, which will 
soon change into a licentious anarchy' and 
popular tyranny? In the human body the 
head only sustains and governs all the mem- 
bers, directing them, with admirable harmony, 
to the same object, which Is self-preservation 
and happiness ; so the head of the body pol- 
itic, that is the king, in concert with the parlia- 
ment, can alone maintain the union of the 
members of this empire, lately so flourishing, 
and prevent civil war by obviating all the evils 
produced by variety of opinions and diversity 
of interests. And so firm is my persuasion of 
this, that I fully believe the most cruel war 
which Great Britain could make upon us, 
would be that of not making any ; and that 
the surest means of bringing us back to hei 
obedience, would be that of employing none. 
For the dread of the EngUsh arms once re- 
moved, provinces would rise up against pro- 
vinces, and cities against cities ; and we shall 
be seen to turn against ourselves the arms we 
have taken up to combat the common enemy. 

" Insurmountable necessity would then com- 
pel us to resort to the tutelary authority which 
we should have rashly abjured, and if it con- 
sented to receive us again under its aegis, it 
would be no longer as free citizens, but as 
slaves. Still inexperienced, and in our infancy, 
what proof have we given of our ability to walk 
without a guide ? none, and, if we judge the 
future by the past, we must conclude that our 
concord will continue as long as the danger, 
and no longer. 

" Even when the powerful hand of England 
supported us, for the paltry motives of territorial 
limits and distant jurisdictions, have we not 
abandoned ourselves to discords, and some- 
times even to violence ? And what must we 
not expect, now that minds are heated, ambi- 
tions roused, and arms in the hands of all ? 

" If, therefore, our union with England offers 
us so many advantages for the maintenance of 
internal peace, it is no less necessary to pro- 
cure us, with foreign powers, that condescen- 
sion and respect which is so essential to the 



COI^TINENTAL CONGRESS. 



401 



prosperity of our commerce, to the enjoyment 
of any consideration, and to the accomplish- 
ment of any enterprise. Hitherto, in our inter- 
course with the different nations of the world, 
England has lent us the support of her name 
and of her arms : we have presented ourselves 
in all the ports and in all the cities of the globe, 
not as Americans, a people scarcely heard of, 
but as English ; under shadow of this respect- 
ed name, every port was open to us, every 
way was smooth, every . demand was heard 
with favor. From the moment when our 
separation shall take place, everything will 
assume a contrary direction. The nations will 
accustom themselves to look upon us with dis- 
dain ; even the pirates of Africa and Europe 
will fall upon our vessels, will massacre our 
seamen, or lead them into a cruel and perpetual 
slavery. 

" There is in the human species, often so 
inexplicable in their affections, a manifest pro- 
pensity to oppress the feeble as well as to flatter 
the powerful. F'ear always carries it against 
reason, pride against moderation, and cruelty 
against clemency. 

" Independence, I am aware, has attractions 
for all mankind ; but I maintain, that, in the 
present quarrel, the friends of independence 
are the promoters of slavery, and that those 
who desire to separate us, would but render us 
more dependent, if independence means the 
right of commanding, and not the necessity of 
obeying, and if being dependent is to obey, and 
not command. If, in rendering ourselves in- 
dependent of England, supposing, however, 
that we should be able to effect it, we might 
be so, at the same time, of all other nations, I 
should applaud the project ; but to change the 
condition of English subjects for that of slaves 
to the whole world, is a step that could only be 
counselled by insanity. If you would reduce 
yourselves to the necessity of obeying, in all 
things, the mandates of supercilious France, 
who is now kindling fire under our feet, declare 
yourselves independent. If to British liberty, 
you prefer the liberty of Holland, of Venice, of 
Genoa, or of Ragusa, declare yourselves inde- 
pendent. But, if we would not change the 
signification of words, let us preserve and 
carefully maintain this dependence, which has 
been, down to this very hour, the principle and 
source of our prosperity, of our liberty, of our 
real independence. 

" But here I am interrupted, and told that no 
one questions the advantages which America 
derived at first from her conjunction with Eng- 
land ; but that the new pretensions of the 
ministers have changed all, have subverted all. 
26 



If I should deny, that, for the last twelve years, 
the English government has given the most 
fatal direction to the affairs of the colonies, and 
that its measures towards us savor of tyranny, 
I should deny not only what is the manifest 
truth, but even what I have so often advanced 
and supported. But is there any doubt that it 
already feels a secret repentance ? These 
arms, these soldiers, it prepares againsfus, are 
not designed to establish tyranny upon our 
shores, but to vanquish our obstinacy, and to 
compel us to subscribe to conditions of accom- 
modation. In vain is it asserted that the min- 
istry will employ all means to make themselves 
quite sure of us, in order to exercise upon us, 
with impunity, all the rigor of their power : 
for to pretend to reduce us to an absolute im- 
possibility of resistance, in cases of oppression, 
would be, on their part, a chimerical project. 
The distance of the seat of government, the 
vast extent of intervening seas, the continual 
increase of our population, our warlike spirit, 
our experience in arms, the lakes, the rivers, 
the forests, the defiles which abound in our 
territory, are our pledges that England will 
always prefer to found her power upon modera- 
tion and liberty, rather than upon rigor and 
oppression. An uninterrupted succession of 
victories and of triumphs could alone constrain 
England to acknowledge American indepen- 
dence ; which, whether we can expect, whoever 
knows the instability of fortune can easily judge. 

" If we have combated successfully at Lex- 
ington and at Boston, Quebec and all Canada 
have witnessed our reverses. Every one sees 
the necessity of opposing the extraordinary pre- 
tensions of the ministers ; but does every body 
see also that of fighting for independence .' 

" It is to be feared, that, by changing the 
object of the war, the present harmony will be 
interrupted, that the ardor of the people will 
be chilled by apprehensions for their new situa- 
tion. By substituting a total dismemberment 
to the revocation of the laws we complain of. 
we should fully justify the ministers ; we should 
merit the infamous name of rebels, and all the 
British nation would arm, with an unanimous 
impulse, against those who, from oppressed and 
complaining subjects, should have become all 
at once irreconcilable enemies. The English 
cherish the liberty we defend ; they respect the 
dignity of our cause ; but they will blame, they 
will detest, our recourse to independence, and 
will unite with one consent to combat us. 

" The propagators of the new doctrine are 
pleased to assure us, that, out of jealousy to- 
wards England, foreign sovereigns will lavish 
their succors upon us, as if these sovereigns 



402 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



could sincerely applaud rebellion ; as if they 
had not colonies, even here in America, in which 
it is important for them to maintain obedi- 
ence and tranquility. Let us suppose, how- 
ever, that jealousy, ambition or vengeance, 
should triumph over the fear of insurrection ; do 
you think these princes will not make you pay 
dear for the assistance with which they flatter 
you ? Who has not learnt, to his cost, the per- 
tidy and the cupidity of Europeans ? They will 
disguise their avarice under pompous words ; 
under the most benevolent pretexts they will 
despoil us of our territories, they will invade 
our fisheries and obstruct our navigation, they 
will attempt our liberty and our privileges. We 
shall learn too late what it costs to trust to 
those European flatteries, and to place that con- 
fidence in inveterate enemies which has been 
withdrawn from long tried friends. 

" There are many persons who, to gain their 
ends, extol the advantages of a republic over 
monarchy. I will not here undertake to ex- 
amine which of these two forms of government 
merits the preference. I know, however, that 
the English nation, after having tried them 
both, has never found repose except in mon- 
archy. I know, also, that in popular republics 
themselves, so necessary is monarchy to cement 
human society, it has been requisite to institute 
monarchical powers, more or less extensive, 
under the names of archons. of consuls, oi doges, 
o{ gonfaloniers, and finally oi kings. Nor should 
I here omit an observation, the truth of which 
appears to me incontestible ; the English con- 
stitution seems to be the fruit of the experience 
of all anterior time ; in which monarchy is so 
tempered, that the monarch finds himself 
checked in his efi"orts to seize absolute power ; 
and the authority of the people is so regulated, 
that anarchy is not to be feared. But for us it 
is to be apprehended, that when the counter- 
poise of monarchy shall no longer e.xist, the 
democratic power may carry all before it, and 
involve the whole state in confusion and ruin. 
Then an ambitious citizen may arise, seize the 
reins of power, and annihilate liberty forever : 
for such is the ordinary career of ill-balanced 
democracies, they fall into anarchy, and thence 
under despotism. 

" Such are the opinions which might have 
been offered you with more eloquence, but 
assuredly not with more zeal or sincerity. May 
heaven grant that such sinister forebodings be 
not one day accomplished ! May it not permit 
that, in this solemn concourse of the friends 
of country, the impassioned language of pre- 
sumptuous and ardent men should have more 
influence than the pacific exhortations of good 



and sober citizens ; prudence and moderation 
found and preserve empires, temerity and pre- 
sumption occasion their downfall." 



The discourse of Dickinson was heard with 
attention ; but the current flowed irresistibly 
strong in a contrary direction, and fear acting 
upon many more powerfully even than their 
opinion, the majority pronounced in favor of 
independence. The deputies of Pennsylvania 
were accordingly authorized to return to con- 
gress, and to consent that the confederate 
colonies should declare themselves free and in- 
dependent states. 



DISCU.SSION IN CONGRESS 

For and against retaliation on pris- 
oners OF WAR, 1776. 

Fragment of a speech in the general congress 
of America— \^^6. [Name of the speaker 
unknown.l 

Upon a motion to resolve, ' That all Scotch 
prisoners be treated with the utmost severity, 
as the rancorous abettors of this inhuman war, 
which has originated in Scotch principles, and 
from Scotch councils : ' 

The mover of this resolution prefaced and 
enforced it by a review of public transactions, 
both respecting England and America, since 
the commencement of the present reign. He 
showed these had been a series of violent 
grievances, followed by ineffectual complaints 
and petitions for redress. He enumerated the 
multitude of addresses from every part of Scot- 
land for the blood of the Americans. He sta- 
ted the general zeal and alacrity of that people 
in and out of parliament, and in Great Britain 
and America, for the destruction and subjuga- 
tion of the colonies. He reminded them of the 
treachery and uncontrolable enmity of the 
Scotch against them, recently experienced in 
the provinces of New York, Virginia, and the 
Carolinas ; where, in direct violation of every 
principle of gnititude, and of their faith ex- 
pressly pledged, they had joined the enemy, and 
openly attempted by taking up arms to destroy 
the liberties of those who had generously 
guaranteed theirs. 

To this, a southern delegate replied, after 
some general observations, neariy in the fol- 
lowing words : 

It is impossible, sir, not to feel the justice of 
the honorable mover's zeal and resentment. 
The facts upon which they are founded, un- 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



403 



happily for humanity, are not to be denied. I 
myself stand here as one of the representatives 
of the colony, which has experienced every 
effort of Scotch violence, perfidy, and ingrati- 
tude. They petitioned to be protected in a 
neutrality during these unhappy commotions. 
They pledged their faith, in the most solemn 
manner, that they would not aid or inform 
those who might appear in arms against us. 
Upon these terms, neutrality was indulged ; 
protection was given them. They enjoyed it 
till our enemies appeared, and instantly took up 
arms for our destruction. That Providence, in 
whom the justice of our cause inspires confi- 
dence, enabled us to defeat their purposes. 
They remained, in consequence, at our mercy ; 
yet we exercised no greater act of severity, than 
that which was unavoidable, the obliging them 
to quit a colony, to which it was plain they 
were irreclaimably hostile. 

In the other colonies, they have manifested 
a similarly unprincipled enmity and rancor 
against the lives and liberties of a people, who, 
in a peculiar manner, have been profitable to 
them, and to their country. As they have thus 
distinguished themselves for ingratitude and 
hostility to us, they seem to merit a severity of 
treatment as distinguished. 

But, sir, let us remember, that we are en- 
gaged in a general war. Not a war with Scot- 
land, but with Great Britain. To general 
objects, general rules are applicable. Such 
a selection for severity, would savor more of 
the vengeance of individuals, than of public 
justice. We are contending in the noblest 
cause that can enlarge and exalt the human 
heart. Let the magnanimity of our conduct be 
proportioned to the nobleness of our pursuits. 
We are now forming a national character. 
Spite of the misrepresentations of our enemies, 
the truth will at length prevail. Like the glo- 
rious sun, it will be more splendid from the 
cloud that has obscured it. Let us then take 
care that, when it does come forth, it may be 
the wonder of nations. Let us mould it ; not 
on the demerits of our enemies, but on our 
own dignity. Let generosity, justice, and hu- 
manity, be the illustrious characteristics of the 
states of America. 

He ended with these lines from Caesar's 
speech in Sallust : 

Item bellis punicis omnibus, cum saspe Car- 
thaginensis et in pace, et per inducias, multa 
nefaria facinora fecissent, numquam majores 
nostri, per occasionem talia fecere ; magis quid 
se dignem foret, quamquid in illis jure fieri 
posset quaerebant. Hoc idem providendum 
est, patres conscript!, ne plus valeat apud vos, 



Publii Lentuli et caeterorum scelus, quam vestra 
dignitas ; neu inagis ira quam fama; consulatis. 
The motion was immediately rejected. 



RESOLUTIONS 



Passed by Congress, October 21, 1778, 
urging the people to retaliation, 
and copy after their " enemies, their 
German, Negro, and copper-colored 

ALLIES." 

STRONG MEASURES PROPOSED. 

In congress, Oct. 21, 1778. — ■" Whereas, 
there is every reason to expect that our unnat- 
ural enemies, despairing of being ever able to 
subdue and enslave us by open force, or per- 
suade us to break through the solemn treaties, 
as having entered into with our great and good 
ally, his most Christian majesty, and return to 
the dependence of Great Britain, will, as the 
last effort, ravage, burn, and destroy every city 
and town on this continent they can come at : 

Resolved, That it be recommended to such 
inhabitants of these states, as live in places 
exposed to the ravages of the enemy, immedi- 
ately to build huts, at least thirty miles distant 
from their present habitations, there to convey 
their women, children, and others not capable 
of bearing arms, and themselves in case of 
necessity, together with their furniture, wares, 
and merchandise of every sort ; also, that they 
send off all their cattle ; being measures they 
cannot think hardships in sxtch times of public 
calamity, when so many of \\i€v! gallant coun- 
trymen are daily exposed m the hardships of thtf 
field, fighting in defence of their rights and 
liberties. 

Resolved, That, immediately, when the 
enemy begin to burn or destroy any town, it be 
recommended to the good people of these 
states to set fire to, ravage, burn, and destroy, 
the houses and properties of all tories, and 
enemies to the freedom and independence of 
America, and secure the persons of such, so as 
to prevent them from assisting the enemy, 
always taking care not to treat them or their 
families with any wanton cruelties, as we do 
not wish, in this particular, to copy al'ter our 
enemies, or their Germen, negro, and copper- 
colored allies. 

Extract from the minutes. 

Charles Thomson, Sec." 



404 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



PATRIOTIC MANIFESTO 
Of congress, October 30, 1778. 

FROM THE BOSTON PATRIOT, 

It is good for us all to look back on "olden 
times," — It is both good and proper for the 
young men and the youth of the present day to 
see and read some of the official acts of their 
fathers and grandfathers ; and thereby to trace 
out and mark down the eminent exertions, the 
privations, dangers and sufferings to which 
they were exposed in struggling through the 
arduous contest to establish the liberty and 
independence of their country, and to provide 
for their posterity a tiaiiotial name — a home, a 
shelter and a fireside. Read this and treasure 
it for the time to come. 

£y the Congress of the United States of 

America — 

A Manifesto. 

" These United States having been driven to 
hostilities by the oppressive and tyrannous 
measures of Great Bntain ; having been com- 
pelled to commit the essential rights of man 
to the decision of arms ; and having been, at 
length, forced to shake off a yoke which had 
grown too burdensome to bear, they declared 
themselves free and independent. 

Confiding in the justice of their cause ; con- 
fiding in him who disposes of human events, 
although weak and unprovided, they set the 
power of their enemies at defiance. 

In this confidence they have continued 
through the various fortune of three bloody 
campaigns, unawed by the power, unsubdued 
by the barbarity of their foes. Their virtuous 
citizens have borne, without repining, the loss 
of many things which makes life desirable. 
Their brave troops have patiently endured the 
hardships and dangers of a situation, fruitful 
in both beyond former example. 

The congress considering themselves bound 
to love their enemies, as children of that being 
who is equally the father of all ; and desirous, 
since they could not prevent, at least to alle- 
viate, the calamities of war, have studied to 
spare those who were in arms against them, 
and to lighten the chains of captivity. 

The conduct of those serving under the king 
of Great Britain hath, with some few excep- 
•ions, been diametrically opposite. They have 
laid waste the open country, burned the de- 
fenceless villages, and butchered the citizens 
of America. Their prisons have been the 
slaughter-houses of her soldiers ; their ships * 

* Notes by the transcriber — who recollects that several 



of her seamen, and the severest injuries have 
been aggravated by the grossest insults. 

Foiled in their vain attempt to subjugate the 
unconquerable spirit of freedom, they have 
meanly assailed the representatives of America 
with bribes.t with deceit, and the servility of 
adulation. They have made a mock of human- 
ity, by the wanton destruction of men ; they 
have made a mock of religion, by impious ap- 
peals to God whilst in the violation of his sacred 
commands : they have made a mock even of 
reason itself by endeavoring to prove that the 
liberty and happiness of America could safely 
be intrusted to those who have sold their own, 
unawed by the sense of virtue or of shame. 

Treated with the contempt which such con- 
duct deserved, they have applied to individuals; 
they have solicited them to break the bonds of 
allegiance, and embrue their souls with the 
blackest of crimes : but, fearing none could be 
found through these United States equal to the 
wickedness of their purpose, to influence weak 
minds they have threatened more wide devas- 
tation. 

While the shadow of hope remained, that 
our enemies could be taught by our example 
to respect those laws which are held sacred 
among civilized nations, and to comply with 
the dictates of a religion, which they pretend in 
common with us to believe and to revere, they 
have been left to the influence of that religion 
and that example. But since their incorrigible 
dispositions cannot be touched by kindness and 
compassion, it becomes our duty by other 
means to vindicate the rights of humanity . 

We, therefore, the congress of the United 
States of America, do solemnly declare and 
proclaim, that if our enemies presume to exe- 
cute their threats, or persist in their present 
career of barbarity, we will take such exem- 
plary vengeance as shall deter others from a 
like conduct. We appeal to that GOD who 
searcheth the hearts of men, for the rectitude of 
our intentions ; and, in his holy presence, we 
declare, that as we are not moved by any light 
and hasty suggestions of anger and re^■enge, 

of his school mates suffered severely on board the 'Jersey 
prison ship ; and he knows several persons yet living in 
Boston, who felt the iron hand and heart of unrelenting 
barbarity, while prisoners on board " that poisoned ftoat- 
ing dungeon " in the harbor of New York, when in pos- 
session of the British. 

t The supposed or reputed author, [Samuel Adams], 
of the above elegantly written state paper, chose the high 
honor and exalted feeling of supporting the liberties and 
equal rights of his countrymen, with a moderate fortune 
to the low and grovelling dignity of a British pensioner 
0/ t'MO thousand guineas per annum /or ii/e" He was 
in the cabinet of his country, what general Greene was in 
the field ; " ever early, ever watchful, and never weary 
of toil or fatigue until he saw alt was luell.'^ 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



405 



so through every possible change of fortune we 
will adhere to this our determination. 

Done in Congress, by unanimous consent, Xhe 
thirtieth day of October, one thousand seven 
hundred and seventy eight. 

(Signed) Henry Laurens, President." 



AN ADDRESS 



By Congress, to the inhabitants of the 
United States, upon the condition 
OF the country, and urging united 

AND EARNEST EFFORTS TO DEFEAT THEIR 

ENEMY, May 26, 1779. 

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

Friends and countrymen — The present sit- 
uation of public affairs demands your most 
serious attention, and particularly the great 
and increasing depreciation of your currency 
requires the immediate, strenuous, and united 
efforts of all true friends to their country, for 
preventing an extension of the mischiefs that 
have already flowed from that source. 

America, without arms, ammunition, disci- 
pline, revenue, government, or ally, almost 
totally stript of commerce, and in the wealiness 
of youth, as it were, with a "staff and a sling," 
only dared, " in the name of the Lord of 
Hosts," to engage a gigantic adversary, pre- 
pared at all points, boasting of his strength, 
and of whom even mighty warriors " were 
greatly afraid." 

For defraying the expenses of this uncommon 
war, your representatives in congress were 
obliged to emit paper money ; an expedient 
that you knew to have been before generally 
and successfully practised on this continent. 

They were very sensible of the inconveniences 
with which too frequent emissions would be 
attended, and endeavored to avoid them. For 
this purpose they established loan-offices so 
early as in October, 1776, and have, from that 
time to this, repeatedly and earnestly solicited 
you to lend them money on the faith of United 
States. The sums received on loan have nev- 
ertheless proved inadequate to the public exi- 
gencies. Our enemies prosecuting the war by 
sea and land with implacable fury and with 
some success, taxation at home and borrowing 
abroad, in the midst of difficulties and dangers, 
were alike impracticable. Hence the continued 
necessity of new emissions. 

But to this cause alone we do not impute 
the evil before mentioned. We have too much 
reason to believe it has been in part owing to 
the artifices of men who have hastened to 



enrich themselves by monopolizing the neces- 
saries of life, and to the misconduct of inferior 
officers employed in the public service. 

The variety and importance of the business 
entrusted to your delegates, and their constant 
attendance in congress, necessarily disables 
them from investigating disorders of this kind. 
Justly apprehensive of them, they by their several 
resolutions of the 22d of November, and 20th 
of December, 1777, and of the 3d and 9th of 
February, 1778, recommended to the legisla- 
tive and executive powers of these states a due 
attention to these interesting affairs. How far 
those recommendations have been complied 
with we will not undertake to determine, but 
we hold ourselves bound in duty to you to de- 
clare, that we are not convinced there has been 
as much diligence used in detecting and reform- 
ing abuses as there has been in committing or 
complaining of them. 

With regard to monopolizers, it is our opin- 
ion, that taxes, judiciously laid on such articles 
as become the objects of engrossers, and those 
frequently collected, would operate against the 
pernicious tendency of such practices. 

As to inferior officers employed in the public 
service, we anxiously desire to call your most 
vigilant attention to their conduct with respect 
to every species of misbehavior, whether pro- 
ceeding from ignorance, negligence or fraud, 
and to the making of laws for inflicting exem- 
plary punishments on all offienders of this kind. 

We are sorrj' to hear that some persons are so 
slightly informed of their own interests, as to 
suppose that it is advantageous to them to sell 
the produce of their farms at enormous prices, 
when a little reflection might convince them 
that it is injurious to those interests and the 
general welfare. If they expect thereby to pur- 
chase imported goods cheaper, they will be 
egregiously disappointed ; for the merchants, 
who know they cannot obtain returns in gold, 
silver, or bills of exchange, but that their vessels, 
if loaded here at all, must be loaded with pro- 
duce, will raise the price of what they hav^e 
to sell, in proportion to the price of what they 
have to buy, and consequently the landholder 
can purchase no more foreign goods, for the 
same quantity of his produce, than he could 
before. 

The evil, however, does not stop at this 
point. The landholder, by acting on this mis- 
taken calculation, is only laboring to accumu- 
late an immense debt, by increasing the public 
expenses, for the payment of which his estate 
is engaged, and to embarrass every measure 
adopted for vindicating his liberty, and securing 
his posterity. 



4o6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



As the harvests of this year, which, by the 
Divine goodness, promise to be plentiful, will 
soon be gathered, and some new measures 
relating to your foreign concerns, with some 
arrangements relating to your domestic, are 
now under consideration, from which beneficial 
effects are expected, we entertain hopes that 
your affairs will acquire a much greater degree 
of regularity and energy than they have hith- 
erto had. 

But we should be highly criminal if we did 
not plainly tell you, that those hopes are not 
founded wholly upon our own proceedings. 
These must be supported by your virtue, your 
wisdom, and your diligence. From the advan- 
tage of those seats in the national council with 
which you have honored us, we have a pleasing 
prospect of many blessings approaching this 
\ our native land. It is your patriotism must 
introduce and fix them here. 

In vain will it be for your delegates to form 
plans of economy ; to strive to stop a continua- 
tion of emissions by taxation or loan, if you do 
not zealously co-operate with them in promo- 
ting their designs, and use your utmost indus- 
try to prevent the waste of money in the expen- 
diture, which your respective situations, in the 
several places where it is expended, may enable 
you to do. A discharge of this duty, a com- 
pliance with recommendations for supplying 
money, might enable congress to give speedy 
assurances to the public that no more emis- 
sions shall take place, and thereby close that 
source of depreciation. 

Your governments being now established, 
and your ability to contend with your invaders 
ascertained, we have, on the most mature de- 
liberation, judged it indispensably necessary 
to call upon you for forty-five millions of 
dollars, in addition to the fifteen millions re- 
quired by a resolution of congress, of the 2d 
of January last, to be paid into the continental 
treasury before the ist day of January next, in 
the same proportion, as to the quotas of the 
several states, with that for the said fifteen 
millions. 

It appeared proper to us to fix the first day 
of next January for the p.ayment of the whole ; 
but, as it is probable that some states, if not 
all, will raise part of the sums by instalments, 
or otherwise, before that time, we recommend 
in the strongest manner the paying as much as 
can be collected as soon as possible into the 
continental treasury. 

Though it is manifest that moderate taxa- 
tion, in times of peace, will recover the credit 
of your currency, yet the encouragement which 
your enemies derive from its depreciation, and 



the present exigencies, demand great and 
speedy exertions. 

We are persuaded you will use all possible 
care to make the promotion of the general 
welfare interfere as little as may be with the 
ease and comfort of individuals ; but though 
the raising these sums should press heavily on 
some of your constituents, yet the obligations 
we feel to your venerable clergy, the truly 
helpless widows and orphans, your most gal- 
lant, generous, meritorious officers and sol- 
diers, the public faith and the common weal, 
so irresistibly urge us to attempt the apprecia- 
tion of your currency, that we cannot with- 
hold obedience to those authoritative sensa- 
tions. 

On this subject we will only add, that, as the 
rules of justice are most pleasing to our infi- 
nitely good and gracious Creator, and an ad- 
herence to them most likely to obtain his fa- 
vor, so they will ever be found to be the best 
and safest maxims of human policy. 

To our constituents we submit the propriety 
and purity of our intentions, well knowing they 
will not forget, that we lay no burthens upon 
them, but those in which we participate with 
them — a happy sympathy, that pervades socie- 
ties formed on the basis of equal liberty. 
Many cares, many labors, and may we not 
add, reproaches — are peculiar to us. These 
are the emoluments of our unsolicited stations ; 
and with these we are content, if you approve 
our conduct. If you do not, we shall return to 
our private condition, with no other regret than 
that which will arise from our not having 
served you as acceptably and essentially as 
we wished and strove to do, though as cheer- 
fully and faithfully as we could. 

Think not we despair of the commonwealth, 
or endeavor to shrink from opposing difficul- 
ties. No. Your cause is too good, your ob- 
jects too sacred, to be relinquished. We tell 
you truths, because you are freemen who can 
bear to hear them, and may profit by them ; 
and when they reach your enemies, we fear 
not the consequences, because we are not ig- 
norant of their resources or our own. Let 
your good sense decide upon the comparison. 
Let even their prejudiced understandings de- 
cide upon it, and you need not be apprehen- 
sive of the determination. 

Whatever supposed advantages from plans 
of rapine, projects of blood, or dreams of dom- 
ination, may heretofore have amused their 
inflamed fancies, the conduct of one monarch, 
the friend and protector of the rights of man- 
kind, has turned the scale so much against 
them, that their visionary schemes vanish, as 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



407 



the unwholesome vapors of the night before 
the heahhful influence of the sun. 

An alliance has been formed between his 
most Christian majesty and these slates, on 
the basis of the most perfect equality, for the 
direct end of maintaining effectually their 
liberty, sovereignty and independence, ab- 
solute and unlimited, as well in matters of 
government as of commerce. The conduct of 
our good and great ally towards us, in this 
instance and others, has so fully manifested 
his sincerity and kindness, as to excite on our 
part correspondent sentiments of confidence 
and affection. 

Obsening the interests of his kingdom, to 
which duty and inclination prompted his atten- 
tion, to be connected with those of America, 
and the combination of both clearly to coin- 
cide with the beneficent designs of the Author 
of Nature, who, unquestionably, intended men 
to partake of certain rights and portions of 
happiness, his majesty perceived the attain- 
ment of these views to be founded on the 
single proposition of a separation between 
America and Great Britain. 

The resentment and confusion of your 
enemies, will point out to you the ideas you 
should entertain of the magnanimity and con- 
summ.ite wisdom of his most Christian majesty 
on this occasion. 

They perceive, that selecting this grand and 
just idea from all those specious ones that 
might have confused or misled inferior judg- 
ment or virtue, and satisfied with the advan- 
tages which must result from that event alone, 
he has cemented the harmony between himself 
and these states, not only by establishing a re- 
ciprocity of benefits, but by eradicating every 
cause of jealousy and suspicion. They also 
perceive, with similar emotions, that the mode- 
ration of our ally, in not desiring an acquisition 
of dominion on this continent, or an exclusion 
of other nations from a share of its commercial 
advantages, so useful to them, has given no 
alarm to those nations, but, in fact, has in- 
terested them in the accomplishment of his 
generous undertaking, to dissolve the mono- 
poly thereof by Great Britain, which has al- 
ready contributed to elevate her to her present 
power and haughtiness, and threatened, if con- 
tinued, to raise both to a height insupportable 
to the rest of Europe. 

In short, their own best informed statesmen 
and writers confess, that your cause is exceed- 
ingly favored by courts and people in that 
quarter of the world, while that of your adver- 
saries is equally reprobated ; and from thence 
draw ominous and well-grounded conclusions. 



that the final event must prove unfortunate to 
the latter. Indeed, we have the best reason to 
believe that we shall soon form other alliances, 
and on principles honorable and beneficial to 
these states. 

Infatuated as your enemies have been from 
the beginning of this contest, do you imagine 
they can now flatter themselves with a hope of 
conquering you, unless you are false to your- 
selves } 

When unprepared, undisciplined, and unsup- 
ported, you opposed their fleets and armies in 
full conjoined force : then, if at any time, was 
conquest to be apprehended. Yet, what pro- 
gress toward it have their violent and incessant 
efforts made ? Judge from their own conduct. 
Having devoted you to bondage, and, after 
vainly wasting their blood and treasure in the 
dishonorable enterprise, they deigned, at length, 
to offer terms of accommodation, with respect- 
ful addresses, to that once despised body, the 
congress, whose humble supplications, only for 
peace, liberty and safety, they had contemptu- 
ously rejected, under pretence of its being an 
unconstitutional assembly. Nay more ; desir- 
ous of seducing you into a deviation from the 
paths of rectitude, from which they had so far 
and so rashly wandered, they made most speci- 
ous offers to tempt you into a violation of your 
faith given to your illustrious ally. — Their 
arts were as unavailing as their arms. — 
Foiled again, and stung with rage, embittered 
by envy, they had no alternative, but to re- 
nounce the inglorious and ruinous controver- 
sy, or to resume their former modes of prose- 
cuting it. They chose the latter. Again the 
savages are stimulated to horrid massacres of 
women and children, and domestics to the 
murder of their masters. Again our brave 
and unhappy brethren are doomed to miserable 
deaths in jails and prison-ships. To complete 
the sanguinary system, all the " extremities of 
war " are, by authority, denounced against you. 
Piously endeavor to derive this consolation 
from their remorseless fury, that " the Father 
of Mercies " looks down with disapprobation 
on such audacious defiances of his holy laws ; 
and be further comforted with recollecting, 
that the arms assumed by you, in your righte- 
ous cause, have not been sullied by any unjusti- 
fiable severities. 

Your enemies, despairing however, as it 
seems, of the success of their united forces 
against our main army, have divided them, as 
if their design was to harass you by predatory, 
desultory, operations. If you are assiduous in 
improving opportunities, Saratoga may not be 
the only spot on this continent to give a new 



408 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



denomination to the baffled troops of a nation, 
impiously priding herself in notions of her 
omnipotence. 

Rouse yourselves, therefore, that this cam- 
paign may finish the great work you have so 
nobly carried on for several years past. What 
nation ever engaged in such a contest under 
such a complication of disadvantages ; so soon 
surmounted many of them, and in so short a 
period of time had so certain a prospect of a 
speedy and happy conclusion .' We will ven- 
ture to pronounce, that so remarkable an in- 
stance exists not in the annals of mankind. 
We well remember what you said at the com- 
mencement of this war. You saw the immense 
difference between your circumstances and 
those of your enemies, and you knew the 
quarrel must decide on no less than your lives, 
liberties and estates. All these you greatly 
put to ever)' hazard, resolving rather to die 
freemen than to live slaves ; and justice will 
oblige the impartial world to confess you have 
uniformly acted on the same generous principle. 
Consider how much you have done, how com- 
paratively little remains to be done, to crown 
you with success. Persevere, and you ensure 
peace, freedom, safety, glory, sovereignty, and 
felicity to yourselves, your children, and your 
children's children. 

Encouraged by favors already received from 
infinite goodness, gratefully acknowledging 
them, earnestly imploring their continuance, 
constantly endeavoring to draw them down on 
your heads by an amendment of your lives, and 
a conformity to the Divine Will, humbly con- 
fiding in the protection so often and wonder- 
fully experienced, vigorously employ the means 
placed by Providence in your hands, for com- 
pleting your labors. 

Fill up your battalions — be prepared in every 
part to repel the incursions of your enemies — 
place your several quotas in the continental 
treasury — lend money for public uses — sink the 
emissions of your respective states — provide 
effectually for expediting the conveyance of 
supplies for your armies and fleets, and for 
your allies — prevent the produce of the country 
from being monopolized — effectually superin- 
tend the behavior of public oflicers, — diligently 
promote piety, virtue, brotherly love, learning, 
frugality, and moderation — and may you be 
approved before Almighty God worthy of those 
blessings we devoutly wish you to enjoy. 

Done in congress, by unanimous consent, 
this twenty-sixth day of May, one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-nine. 
Attest. John Jay, President. 

Charles Thompson, Secretary. 



PROCLAMATION 

By Congress, October 26, 1781, recom- 
mending TO THE SEVERAL STATES THE 
observance of THE I3TH DAY OF DE- 
CEMBER, 1781, AS A DAY OF THANKSGIV- 
ING AND PRAYER. 

PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas, it hath pleased Almighty God, the 
father of mercies, remarkably to assist and 
support the United States of America, in their 
important struggle for liberty, against the long 
continued efforts of a powerful nation, it is the 
duty of all ranks to observe and thankfully ac- 
knowledge the interpositions of his Providence 
in their behalf Through the whole of the 
contest, from its first rise to this time, the in- 
fluence of Divine Providence may be clearly 
perceived in many signal instances, of which 
we mention but few. 

In revealing the councils of our enemies, 
when the discoveries were seasonable and im- 
portant, and the means were seemingly inade- 
quate or fortuitous ; — in preserving and even 
improving the union of the several states, on 
the breach of which our enemies placed their 
greatest dependence ; — in increasing the num- 
ber, and adding to the zeal and attachment of 
the friends of liberty — in granting remarkable 
deliverances, and blessing us with the most 
signal success, when affairs seemed to have the 
most discouraging appearance ; — in raising up 
for us a most powerful and generous ally, in 
one of the first of the European powers ; — in 
confounding the councils of our enemies, and 
suffering them to pursue such measures, as 
have most directly contributed to fnistrate their 
own desires and expectations, — above all, in 
making their extreme cruelty to the inhabitants 
of these states, when in their power, and their 
savage devastation of property, the very means 
of cementing our union, and adding vigor to 
every effort in opposition to them. 

And as we cannot help leading the good 
people of these states to a retrospect on the 
events which have taken place since the be- 
ginning of the war, so we recommend, in a 
particular manner, to their observ'ation, the 
goodness of God in the year now drawing to a 
conclusion. In which the confederation of the 
United States has been completed — in which 
there have been so many instances of prowess, 
and success in our armies, particularly in the 
southern states, where, notwithstanding the 
difficulties with which they had to struggle, they 
have recovered the whole country which the 
enemy had overrun, leaving them only a post 
or two, on or near the sea; — in which we have 



CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 



409 



been so powerfully and effectually assisted by 
our allies, while in all the conjunct operations 
the most perfect harmony has subsisted in the 
allied army ; — in which there has been so plen- 
tiful a har\-est, and so great abundance of the 
fruits of the earth of every kind, as not only 
enables us easily to supply the wants of our 
army but gives comfort and happiness to the 
whole people — and, in which, after the success 
of our allies by sea, a general of the first rank, 
with his whole army, has been captured by the 
allied forces, under the direction of our com- 
mander in chief. 

It is therefore recommended to the several 
states to set apart the thirteenth day of De- 
cember next, to be religiously observed as a 
day of thanksgiving and prayer ; that all the 
people may assemble on that day, with grateful 
hearts, to celebrate the praises of our gracious 
Benefactor ; to confess our manifold sins ; to 
offer up our most fervent supplications to the 
God of all Grace, that it may please him to 
pardon our offences, and incline our hearts for 
the future to keep all his laws ; to comfort and 
relieve all our brethren who are in distress or 
captivity ; to prosper our husbandmen, and give 
success to all engaged in lawful commerce ; to 
impart wisdom and integrity to our counsellors, 
judgment and fortitude to our officers and sol- 
diers, to protect and prosper our illustrious ally, 
and favor our united exertions for the speedy 
establishment of a safe, honorable, and lasting 
peace ; to bless all seminaries of learning ; and 
cause the knmuledge of Cod to cover the earth, 
as the waters co7ier the seas. 
Done in congress this twenty-sixth day of Oc- 
tober, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty one, and in the 
sixth year of the independence of the Uni- 
ted States of America. 

Thomas M'Kean, President. 
Attest, Charles Thompson, Secretary. 



HISTORY 

Of the Adoption of the Coat of Arms 
OF THE United States, by Congress, 
June 26, 1782. 

Although the study of heraldry may not be 
very amusing, yet as the Eagle with extended 
wings grasping the arms of War, and the olive of 
Peace, is constantly presented to our eyes, it 
may not be uninteresting to give a history and 
an explanation of the arms of our country. 

In June, 1782, when congress were about to 
form an armorial device for a seal for the Union, 
Charles Thompson, esq., then secretary, with 



the honorable Dr. Arthur Lee and E.Boudinot, 
members of congress, called on Mr. William 
Barton, and consulted him on the occasion. The 
great seal, for which Mr. Barton furnished 
these gentlemen with devices, was adopted by 
congress on the 26th of June, 1782. The de- 
vice is as follows : 

Arms — Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent,* 
gules, a chief azure, the escutcheon on the 
breast of the American eagle, displayed, pro- 
per, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch 
and in his sinister a bunch of thirteen arrows, 
all proper ; and in his beak a scroll, with the 
motto " E pluribus unuin.' 

The crest — Over the head of the eagle, which 
appears above the escutcheon, a glory (;r break- 
ing through a cloud proper, and surrounding 
stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an 
azure field. 

Reverse — A pyramid unfinished. 

In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded 
with a glor)'. Over the eye these words, 
" Annuit captis." 

Remarks and explanations — The escutcheon 
is composed of the chief and pale, the two 
most honorable ordinaries. The thirteen pieces 
pale, represent the several states in the union, 
all joined in one solid compact entire, support- 
ing a chief which unites the whole, and repre- 
sents congress. The motto alludes to the 
union. 

The pales in the arms are kept closely united 
by the chief, and the chief depends on that 
union, and the strength resulting from it, for its 
support, to denote the confederacy of the states, 
and the preservation of the union, through 
congress. 

The colors of the pales are those used in 
the flag of the United States of America. 
White signifies purity and innocence ; red, 
hardiness and valor ; and blue, the color of the 
chief, signifies vigilance, perseverance and jus- 
tice. The olive branch and arrows denote the 
power of peace and war, which is exclusively 
vested in congress. 

The crest, or constellation, denotes a new 
state taking its place and rank among other 
foreign powers. 

The escutcheon, borne on the breast of an 
American eagle, without any other supporters, 
denotes that the U. States ought to rely on 
their own virtue. 

The pyramid on the reverse, signifies strength 

• In heraldrj', argent signifies white, gules red. and azure 
blue : where these colors cannot be emblazed, they are 
represented on seals, etc. as follows : Argent, by a per- 
fect blank : red by perpendicular, and azure by horizontal 
lines. The chief m our arms, on the horizontal lines in the 
upper quarter of the escutcheon, or eagle's breast. 



4IC 



PRINCIPLES AKD ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



and devotion ; its unfinished state refers to the 
infancy of the American government. The eye 
over it, and the motto, " Annuit casptis," " he 



sanctions our endeavors," allude to the many 
and single interpositions of Providence in favor 
of the American cause. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



INTERESTING PROCEEDINGS, 

Speeches, and discussions relating to 
THE American colonies. 



EARL OF CHATHAM. 

His able speech delivered in the House of 
Lords, " On" the declaratory bill of the 
sovereignty of Great Britain over the 
American colonies." 

FROM THE BRISTOL (eNG.) GAZETTE, MARCH 34, I774. 

When I spoke last on this subject, I thought 
I had delivered my sentiments so fully, and 
supported them with such reasons, and such 
authorities, that I apprehended I should be 
under no necessity of troubling your lordship 
again. But I am compelled to rise up and beg 
your further indulgence ; I find that I have 
been very injuriously treated, have been con- 
sidered as the broacher of new fangled doc- 
trines, contrary to the laws of this kingdom, 
and subversive of the rights of parliament. ]\Iy 
lord, this is a heavy charge, but more so when 
made against one stationed as I am, in both 
capacities, as P — and J — , the defender of the 
law and the constitution. When I spoke last, 
I was indeed replied to, but not answered. In 
the intermediate time many things have been 
said. As I was not present, I must now beg 
leave to answer such as have come to my 
knowledge. As the affair is of the utmost 
importance, and in its consequences may in- 
volve the fate of kingdoms, I took the strictest 
review of my arguments. I examined all my 
authorities ; fully determined, if I found myself 
mistaken, publicly to own my mistake, and 
give up my opinion. But my searches have 
more and more convinced me that the British 
parliament have no right to tax the Americans. 
I shall not therefore consider the declaratory 
bill now lying on your table ; for to what pur- 
pose, but loss of time, to consider the particulars 

of , the very existence of which is illegal, 

absolutely illegal, contrary to the fundamental 
laws of nature, contrary to the funamental 
laws of this constitution grounded on the eternal 



and immutable laws of nature ; a constitution on 
whose foundation and centre is liberty, which 
sends liberty to every subject that is or may 
happen to be within any part of its ample cir- 
cumference. Nor, my lord, is the doctrine 
new ; it is as old as the constitution ; it grew 
up with it, it is its support ; ta.xation and repre- 
sentation are inseparably united ; God hath 
joined them, no British parliament can separate 
them ; to endeavor to do it is to stab our very 
vitals. Nor is this the first time this doctrine 
has been mentioned ; seventy years ago, my 
lord, a pamphlet was published, recommending 
the levying a parliamentary tax on one of the 
colonies ; this pamphlet was answered by two 
others, then much read ; these totally deny the 
power of taxing the colonies ; and why .' be- 
cause the colonies had no representatives in 
parliament to give consent ; no answers, public 
or private, was given to these pamphlets ; no 
censure passed upon them ; men were not 
startled at the doctrine, as either new or illegal, 
or derogatory to the rights of parliament. I 
do not mention these pamphlets fay way of 
authority, but to vindicate myself from the 
imputation of having first broached this doc- 
trine. 

My position is this — I repeat it — I will main- 
tain it to my last hour — taxation and represen- 
tation are inseparable : this position is founded 
on the laws of nature ; it is itself an eternal law 
of nature ; for whatever is a man's own, is 
absolutely his own ; no man has a right to take 
it from him without his consent, either expressed 
by himself or representative; whoever attempts 
to do it, attempts an injury ; whoever does it, 
commits a robbery ; he throws down and 
destroys the distinction between liberty and 
slavery. Taxation and representation are 
coeval with, and essential to, this constitution. 
I wish the maxim of Machiavel was followed, 
that of examining a constitution, at certain 
periods, according to its first principles ; this 
would correct abuses and supply defects. I 
wish the times would bear it, and that men's 
minds were cool enough to enter upon such a 
task, and that the representative authority of 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



411 



this kingdom was more equally settled. I am 
sure some histories of late published, have done 
great mischief; to endeavor to fix the Kra 
when the house of commons began in this 
kingdom, is a most pernicious and destructive 
attempt ; to fix it in an Edward's or Henry's 
reign, is owing to the idle dreams of some 
whimsical, ill-judging antiquarians : But, my 
lord, this is a point too important to be left to 
such wrong-headed people. When did the 
house of commons first begin ? When ! my 
lord ? It began with the constitution, it g^ew 
up with the constitution ; there is not a blade 
of grass growing in the most obscure corner 
of this kingdom, which was not ever repre- 
sented since the constitution began ; there is 
not a blade of grass which, when taxed, was 
not taxed by the consent of the proprietor. 

There is a history written by one Carte, a 
history that most people see through ; and 
there is another favorite history, much read 
and admired. I will not name the author, 
your lordship must know whom I mean, and 
you must know from whence he pilfered his 
notions concerning the first beginning of the 
house of commons. My lord, I challenge any 
one to point out the time when any tax was 
laid upon any person by parliament, that per- 
son being unrepresented in parliament. The 
parliament laid a tax upon the palatinate of 
Chester, and ordered commissioners to collect 
it there, as commissioners were ordered to col- 
lect it in other counties ; but the palatinate 
refused to comply ; they addressed the king by 
petition, setting forth, that the English parlia- 
ment had no right to tax them ; that they had 
a parliament of their own ; they had always 
taxed themselves, and therefore desired the 
king to order his commissioners not to proceed. 
My lord, the king received the petition ; he 
did not declare them either seditious or rebel- 
lious, but allowed their plea, and they taxed 
themselves. Your lordship may see both the 
petition and the king's answer, in the records 
in the Tower. The clergy taxed themselves ; 
when the parliament attempted to tax them, 
they stoutly refused, said they were not repre- 
sented there ; that they had a parliament of 
their own, which presented the clerg\' ; that 
they would tax themselves ; that they did so. 
Much stress has been laid upon Wales, before 
it was united as it now is, as if the king, stand- 
ing in the place of the former princes of that 
country, raised money by his own authority ; 
but the real facts are otherwise : For I find 
that, long before Wales was subdued, the 
northern counties of that principality had 
representatives and a parliament or assembly. 



As to Ireland, my lord, before that kingdom 
had a parliament, as it now has, if your lord- 
ship will e.xamine the old records, you will find 
that, when a tax was to be laid on that country, 
the Irish sent over here representatives ; and 
the same records will inform your lordship 
what wages those representatives received 
from their constituents. In short, my lord, 
from the whole of our history, from the earliest 
period, you will find that taxation and repre- 
sentation were always united ; so true are the 
words of that consummate reasoner and politi- 
cian Mr. Locke. I before alluded to his book ; 
I have again consulted him ; and finding that 
he writes so applicable to the subject in hand, 
and so much in favor of my sentiments, I beg 
your lordship's leave to read a little of his book. 
" The supreme power cannot take from any 
man, any part of his property without his own 
consent;" and B. II. p. 136-139 and particu- 
larly 140. Such are the words of this great 
man, and which are well worth your lordship's 
serious attention. His principles are drawn 
from the heart of our constitution, which he 
thoroughly understood, and will last as long as 
that shall last : and, to his immortal honor, I 
know not what, under Providence, the revolu- 
tion and all its happy effects are more owing 
than to the principles of government laid down 
by Mr. Locke. For these reasons, my lord, I 
can never give my assent to any bill for taxing 
the American colonies, while they remain un- 
represented, for, as to the distinction of a vir- 
tual representation, it is so absurd as not to 
deserve an answer ; I therefore pass it over 
with contempt. The forefathers of the Ameri- 
cans did not leave their native country, and 
subject themselves to every danger and distress, 
to be reduced to a state of slavery ; they did 
not give up their rights : they looked for protec- 
tion, and not for chains, from their mother coun- 
try' ; by her they expected to be defended in 
the possession of their property, and not to be 
deprived of it : for should the present power 
continue, there is nothing which they can call 
their own : or, to use the words of Mr. Locke, 
" what property have they in that which another 
may by right take when he pleases to himself.'' " 



GOVERNOR JOHNSTON. 

His speech delivered in the house of 
commons, on the bill for blockading 

THE TOWN OF BOSTON, MaSSACHUSETTS- 

BAV, March, 1774. 

Mr. Speaker— I find so much difiiculty 
in pronouncing my sentiments at any time, that 



412 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REXrOLUTION. 



unless the house is kindly disposed to hear me 
at this late hour, I shall patiently sit down, 
because I am conscious it will require their 
greatest indulgence to enable me to express 
myself in a manner worthy of their attention. 
A modesty, becoming my situation, prevented 
me from offering my opinion before, when I 
saw men of so much superior ability rising 
from the beginning of the debate. 

It may appear arrogant in a member so 
inferior as I confess myself to be, to offer 
objections to a bill so extensive in its conse- 
quences under every consideration, especially 
after it must have been so maturely considered, 
in every article, by men so distinguished by 
their talents and high situations in office, be- 
sides the general applause which has followed 
the bill in its rapid progress through this house. 
Nevertheless though naturally diffident of my 
opinion, when I had the good or bad fortune (I 
don't know which to term it) of prognosticating 
to the chairman of the East-India company, 
the consequences of sending this tea, on their 
own account, to America, and that the event 
has literally fulfilled my words, as it is well 
known to some members now in my eye, it 
makes me more confident in warning the house 
of what I apprehend will be the consequences 
of this bill. 

I told the chairman of the East-India com- 
pany, first in conversation, on asking my opin- 
ion, and afterwards by letter, that the evidence 
might appear in the progress of things, that I 
conceived the East-India company exporting 
tea on their own account was, under every 
consideration of their situation and institution, 
wrong, but under the present discontents and 
disputed matters of government in America, 
criminally absurd, because they were present- 
ing themselves as the butt in the controversy, 
where they would probably come off with the 
loss of the whole. The event has justified my 
prediction ; for whatever re-payment the com- 
pany may obtain from the town of Boston, under 
those cruel coercive measures now proposed, 
(the effect of which I still doubt) yet the com- 
pany must remain great losers, even if the 
other provinces, equally culpable, are made to 
refund the loss arising from their conduct ; 
because it was not supplies of cash at a dis- 
tant period the company wanted, but an imme- 
diate supply to answer a temporary exigency, 
which a combination of the enemies of the 
company had produced. 

I now venture to predict to this house, that 
the effect of the present bill must be produc- 
tive of a general confederacy, to resist the 
power of this country.. It is irritating, tempt- 



ing, nay, inviting men to those deeds, by inef- 
fectual expedients, the abortions of an undeci- 
sive mind, incapable of comprehending the chain 
of consequences which must result from such 
a law. I am not one of those who believe, that 
distant provinces can be retained in their duty 
by preaching or enchantments ; I believe that 
FORCE OF POWER, conducted with wisdom, 
are the means of securing regular obedience 
under every establishment, but that such force 
should never be applied to any degree of rigor, 
unless it shall carry the general approbation of 
mankind in the execution. However much 
such approbation may prevail at the particular 
moment in this house, it is impossible to be- 
lieve the sense of Great Britain, or the sense 
of America, can go to the punishing a particular 
town, for resisting the payment of the tea-tax, 
which is universally odious throughout Amer- 
ica, .and is held in ridicule and contempt by 
every thinking man in this country. The ques- 
tion of taxing America is sufficiently nice to 
palliate resistance, if the subject had never been 
litigated in this country ; but, after the highest 
characters in the state had declared against 
the right of this country' to impose taxes on 
America, for the purposes of revenue ; after the 
general voice of the senate had concurred in 
repealing the stamp-act, upon that principle ; 
after those men, who had maintained these 
doctrines, had been promoted by his majesty 
to the first stations in the administration of 
civil and judicial affairs, there is so much 
mitigation to be pleaded in favor of the Amer- 
icans, from those circumstances (allowing them 
in an error at present) that every man must 
feel the height of cruelty, by enforcing contrary 
maxims, with any degree of severity at first, 
before due warning is given. 

It is in vain to say that Boston is more cul- 
pable than the other colonies ; sending the 
ships from thence, and obliging them to return 
to England, is a more solemn and deliberate 
act of resistance, than the outrage committed 
by persons in disguise, in the night, when the 
ship refused to depart. — That the blocking up 
of the harbor of Boston, to prevent the impor- 
tation of British manufactures, or the exporta- 
tion of goods which are to pay for them, is a 
measure equally absurd as if the parliament 
here, upon the resistance which was made to 
their resolution, by the riots of Brentford, and 
other disturbances in the county of Middlesex, 
had decreed, by way of punishment, that the 
freeholders should liave been prohibited from 
sowing wheat. For whose benefit do the in- 
habitants of Boston toil and labor ! The 
springs in the circle of commerce bear so 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



413 



nicely on each other, that few men can tell by 
interrupting one, the degree and extent to 
which the rest may be exposed. By exclud- 
ing the importation of molasses, and the ex- 
portation of that spirit which is distilled at 
Boston, the whole Guinea trade will be af- 
fected, and in consequence the sugar trade 
that depends upon it. In extending this kind 
of punishment to the other colonies, every one 
must see the danger ; and yet, if it can be 
approved for one, the same arguments will 
hold good to approve or reject it respecting the 
other. But let any man figure to himself the 
consequences to this country, if a similar pun- 
ishment was applied to the colony of Virginia ; 
_£30o,ooo a year diminution in revenue, be- 
sides the loss of all the foreign contracts, and 
perhaps of that beneficial trade forever. Not- 
withstanding the general approbation which 
has been given to this bill, and the loud ap- 
plauses which have been re-echoed to every 
word of the noble lord in explaining it, yet no 
man will be bold enough to say, that this par- 
tial punishment is a remedy lor the general 
disease, and yet without knowing what is to 
follow, no man can be vindicated (even suppos- 
ing the bill right in part) for giving his assent 
to it. Those gentlemen who are in the secrets 
of the cabinet, and know how assuredly every 
proposition from them is adopted by this 
house, may be excused for their sanguine 
acclamations in favor of the measure. But the 
general mass, who must be equally ignorant 
with myself of what is to follow, can have no 
excuse for giving their assent so readily for 
punishing their fellow subjects in so unprece- 
dented a manner, and their eager zeal serves 
only to show how ready they are to obey the 
will of another, without exercising their own 
judgment in the case. If the government of 
this country is resisted in America, my opinion 
is, instead of removing the seat of government 
in the colony, and forcing the elements to bend 
to our will, which is impossible, that an effec- 
tual force should be carried to the heart of the 
colony resisting, to crush rebellion in the bud, 
before a general confederacy can be formed. 
In the present case we abandon the govern- 
ment, and drive the inhabitants to despair, 
leaving the multitude a prey to any ambitious 
spirit that may arise. For my own part I am 
convinced, from experience in the colonies, 
that good government may be conducted there 
upon rational grounds, as well as in this 
country ; but the power and means of gov- 
erning, rewards and punishments, are taken 
from your supreme executive magistrate in 
. every sense, and then you are surprised that 



all order and obedience should cease. The 
colonies can only be governed by their assem- 
blies, as England by the house of commons : 
the patent officers, as well as those in the cus- 
toms, which were formerly given, at the recom- 
mendation of the governors, to men supporting 
government, and residing in the provinces, are 
now given in reversion, three or four lives 
deep, to men living in this country. The 
command of the military, which was another 
great source of respect and obedience, is like- 
wise taken from the governor ; so that in 
truth he remains an insignificant pageant of 
state, fit only to transmit tedious accounts of 
his own ridiculous situation : or, like the doctor 
of Sorbonne, to debate with his assembly about 
abstract doctrines in government. 

I am far from wishing to throw any blame 
upon governor Hutchinson, or to condemn 
him. like the town of Boston, unheard. The 
.absence of the man, and the general clamor 
against him, will restrain me from saying many 
things respecting his conduct, which appear 
reprehensible. But I cannot admit a passage 
in the speech of a noble lord to pass unnoticed. 
His lordship alleges, " that the governor could 
not apply to the admiral in the harbor, or to 
the commanding officer of the troops in the 
casde, for the protection of the custom-house 
officers, as well as the teas in question, without 
the advice of his council." But I beg leave to 
inform the noble lord, as I ser\xd in that 
station myself, that there is a volume of instruc- 
tions to everv governor on this subject, whereby 
he is commanded, under the severest penalties, 
"to give all kind of protection to trade and com- 
merce, as well as to the officers of his majesty's 
customs, by his own authority, without the 
necessity of acting through his council." Nor 
can I conceive a possible excuse for the de- 
struction of those teas, while two men of war 
lay in the harbor, without the least application 
heaving been made to the admiral for protection, 
during so long a transaction. 

The first essential point in those disputes 
which are now likely to become so serious, by 
the weakness of administration in this country, 
in following no connected plan, either of force 
or favor, but constantly vibrating between the 
two, is to put ourselves in the right, and for 
this purpose I would recommend the immedi- 
ate repeal of the tea duty, which can be vindi- 
cated upon no principles, either of commerce 
or policy. Men may allege this would be giv- 
ing up the point. But if we have no better 
points to dispute upon, I am ready to yield the 
argument. Raising taxes in America for the 
purposes of revenue, I maintain to be unneces- 



414 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



sary and dangerous. A stamp act, as a meas- 
ure of police, varied for the different govern- 
ments, and leaving the revenue raised thereby 
to be appropriated by the respective legisla- 
tures, I hold to be a measure of the highest 
efficacy, for maintaining a due obedience to the 
authority of this countr)', and prolonging that 
dependence for ages to come. How far it can 
be executed after what has already passed, I 
am rather diffident ; but of this I am certain, 
that in case Great Britain is deprived of execut- 
ing a measure of that nature, which, by per- 
vading every transaction, secures the execution 
in itself, she has lost one of the greatest en- 
gines for supporting her influence throughout 
the empire without oppression. Some men, 
who are for simplifying government to their 
own comprehensions, will not allow they can 
conceive that the supreme legislative authority 
shall not be paramount in all things ; and taxa- 
tion being fully comprehended in legislation, 
they argue, that the power of the one must 
necessarily follow that of the other, and yet we 
find mankind possessed of privileges, which 
are not to be violated in the most arbitrary 
countries. The province of Languedoc is a 
striking example in refutation of the doctrines 
respecting taxation, which are held by such 
narrow observers. The kingdom of Ireland is 
another instance in our dominions. There is 
not one argument which can apply for exempt- 
ing Ireland from taxation by the parliament of 
Great Britain, that does not equally protect the 
colonies from the power of such partial judges. 
Every man should now call to his remembrance 
by what obstinate infatuation Philip the 11. 
came to lose the United Provinces. Can it be 
supposed that, in a nation so wise as Spain 
was at that time, that no man perceived the 
injustice and futility of the measure in dispute? 
But I can easily suppose, from the pride of 
authority where our vanity is so much flattered, 
that no man durst venture a proposition for 
receding from that cruel measure after it had 
been resisted by violence, 

These are the general heads : 

The particular objections to the bill are, 
first, for continuing the punishment " until sat- 
isfaction shall be made to the India company," 
without stating the amount, or what that satis- 
faction shall be. Next, " until peace and good 
order shall be certified to be restored," when 
it is impossible, as to the subject in dispute, 
that such certificate can never be granted, 
because the custom-house officers are removed, 
and all trade and commerce prohibited. The 
numerous disputes and litigations which must 
necessarily arise in carrying this law into exe- 



cution, on contract made by parties before 
they could be apprised of it, and the despatch 
of ships in harbor under the limited time, 
without any exception for the desertion of sea- 
men, or wind and weather, is altogether mel- 
ancholy to consider ! The power given to the 
admiral, or chief commander, to order the 
ships returning from foreign voyages to such 
stations, as he shall direct, is wild, vexatious, 
indefinite. That of permitting his majesty to 
alter the value of all the property in the town 
of Boston, upon restoring the port, by affixing 
such quays and wharves, as he only shall 
appoint, for landing and shipping of goods, is 
liable to such misrepresentation and abuse, 
that I expect to see every evil follow the exer- 
cise of it, and it must create infinite jealousies 
and distractions among the people. 



HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

Interesting debate on the second 
reading of the bill for regulating 
the civil government of massachu- 
SETTS Bay. 

April ^^^ 1774* 

Mr. Fuller said, he did not rise to make any 
debate, for he was not enabled as yet to form 
any opinion whether the bill before the house 
was a proper bill or not ; as copies of the char- 
ters which had been ordered before the house 
were not yet laid, he would venture to say, that 
no man knew the constitution of that govern- 
ment ; it was therefore impossible for him to 
say in what manner he would correct or 
amend it. 

Sir George Saville said, he had not troubled 
the house before on the occasion, but he could 
not help observing, that the measure now be- 
fore the house was a very doubtful and dan- 
gerous one ; doubtful as to the propriety of 
regulation, and dangerous as to its consequence; 
that charters by government were sacred 
things, and are only to be taken away by a due 
course of law. either as a punishment for an 
offence, or for a breach of the contract, and 
that can only be by evidence of the facts ; nor 
could he conceive that in either of those cases 
there could be any such thing as proceeding 
without a fair hearing of both parties. This 
measure before us seems to be a most extra- 
ordinary exertion of legislative power. Let us 
suppose a lease granted to a man, wherein was 
a covenant, the breach of which would subject 
him to a forfeiture of his lease — would not a 
court of justice require evidence of the fact f 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



415 



Why, then, will you proceed different from the 
line which is always observed in courts of jus- 
tice ? You are now going to alter the charter 
because it is convenient. In what manner 
does the house mean to take away this charter, 
when in fact they refuse to hear the parties, or 
to go through a legal course of evidence of the 
facts. Ch.irtered rights have, at all times, when 
attempted to be altered or taken away, occa- 
sioned much bloodshed and strife ; and what- 
ever persons in this house have advanced, that 
they do not proceed upon this business but 
with trembling hands, I do also assure them 
that I have shown my fears upon this occasion ; 
for I have run away from every question, except 
one, to which I gave my negative. I do not 
like to be present at a business, which I think 
inconsistent with the dignity and justice of this 
house ; I tremble when I am, for fear of the 
consequences ; and think it a little extraordi- 
nary that Mr. Bollan should be admitted to be 
heard as an American agent in the house of 
lords, when in the house of commons he was 
refused. I believe it is true, that the facts set 
forth in his petition to this house, were different 
from those which he presented to the house of 
lords ; in one declaring himself an inhabitant 
of Boston, in the other omitting it. I cannot 
conceive it possible to proceed on this bill upon 
the small ground of evidence which you have 
had. 

Mr. Welbore Ellis. I must rise, sir, with 
great confidence, when I differ from the honor- 
able gentleman who spoke last, whose abilities 
are so eminently great ; but I think, sir, that 
chartered rights are by no means those sacred 
things which never can be altered ; they are 
vested in the crown as a prerogative, for the 
good of the people at large ; if the supreme 
legislature find that those charters so granted, 
are both unfit and inconvenient for the public 
utility, they have a right to make them fit and 
convenient ; wherever private property is con- 
cerned, the legislature will not take it away 
without making a full recompense ; but wher- 
ever the regulation of public matter is the 
object, they have a right to correct, control, or 
take it away, as may best suit the public wel- 
fare. The crown may sometimes grant im- 
proper powers with regard to governments that 
are to be established ; will it not be highly 
proper and necessary, that the legislature, see- 
ing in what manner the crown has been ill- 
advised, should take into their consideration, 
and alter it as far as necessary. It is the legis- 
lature's duty to correct the errors that have 
been established in the infancy of that constitu- 
tion, and regulate them for the public welfare. 



Is a charter, not consistent with the public good, 
to be continued } The honorable gentleman 
says, much bloodshed has been occasioned by 
taking away or altering of chartered rights ; 1 
grant it ; but it has always been where en- 
croachments have been made by improper par- 
ties, and the attack has been carried on by 
improper powers. He also says, this form of 
government in America ought not to be altered 
without hearing the parties ; the papers on your 
table, surely, are sufficient evidence of what 
they have to say in their defence — look only 
into the letter, dated the 19th November, 1773, 
wherein the governor applied to the council for 
advice, and they neglected giving it to him ! 
and also wherein a petition was presented to 
the council by certain persons who applied for 
protection to their property during these dis- 
turbances, the council, without giving any an- 
swer, adjourned for ten days, and the governor 
was not able to do any thing himself without 
their opinion. Look again, sir, into the reso- 
lution which the council came to when they 
met again, stating the total insufficiency of 
their power. This, surely, sir. is an evidence 
competent to ground this bill upon. We have 
now got no farther than just to alter these two 
parts, as stated by themselves. Surely, sir, 
that form of government which will not protect 
your property, ought to be altered in such a 
manner as it may be able to do it. 

General Conway. What I intend to say will 
not delay the house long. I am very sure 
what I intend to say will little deserve the 
attention of the house ; but the subject is of 
that importance, that it requires it. The con- 
sequence of this bill will be very important and 
dangerous. Parliament cannot break into a 
right without hearing the parties. The ques- 
tion then is simply this : — Have they been 
heard .' What I because the papers say a 
murder has been committed, does it follow 
they have proved it ? Audi alteram partem, 
is a maxim I have long adhered to ; but it is 
something so inconsistent with parliamentary 
proceedings not to do it, that I am astonished 
at it. The council are blamed because they 
did not give that advice to the governor which 
he wanted. I think, sir, the governor might 
have acted alone, without their assistance. 
Gentlemen will consider, that this is not only 
the charter of Boston, or of any particular part, 
but the charter of all America. Are the 
Americans not to be heard ? — Do not choose to 
consent and agree about appointing an agent ? 
I think there is no harm upon this occasion, in 
stretching a point ; and I would rather have 
Mr. Bollan, as an agent of America (though he 



4i6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



is irregular in his appointment) sooner tiian 
leave it to be said, that this bill passed without 
it. — The house being vociferous, he said, I am 
afraid I tire the house with my weak voice ; if 
that is the case, I will not proceed, but I do 
think, and it is my sincere opinion, that we are 
the aggressors and innovators, and not the 
colonies. We have irritated and forced laws 
upon them for these six or seven years last 
.past. We have enacted such a variety of laws, 
with these new taxes, together with a refusal 
to repeal the trifling duty on tea ; all these 
things have served no other purpose but to 
distress and perplex. I think the Americans 
have done no more than every subject would 
do in an arbitrary state, where laws are im- 
posed against their will. In my conscience, I 
think, taxation and legislation are in this case 
inconsistent. Have you not a legislative right 
over Ireland i And yet no one will dare to say 
we have a right to tax. These acts respecting 
America, will involve this country and its min- 
isters in misfortunes, and I wish I may not 
add, in ruin. 

Lord North. I do not consider this matter 
of regulation to be taking away their charters 
in such manner as is represented ; it is a regu- 
lation of government to assist the crown ; it 
appears to me not to be a matter of political 
expediency, but of necessity. If it does not 
stand upon that ground, it stands on nothing. 
The account which has just now been read to 
you is an authentic paper, transmitted to gov- 
ernment here, showing that the council refused 
in every case their assistance and advice ; and 
will this country sit still when they see the 
colony proceeding against your own subjects, 
tarring and feathering your servants, denying 
your laws and authority, refusing every direc- 
tion and advice which you send ? Are we, sir, 
seeing all this, to be silent, and give the gover- 
nor no support? Gentlemen say, let the colo- 
ny come to your bar, and be heard in their 
defence ; though it is not likely that they will 
come, when they deny your authority in every 
instance. Can we remain in this situation long ? 
We must effectually take some measures to 
correct and amend the defects of that govern- 
ment. I have heard so many different opinions 
in regard to our conduct in America, I hardly 
know how to answer them. The honorable 
gentleman, who spoke last, formerly blamed 
the tame and insipid conduct of government ; 
now he condemns this measure as harsh and 
severe. The Americans have tarred and feath- 
ered your subjects, plundered your merchants, 
burnt your ships, denied all obedience to your 
laws and authority ; yet so clement and for- 



bearing has our conduct been, that it is incum- 
bent upon us now to take a different course. 
Whatever may be the consequence, we must 
risk something ; if we do not, all is over. 
The measure now proposed, is nothing more 
than taking the election of counsellors out of 
the hands of those people, who are continually 
acting in defiance and resistance of your laws. 
It has also been said by gentlemen — send for 
the Americans to your bar — give them redress 
a twelve-month hence. Surely, sir, this cannot 
be the language that is to give effectual relief 
to America ; it is not, I say again, political 
convenience, it is political necessity that urges 
this measure ; if this is not the proper method, 
show me any other which is preferable, and I 
will postpone it. 

Sir George Young. It remains to me, sir, that 
it is unanswered and unanswerable, what has 
been advanced by the honorable gentleman 
who spoke second, that the parties should be 
heard, though even at a twelve-month hence. 
Nothing, sir, but fatal necessity can counte- 
nance this measure. No body of men ought 
to be proceeded against without being heard, 
much less ought the regulation of a whole gov- 
ernment to take place, without the parties 
attending in their defence against such altera- 
tions. 

Governor 'Johnston. I see, sir, a great dis- 
position in this house to proceed in this busi- 
ness without knowing any thing of the consti- 
tution of America ; several inconveniences will 
arise if the sheriff is to be appointed by the gov- 
ernor ; the jury will, of course, be biased by some 
influence or other ; special juries will be most 
liable to this. [Here the governor gave an ac- 
count of the different riots which had happened 
in England, and compared them with what he 
called the false accounts of those from Amer- 
ica.] I impute, says he, all the misfortunes 
which have happened in America, to the taking 
away the power of the governor. No man of 
common sense can apprehend that the gov- 
ernor would ever have gone two or three days 
into the country, during these disturbances, if 
he had the command of the military power. 
The natural spirit of man would be fired, in 
such a manner, as to actuate himself to shew 
resistance ; but in this governor no power was 
lodged. I disapprove much of the measure 
which is before us, and I cannot but think its 
consequences will be prejudicial. 

Mr. C. Jenkinson. I rise, sir, only to observe, 
that if the colony has not that power within 
itself to maintain its own peace and order, the 
legislature should, and ought to have. Let me 
ask, sir, whether the colony took any step, in 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



417 



any shape, to quell the riots and disturbances ? 
No, they toolv none. Let me ask again, whether 
all the checks and control that are necessary, 
are not put into the commission of the govern- 
ments .' Much has been said about hearing 
the parties, and taking away their chartered 
rights ; ! am of opinion, that where the right is 
a high political regulation, you are not in that 
instance bound to hear them ; but the hearing 
of parties is necessary where private property is 
concerned. It is not only in the late proceed- 
ings, but in all former, that they have denied 
your authority over them ; they have refused 
protection to his majesty's subjects, and in 
every instance disobeyed the laws of this coun- 
try ; either let this country forsake its trade with 
America, or let us give that due protection to 
it which safety requires. 

Mr. Harris. I cannot see, sir, any reason for 
so wide a separation between America and 
England as other gentlemen are apt to think 
there ought to be ; that country, sir, was 
hatched from this, and I hope we shall always 
keep it under the shadow of our wings. It has 
been said, no representation, no taxation. This 
was the system formerly adopted, but I do not 
find it authorized in any book of jurisprudence, 
nor do I deem it to be a doctrine either rea- 
sonable or constitutional. I insist upon it, they 
are bound to obey both the crown and parlia- 
ment. The last twelve years of our proceed- 
ings have been a scene of lenity and inactivity. 
Let us proceed and mend our method, or else I 
shall believe, as an honorable gentleman has 
observed, that we are the aggressors. 

Sir Edward Astley. If we have had a twelve 
years lenity and inactivity, I hope we shall not 
now proceed to have a twelve years cruelty and 
oppression. By the resolution and firmness 
which I perceive in the house, it seems to indi- 
cate a perseverance in the measure now pro- 
posed, which I deem to be a harsh one, and 
unworthy of a British legislature. 

Mr. Ward. [The house was very noisy du- 
ring the few words which he said.] — He found 
fault with the charter being left too much, as to 
the execution of its power, in the people, and 
he could not think the legislature was doing 
any thing, which it had not a right to do, as he 
had looked upon all charters to be granted 
with a particular clause in it expressing that it 
should not be taken away but by the parlia- 
ment. 

Governor Pownal. I beg leave to set some 
gentlemen right, who have erred with regard 
to the charters of America. The appointment 
of several of the officers is in the governor. The 
charter of Boston directs, that the governor 

27 



shall ask the council for advice, but it does not 
say he shall not act without it, if they refuse to 
give it. It is said it is criminal to do any 
thing without advice of the council ; I differ 
greatly, sir, from that doctrine ; for I myself 
have acted without it in putting an end to dis- 
turbances, in preserving the peace and good 
order of the place ; if I had been governor dur- 
ing the late disturbances, I would have given 
an order for the military power to attend, and 
then let me have seen what officer dare disobey. 
I think the council are much to blame for not 
co-operating and assisting the governor, but I 
think the governor might have acted without 
the council. The council are inexcusable, 
though not criminal, as they are not obliged to 
give it. I, sir, for my part, shall give my last 
opinion. I have always been in one way of 
thinking with regard to America, which I have 
both given here and wrote to America. They 
have all along tended to one point ; but it is now 
no longer matter of opinion. Things are now 
come to action ; and I must be free to tell the 
house, that the Americans will resist these 
measures : they are prepared to do it. I do not 
mean by arms, but by the conversation of pub- 
lic town meeting ; they now send their letters 
by couriers, instead of the post, from one town 
to another ; and I can say your post office will 
very soon be deprived of its revenue. With 
regard to the officers who command the militia 
of that country, they will have them of their 
own appointment, and not from government ; 
but I will never more give an opinion concern- 
ing America in this house ; those I have given 
have been disregarded. 

Mr. Rigiy. Upon my word, sir, what was 
just now said, is very worthy the consideration 
of this house ; and if, from what the honorable 
gentleman says, it is true, and I believe he is 
well informed, it appears, thai America is pre- 
paring io arms ; and that the deliberations of 
their town meetings tend chiefly to oppose the 
measures of this country by force. He has 
told you, sir, that the Americans will appoint 
other officers than those sent by government 
to command their troops. He has told you 
that the post office is established on their ac- 
count from town to town, in order to carry their 
traitorous correspondence from one to another. 
He has told you the post office revenue will 
soon be annihilated. If these things are 
true, sir, I find we have been the aggres- 
sors, by continually doing acts of lenity 
for these twelve years last past. I think, 
sir, and I speak out boldly when I say it, that 
this country has a right to tax America ; but, 
sir, it is matter of astonishment to me, how an 



41 8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



honorable gentleman (Mr. Conway) can be the 
author of bringing in of declaratory law over 
all America, and yet saying at one and the 
same time, that we have no right to tax 
America? If I was to begin to say that 
America ought not to be taxed, and that these 
measures were not proper, I would first desire 
my own declaratory law to be repealed ; but 
being of opinion that the Americans are the 
subjects of this country, I will declare freely, 
that I think this country has a right to tax 
America : but I do not say that I would put 
any new tax on at this particular crisis ; but 
when things are returned to a peaceable state, 
I would then begin to exercise it. And I am 
free to declare my opinion, that I think we 
have a right to tax Ireland, if there was a neces- 
sity so to do, in order to help the mother coun- 
try. If Ireland was to rebel and resist our 
laws, I would tax it. The mother country has 
an undoubted right and control over the whole 
of its colonies. Again, sir, a great deal has 
been said concerning requisition. Pray, in 
what manner is it to be obtained ? Is the 
king to demand it, or are we, the legislative 
power of this country, to send a very civil polite 
gentleman over to treat with their assemblies .' 
How and in what manner is he to address that 
assembly ? Is he to tell the speaker that we 
have been extremely ill used by our neighbors 
the French ; that they have attacked us in 
several quarters ; that the finances of this 
country are in a bad state ; and therefore we 
desire you will be kind enough to assist us, and 
give us some money.' Is this to be the lan- 
guage of this country to that ; and are we thus 
to go cap in hand .' I am of opinion, that if 
the adminstration of this country had not been 
changed soon after passing the stamp-act, that 
tax would have been collected with as much 
ease as the land-tax is in Great Britain. I 
have acted, with regard to America, one con- 
sistent part, and shall continue in it, till I hear 
better reasons to convince me to the contrary. 

Gmicrnor Pownal, (to explain) I apprehend 
I have been totally misunderstood. I did not 
assert the Americans were now in rebellion, 
but that they are going to rebel ; when that 
comes to pass, the question will be, who was 
the occasion of it ? Something has been said 
relative to requisition ; I think I gave several 
instances wherein the same had been complied 
with in time of war. 

Mr. C. Fox. I am glad to hear from the 
honorable gentleman who spoke last, that now 
is not the time to tax America ; that the only 
time for that is, when all these disturbances 
are quelled, and they are returned to their 



duty ; so, I find taxes are to be the reward of 
obedience ; and the Americans, who are con- 
sidered to have been in open rebellion, are to 
be rewarded by acquiescing in their measures. 
When will be the time when America ought to 
have heavy taxes laid upon it .' The honorable 
gentleman (Mr. Rigby) tells you, that that 
time will be when the Americans are returned 
to peace and quietness. The honorable gentle- 
man tells us also, that we have a right to tax 
Ireland ; however I may agree with him in re- 
gard to the principle, it would not be policy to 
e.xercise it ; I believe we have no more right to 
tax the one than the other. I believe America 
is wrong in resisting against this country, with 
regard to legislative authority. It was an old 
opinion, and I believe a very true one, that 
there was a dispensing power in the crown, 
but whenever that dispensing power was pre- 
tended to be exercised, it was always rejected 
and opposed to the utmost, because it operated 
to me, as a subject, as a deteriment to my pro- 
perty and liberty ; but, sir, there has been a 
constant conduct practised in this country, 
consisting of violence and weakness ; I wish 
those measures may not continue ; nor can I 
think that the stamp-act would have been sub- 
mitted to without resistance, if the administra- 
tion had not been changed : the present bill be- 
fore you is not taiiti to what you want ; it irri- 
tates the minds of the people, but does not 
correct the deficiencies of that government. 

Sir Gilbert Elliot arose to answer Mr. C. 
Fox, which he did in a very masterly manner, 
by stating that there was not the least degree 
of absurdity in taxing your own subjects, over 
whom you have declared you had an absolute 
right ; though that tax should, through neces- 
sity, be enacted at a, time when peace and quiet- 
ness were the reigning system of the times ; 
you declare you have that right, where is the 
absurdity in the exercise of it ? 

Sir Richard Sutton read a copy of a letter, 
relative to the government of America, from a 
governor in America, to the board of trade, 
shewing that, at the most quiet times, the dis- 
positions to oppose the laws of this country 
were strongly ingrafted in them, and that all 
their actions conveyed a spirit and wish for in- 
dependence. If you ask an American who is 
his master ? he will tell you he has none, nor 
any governor but Jesus Christ. I do believe it, 
and it is my firm opinion, that the opposition 
to the measurer, of the legislature of this coun- 
try, is a determined prepossession of the idea 
of total independence. 

After which the bill was committed for 
Friday next, without a division. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



419 



SPEECH 

Written by the Rev. Dr. Jon.\than 
Shipley, LATE Bishop OF St. Asaph, for 

DELIVERY IN THE " HOUSE OF LORDS," 
ON THE BILL FOR ALTERING THE CHAR- 
TER of Massachusetts Bay, 1774. 

FROM THE MARYLAND GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 29, 1774. 

It is of such great importance to compose, 
or even to moderate, the dissensions which 
subsist at present between our unhappy country 
and her colonies, that I cannot help endeavor- 
ing, from the faint prospect I have of contrib- 
uting something to so good an end, to over- 
come the inexpressible reluctance I feel at 
uttering my thoughts before the most respect- 
able of all audiences. 

The true object of all our deliberations on 
this occasion, which I hope we shall never 
lose sight of, is a full and cordial reconciliation 
with North America. Now I own, my lords, I 
have many doubts whether the terrors and 
punishments we hang out to them at present 
are the surest means of producing this recon- 
ciliation. Let us at least do this justice to the 
people of North America, to own that we can 
all remember a time when they were much 
better friends than at present to their mother 
country. They are neither our natural nor our 
determined enemies. Before the stamp-act, 
we considered them in the light of as good 
subjects as the natives of any county in Eng- 
land. 

It is worth while to enquire by what steps 
we first gained their affection, and preser\ed it 
so long ; and by what conduct we have lately 
lost it. Such an enquiry may point out the 
means of restoring peace ; and make the use 
of force unnecessary against a people, whom I 
cannot yet forbear to consider as our brethren. 

It has always been a most arduous task to 
govern distant provinces, with even a tolerable 
appearance of justice. The viceroys and gov- 
ernors of other nations are usually temporary 
tyrants, who think themselves obliged to make 
the most of their time ; who not only plunder 
the people, but carry away their spoils, and dry 
up all the sources of commerce and industry. 
Taxation, in their hands, is an unlimited power 
of oppression : but in whatever hands the 
power of taxation is lodged, it implies and 
includes all other powers. Arbitrary taxation 
is plunder authorized by law: it is the support 
and the essence of tyranny, and has done more 
mischief to mankind, than those other three 
scourges from Heaven, famine, pestilence and 
the sword. I need not carry your lordship out 
of your own knowledge, or out of your own 



dominions, to make you conceive what misery 
this right of taxation is capable of producing 
in a provincial government. We need only 
recollect that our countrymen in India have, 
in the space of five or six years, in virtue of this 
right, destroyed, and driven away more inhabit- 
ants from Bengal, than are to be found at pre- 
sent in all our American colonies ; more than 
all those formidable numbers which we have 
been nursing up for the space of two hundred 
years, with so much care and success, to the 
astonishment of all Europe. This is no exag- 
geration, my lords, but plain matter of fact, 
collected from the accounts sent over by Mr. 
Hastings, whose name I mention with honor 
and veneration. And, I must own, such ac- 
counts have very much lessened the pleasure 
I used to feel in thinking myself an English- 
man. We ought surely not to hold our colonies 
totally inexcusable for wishing to exempt them- 
selves from a grievance, which has caused such 
unexampled devastation ; and, my lords, it 
would be too disgraceful to ourselves, to try 
so cruel an experiment more than once. Let 
us reflect, that before these innovations were 
thought of, by following the line of good con- 
duct which had been marked out by our ances- 
tors, we governed North America with mutual 
benefit to them and ourselves. It was a happy 
idea, that made us first consider them rather 
as instruments of commerce than as objects of 
government. It was wise and generous to give 
them the form and the spirit of our own con- 
stitution ; an assembly, in which a greater 
equality of representation has been preserved 
them at home, and councils and governors, 
such as were adapted to their situation, though 
they must be acknowledged to be very inferior 
copies of the dignity of this house, and the 
majesty of the crown. 

But what is far more valuable than all the 
rest, we gave them liberty. We allowed them 
to use their own judgment in the management 
of their own interest. The idea of taxing 
them never entered our heads. On the con- 
trary they have experienced our liberality on 
many public occasions : we have given them 
bounties to encourage their industry, and have 
demanded no return but what every state 
exacts from its colonies, the advantages of an 
exclusive commerce, and the regulations that 
are necessary to secure it. We made requisi- 
tions to them on great occasions ; in the same 
manner as our princes formerly asked benevo- 
lences of their subjects ; and as nothing was 
asked but what was visibly for the public good, 
it was always granted ; and they sometimes 
did more than we expected. The matter of 



42b 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



right was neitlier disputed, nor even considered. 
And let us not forget that the people of New- 
England were themselves, during the last war, 
the most forward of all in the national cause ; 
that every year we voted them a considerable 
sum, in acknowledgment of their zeal and 
their services ; that, in the preceding war, they 
alone enabled us to make the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, by furnishing us with the only equi- 
valent for the towns that were taken from our 
allies in Flanders ; and that, in times of peace, 
they alone have taken from us six times as 
much of our woolen manufactures as the 
whole kingdom of Ireland. Such a colony, 
my lords, not only from the justice, but from 
the gratitude we owe them, have a right to be 
heard in their defence ; and if their crimes are 
not of the most inexpiable kind, 1 could almost 
say, they have a right to be forgiven. 

But in the times we speak of, our public in- 
tercourse was carried on with ease and satis- 
faction. We regarded them as our friends 
and fellow-citizens, and relied as much upon 
their fidelity as on the inhabitants of our own 
country. They saw our power with pleasure 
for they considered it only as their protection. 
They inherited our laws, our language, and our 
customs ; they preferred our manufactures, 
and followed our fashions with a partiality that 
secured our exclusive trade with them more 
effectually than all the regulations and vigilance 
of the custom-house. Had we suffered them to 
enrich us a little longer, and to grow a little 
richer themselves, their men of fortune, like 
the .West-Indians, would undoubtedly have 
made this country the place of their education 
and resort. For they looked up to England 
with reverence and affection, as to the country 
of their friends and ancestors. They esteemed 
and they called it their home, and thought of 
it as the Jews once thought of the land of 
Canaan. 

Now, my lords, consider with yourselves 
what were the chains and ties that united this 
people to their mother-country with so much 
warmth and affection, at so amazing a distance. 
The colonies of other nations have been dis- 
contented with their treatment, and not with- 
out sufficient cause ; always murmuring at 
their grievances, and sometimes breaking out 
into acts of rebellion. Our subjects at home, 
with all their reasons for satisfaction, 
have never been entirely satisfied. Since the 
beginning of this century we have had two 
rebellions, several plots and conspiracies ; and 
we ourselves been witnesses to the most dan- 
gerous excesses of sedition. But the provinces 
in North America have engaged in no party. 



have excited no opposition, they have been 
utter strangers even to the name of whig and 
tory. In all changes, in all revolutions, they 
have quietly followed the fortunes and submit- 
ted to the government of England. 

Now let me appeal to your lordships as to 
men of enlarged and liberal minds, who have 
been led by your office and rank to the study of 
history. Can you find in the long succession 
of ages, in the whole extent of human affairs, a 
single instance where distant provinces have 
been preserved in so flourishing a state, and 
kept at the same time in such due subjection 
to their mother-country .' My lords, there is 
no instance ; the case never existed before. 
It is perhaps the most singular phenomenon 
in all civil history ; and the cause of it well 
deserves your serious consideration. The true 
cause is, that a mother-countrj- never existed 
before, who placed her natives and her colo- 
nies on the same equal footing ; and joined 
with them in fairly carrying on one common 
interest. 

You ought to consider this, my lords, not as 
a mere historical fact, but as a most important 
and invaluable discovery. It enlarges our 
ideas of the power and energy of good govern- 
ment beyond all former examples ; and shews 
that it can act like gravitation at the greatest 
distances. It proves to a demonstration that 
you may have good subjects in the remotest 
corner of the earth, if you will but treat them 
with kindness and equity. If you have any 
doubts of the truth of this kind of reasoning, 
the experience we have had of a different kind 
will entirely remove them. 

The good genius of our country had led us 
to the simple and happy method of governing 
freemen, which I have endeavored to describe. 
Our ministers received it from their prede- 
cessors and for some time contmued to observe 
it ; but without knowing its value. At length, 
presuming on their own wisdom, and the quiet 
dispositions of the Americans, they flattered 
themselves that we might reap great advantages 
from their prosperity by destroying the cause 
of it. They chose, in an unlucky hour, to treat 
them as other nations have thought fit to treat 
their colonies ; they threatened, and they taxed 
them. 

I do not now enquire whether taxation is 
matter of right ; I only consider it as matter of 
experiment ; for surely the art of government 
itself is founded on experience. I need not 
suggest what were the consequences of this 
change of measures. The evils produced by 
it were such as we still remember and still 
feel. We suffered more by our loss of trade 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



421 



with them, than the wealth flowing in from 
India was able to recompense. The bank- 
ruptcy of the East-India company may be suffi- 
ciently accounted for by the rapine abroad and 
the knavery at home ; but it certainly would 
have been delayed some years, had we contin- 
ued our commerce with them in the single 
article of tea. But that and many other bran- 
ches of trade have been diverted into other 
channels, and may probably never return 
entire to their own old course. But what is 
worst of all, we have lost their confidence 
and friendship ; we have ignorantly under- 
mined the most solid foundation of our own 
power. 

In order to observe the strictest impartiality, 
it is but just for us to inquire what we have 
gained by these taxes as well as what we have 
lost. I am assured that out of all the sums 
raised in America the last year but one, if the 
expenses are deducted, which the natives would 
else have discharged themselves, the net revenue 
paid into the treasury to go in aid of the sink, 
ing fund, or to be employed in whatever public 
services parliament shall think fit, is eighty-five 
pounds. Eighty-five pounds, my lords, is the 
whole equivalent we have received for all the 
hatred and mischief, and all the infinite losses 
this kingdom has suffered during that year in 
her disputes with North America. Money that 
is earned so dearly as this, ought to be e,\- 
pended with great wisdom and economy. My 
lords, were you to take up but one thousand 
pounds more from North America upon the 
same terms, the nation itself would be a bank- 
rupt. But the most amazing and most alarm- 
ing circumstances are still behind. It is that our 
case is so incurable, that all this experience has 
made no impression upon us. And yet, my 
lords, if you could but keep these facts, which 
I have ventured to lay before you, for a few 
moments in your minds (supposing your rig^it 
of taxation to be never so clear) yet I think you 
must necessarily perceive that it cannot be 
exercised in any manner that can be advanta- 
geous to ourselves or them. We have not 
always the wisdom to tax ourselves with pro- 
priety : and I am confident we could never tax 
a people at that distance, without infinite blun- 
ders, and infinite oppression. And to own the 
truth, my lords, we are not honest enough to 
trust ourselves with the power of shifting our 
own burthens upon them. Allow me therefore to 
conclude, I think unanswerably, that the incon- 
venience and distress we have felt in this change 
of our conduct, no less than the ease and tran- 
quility we formerly found in the pursuit of it, 
will force us, if we have any sense left, to 



return to the good old path we trod in so long, 
and found it the way of pleasantness. 

I desire to have it understood, that I am 
opposing no rights legislature may think proper 
to claim : I am only comparing two different 
methods of government. By your old rational 
and generous administration, by treating the 
Americans as your friends and fellow-citizens, 
you made them the happiest of human kind ; 
and, at the same time, drew from them, by 
commerce, more clear profit than Spain has 
drawn from all its mines ; and their growing 
numbers were a daily increase and addition to 
your strength. There was no room for improve- 
ment or alteration in so noble a system of 
policy as this. It was sanctified by time, by 
experience, by public utility. I will venture to 
use a bold language my lords ; I will assert, 
that if we had uniformly adopted this equitable 
administration in all our distant provinces as 
far as circumstances would admit, it would 
have placed this countr)', for ages, at the head 
of human affairs in every quarter of the world. 
My lords, this is no visionary, or chimerical doc- 
trine. The idea of governing provinces and 
colonies by force is visionary and chimerical. 
The experiment has often been tried and it 
never has succeeded. It ends infallibly in the 
ruin of the one country or the other, or in the 
last degree of wretchedness. 

If there is any truth, my lords, in what I 
have said, and I most firmly believe it all to be 
true, let me recommend to you to resume that 
generous and benevolent spirit in the discus- 
sion of our differences which used to be the 
source of our union. We certainly did wrong in 
taxing them : when the stamp-act was repealed 
we did wrong in laying on other taxes, which 
tended only to keep alive a claim that was mis- 
chievous, impracticable and useless. We acted 
contrary to our own principle:; of liberty, and to 
the generous sentiments of our sovereign, when 
we desired tohavetheir judges dependent on the 
crown for their stipends as well as their con- 
tinuance. It was equally unwise to wish to 
make the governors independent of the people 
for their salaries. We ought to consider the 
governors, not as spies entrusted with the man- 
agement of our interest, but as the servants of 
the people, recommended to them by us. Our 
ears ought to be open to every complaint 
against the governors, but we ought not to 
suffer the governors to complain of the people. 
We have taken a different method, to which 
no small part of our difficulties are owing. Our 
ears have been open to the governors and shut 
to the people. This must necessarily lead us 
to countenance the Jobs of interested men. 



422 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



under the pretence of defending the rights of 
the crown. But the people are certainly the 
best judges whether they are well governed ; 
and the crown can have no rights inconsistent 
with the happiness of the people. 

Now, my lords, we ought to do what I 
have suggested, and many things more, out of 
prudence and justice, to win their affection, and 
to do them public service. 

If we have a right to govern them, let us 
exert it for the true ends of government. But, 
my lords, what we ought to do, from motives 
of reason and justice, is much more than is 
sufficient to bring them to a reasonable accom- 
modation. For thus, as I apprehend, stands 
the case : They petition for the repeal of an 
act of parliament, which they complain of as 
unjust and oppressive. And there is not a 
man amongst us, not the warmest friend of 
administration, who does not sincerely wish 
that act had never been made. In fact, they 
only ask for what we wish to be rid of. Under 
such a disposition of mind, one would imagine 
there could be no occasion for fleets and 
armies to bring men to a good understanding. 
But, my lords, our difficulty lies in the point of 
honor. We must not let down the dignity of 
the mother-country ; but preserve her sover- 
eignty over all the parts of the British empire. 
This language has something in it that sounds 
pleasant to the ears of Englishmen, but is 
otherwise of little weight. For sure, my lords, 
there are methods of making reasonable con- 
cessions, and yet without injuring our dignity. 
Ministers are generally fruitful in expedients to 
reconcile difficulties of this kind to escape the 
embarrassments of forms, the competitions of 
dignity and precedency ; and to let clashing 
rights sleep, while they transact their business. 
Now, my lords, on this occasion can they find 
no excuse, no pretence, no invention, no happy 
turn of language, not one colorable argument 
for doing the greatest service they can ever 
render to their country? It must be some- 
thing more than incapacity that makes men 
Jbarren of expedients at such a season as this. 
Do, but for once, remove this impracticable 
stateliness and dignity, and treat the matter 
with a little common sense and a little good 
humor, and our reconciliation would not be the 
work of an hour. But after all, my lords, if 
there is any thing mortifying in undoing the 
errors of our ministers, it is a mortification we 
ought to submit to. If it was unjust to tax 
them, we ought to repeal it for their sakes ; if 
it was unwise to tax them, we ought to repeal 
it for our own. A matter so trivial in itself as 
the three-penny duty upon tea, but which has 



given cause to so much national hatred and 
reproach, ought not to be suffered to subsist 
an unnecessary day. Must the interest, the 
commerce, and the union of this country and 
her colonies be all of them sacrificed to save 
the credit of one imprudent measure of admin- 
istration .' I own I cannot comprehend that 
there is any dignity either in being in the 
wrong, or in persisting in it. I have known 
friendship preserved, and affection gained, but 
I never knew dignity lost by the candid ac- 
knowledgment of an error. And, my lords, 
let me appeal to your own experience of a few 
years backward (I would not mention particu- 
lars, because I would pass no censures and 
revive no unpleasant reflections) but I think 
every candid minister must own, that adminis- 
tration has suffered in more instances than one, 
both in interest and credit, by not choosing to 
give up points that could not be defended. 

With regard to the people of Boston, I am 
free to own that I never approve of their riots 
nor their punishment : And yet, if we inflict it 
as we ought, with a consciousness that we 
were ourselves the aggressors, that we gave 
the provocation, and that their disobedience is 
the fruit of our own imprudent and imperious 
conduct, I thmk the punishment cannot rise to 
any great degree of severity. 

I ov/n, my lords, I have read the report of 
the lord's committees of this house, with very 
different sentiments from those with which it 
was drawn up. It seems to be designed, that 
we should consider their violent measures and 
speeches as so many determined acts of oppo- 
sition to the sovereignty of England, arising 
from the malignity of their own hearts. One 
would think the mother country had been to- 
tally silent and passive in the progress of the 
whole affair. I, on the contrary, consider 
these violences as the natural effects of such 
measures as ours on the minds of freemen. 
And this is the most useful point of view in 
which government can consider them. In 
their situation, a wise man would expect to 
meet with the strongest marks of passion and 
imprudence, and be prepared to forgive them. 
The first and easiest thing to be done is to 
correct our own errors : and I am confident 
we should find it the most effectual method to 
correct theirs. At any rate let us put our- 
selves in the right ; and then if we must 
contend with North America, we shall be 
unanimous at home, and the wise and moder- 
ate there will be our friends. At present we 
force every North American to be our enemy ; 
and the wise and moderate at home, and those 
immense multitudes which must soon begin to 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



423 



suffer by the madness of our rulers, will unite 
to oppose them. It is a strange idea we have 
taken up, to cure their resentments by increas- 
ing their provocations ; to remove the effects 
of our own ill conduct by multiplying the 
instances of it. But the spirit of blindness and 
infatuation is gone forth. We are hurrying 
wildly on without any fixed design, without 
any important object. We pursue a vain 
phantom of unlimited sovereignty, which was 
not made for man : and reject the solid advan- 
tages of a moderate, useful, and intelligible 
authority. That just God, whom we have all 
so deeply offended, can hardly inflict a severer 
national punishment than by committing us to 
the natural consequences of our own conduct. 
Indeed, in my opinion, a blacker cloud never 
hung over this island. 

To reason consistently with the principles of 
justice and national friendship, which I have 
endeavored to establish, or rather to revive 
what was established by our ancestors, as our 
wisest rule of conduct for the government of 
America ; I must necessarily disapprove of the 
bill before us, for it contradicts evei-y one of 
them. In our present situation every act of 
the legislature, even our acts of severity, ought 
to be so many steps towards the reconciliation 
we wish for. But to change the government 
of a people, without their consent, is the highest 
and most arbitrary act of sovereignty that one 
nation can exercise over another. The Ro- 
mans hardly ever proceeded to this extremity, 
even over a conquered nation, till its frequent 
revolts and insurrections had made them deem 
it incorrigible. The very idea of it, implies a 
most abject and slavish dependency in the 
inferior state. Recollect that the Americans 
are men of like passions with ourselves, and 
think how deeply this treatment must affect 
them. They have the same veneration for 
their charters that we have for our Magna 
Charta, and they ought in reason to have greater. 
They are the title deeds to all their rights, both 
public and private. What ! my lords, must 
these rights never acquire any legal assurance 
and stability ? can they derive no force from 
the peaceful possession of near two hundred 
years ? and must the fundamental constitution 
of a powerful state be, forever, subject to as 
capricious alterations as you think fit to make 
in the charters of a little mercantile company 
or the corporation of a borough .' this will un- 
doubtedly furnish matter for a more pernicious 
debate than has yet been moved. Every other 
colony will make the case its own. — They will 
complain that their rights can never be ascer- 
tained ; that every thing belonging to them de- 



pends upon our arbitrary will ; and may think 
it better to run any hazard, than to submit to the 
violence of their mother-country, in a matter in 
which they can see neither moderation nor end. 

But let us coolly enquire, what is the reason 
of this unheard of innovation. Is it to make 
them peaceable ? my lords, it will make them 
mad. Will they be better governed if we in- 
troduce this change ? will they be more our 
friends .' the least that such a measure can do, 
is to make them hate us. And would to God, 
my lords, we had governed ourselves with as 
much economy, integrity and prudence, as they 
have done. Let them contmue to enjoy the 
liberty our fathers gave them. Gave them, did 
I say ? they are co-heirs of liberty with our- 
selves ; and their portion of the inheritance has 
been much better looked after than ours. 
Suffer them to enjoy a little longer that short 
period of public integrity and domestic happi- 
ness, which seems to be the portion allotted by 
Providence to young rising states. Instead of 
hoping that their constitution may receive im- 
provement from our skill in government, the 
most useful wish I can form in their favor, is 
that Heaven may long preserve them from our 
vices and our politics. 

Let me add further — that to make any chan- 
ges in their government, without their consent, 
would be to transgress the wisest rules of poli- 
cy, and to wound our most important interests, 
As they increase in numbers and in riches, 
our comparative strength must lessen. In an- 
other age, when our power has begun to lose 
something of its superiority, we should be 
happy if we could support our authority by 
mutual good will and the habit of commanding ; 
but chiefly by those original establishments, 
which time and public honor might have ren- 
dered inviolable. Our posterity will then have 
reason to lament that they cannot avail them- 
selves of those treasures of public friendship 
and confidence which our fathers had wisely 
hoarded up, and we are throwing away. 'Tis 
hard, 'tis cruel, besides all our debts and taxes, 
and those enormous expenses which are mul- 
tiplying upon us every year, to load our unhappy 
sons with the hatred and curse of North Amer- 
ica. Indeed, my lords, we are treating pos- 
terity very scurvily. We have mortgaged all 
the lands ; we have cut down all the oaks ; we 
are now trampling down the fences, rooting up 
the seedlings and samplers, and ruining all the 
resources of another age. We shall send the 
next generation into the world, like the wretched 
heir of a worthless father, without money, credit 
or friends ; with a stripped, incumbered, and 
perhaps untenanted estate. 



424 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Having spoken so largely against the principle 
of the bill, it is hardly necessary to enter into 
the merits of it. I shall only observe that, even 
if we had the consent of the people to alter 
their government, it would be unwise to make 
such alterations as these. To give the ap- 
pointment of the governor and council to the 
crown, and the disposal of all places, even of 
the judges, and with a power of removing them, 
to the governor, is evidently calculated with a 
view to form a strong party in our favor. This 
I know has been done in other colonies ; but 
still this is opening a source of perpetual dis- 
cord, where it is our interest always to agree. 
If we mean anything by this establishment, it 
is to support the governor and the council 
against the people, i. e. to quarrel with our 
friends, that we may please their servants. 
This scheme of governing them by a party is 
not wisely imagined, it is much too premature, 
and, at all events, must turn to our disadvan- 
tage. If it fails, it will only make us comtemp- 
tible ; if it succeeds, it will make us odious. It 
is our interest to take very little part in their 
domestic administration of government, but 
purely to watch over them for their good. We 
never gained so much by North America as 
when we let them govern themselves, and were 
content to trade with them and to protect 
them. One would think, my lords, there was 
some statute law, prohibiting us, under the 
severest penalties, to profit by experience. 

My lords, I have ventured to lay my thoughts 
before you, on the greatest national concern 
that ever came under your deliberation, with as 
much honesty as you will meet with from abler 
men, and with a melancholy assurance, that 
not a word of it will be regarded. And yet, 
my lords, with your permission, I will waste 
one short argument more on the same cause, 
one that I own I am fond of, and which con- 
tains in it, what, I think, must affect every gen- 
erous mind. My lords, I look upon North 
America as the only great nursery of freemen 
now left upon the face of the earth. We have 
seen the liberties of Poland and Sweden swept 
away, in the course of one year, by treachery 
and usurpation. The free towns in Germany 
are like so many dying sparks, that go out one 
after another ; and which must all be soon 
extinguished under the destructive greatness of 
their neighbors. Holland is little more than a 
great tr.iding company, with luxurious manners, 
and an exhausted revenue ; with little strength 
and with less spirit. Switzerland alone is I'ree 
and happy within the narrow inclosure of its 
rocks and valleys. As for the state of this 
country, my lords, I can only refer myself to 



your own secret thoughts. I am disposed 
to think and hope the best of public liberty. 
Were I to describe her according to my own 
ideas at present, I should say that she has a 
sickly countenance, but I trust she has a long 
constitution. 

But whatever may be our future fate, the 
greatest glory that attends this country, a greater 
than any other nation ever acquired, is to have 
formed and nursed up to such a state of happi- 
ness those colonies whom we are now so eager 
to butcher. We ought to cherish them as the 
immortal monuments of our public justice and 
wisdom ; as the heirs of our better days, of our 
expiring national virtues. What work of art, 
or power, or public utility has ever equalled 
the glory of having peopled a continent with- 
out guilt or bloodshed, with a multitude of free 
and happy commonwealths ; to have given 
them the best arts of life and government ; and 
to have suffered them, under the shelter of our 
authority, to acquire in peace the skill to use 
them. In comparison of this, the policy of 
governing by influence, and even the pride of 
war and victory, are dishonest tricks and poor 
contemptible pageantry. 

We seem not to be sensible of the high and 
important trust which Providence has commit- 
ted to our charge. The most precious remains 
of civil liberty that the world can now boast of, 
are now lodged in our hands ; and God forbid 
that we should violate so sacred a deposite. 
By enslaving your colonies, you not only ruin 
the peace, the commerce, and the fortunes of 
both countries ; but you extinguish the fairest 
hopes, shut up the last asylum of mankind. I 
think, my lords, without being weakly supersti- 
tious, that a good man may hope that Heaven 
will take part against the execution of a plan 
w'hich seems big not only with mischief, but 
impiety. 

Let us be content with the spoils and the 
destruction of the east. If your lordships can 
see no impropriety in it, let the plunderer and 
oppressor still go free. But let not the love of 
liberty be the only crime you think worthy of 
punishment. I fear we shall soon make it a 
part of our national character, to ruin every 
thing that has the misfortune to depend upon us. 

No nation has ever before contrived, in so 
short a space of time, without any war or pub- 
lic calamity (unless unwise measures may be so 
called) to destroy such ample resources of com- 
merce, wealth and power, as of late were ours, 
and which, if they had been rightly improved, 
might have raised us to a state of more honor- 
able and more permanent greatness than the 
world has yet seen. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



425 



Let me remind the noble lords in administra- 
tion, that before the stamp-act they had power 
sufficient to answer all the just ends of govern- 
ment, and they were all completely answered. 
If that is the power they want, though we have 
lost much of it at present, a few kind words 
would recover it all. 

But if the tendency of this bill is, as I own it 
appears to me, to acquire a power of govern- 
ing them by influence and corruption, in the 
first place, my lords, this is not true government, 
but a sophisticated kind, which counterfeits the 
appearance, but without the spirit or virtue of 
the true: and then, as it tends to debase their 
spirits and corrupt their manners, to destroy all 
that is great and respectable in so considerable 
a part of the human species, and by degrees to 
gather them together with the rest of the world 
under the yoke of universal slavery — I think, 
for these reasons, it is the duty of every wise 
man, of every honest man, and of every Eng- 
lishman, by all lawful means, to oppose it. 



JOHN WILKES. 

Extract from his speech delivered in 
the house of commons, february 6, 
1775, ON LORD North's propositions to 

DECLARE THAT A REBELLION EXISTED IN 
THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, ETC. 

[from botta's history.] 

" I am indeed surprised, that, in a business 
of so much moment as this before the house, 
respecting the British colonies in America, a 
cause which comprehends almost every ques- 
tion relative to the common rights of mankind, 
almost every question of policy and legislation, 
it should be resolved to proceed with so little 
circumspection, or rather with so much preci- 
pitation and heedless imprudence. With what 
temerity are we assured, that the same men 
who have been so often overwhelmed with 
praises for their attachment to this country, for 
their forwardness to grant it the necessary suc- 
cors, for the valor they have signalized in its 
defence, have all at once so degenerated from 
their ancient manners, as to merit the appella- 
tion of seditious, ungrateful, impious rebels ! 
But if such a change has indeed been wrought 
in the minds of this most loyal people, it must 
at least be admitted, that affections so extra- 
ordinary could only have been produced by 
some very powerful cause. But who is igno- 
rant, who needs to be told of the new madness 



that infatuates our ministers ? — who has not 
seen the tyrannical counsels they have pursued, 
for the last ten years } They would now have 
us carry to the foot of the throne, a resolution, 
stamped with rashness and injustice, fraught 
with blood, and a horrible futurity. But before 
this be allowed them, before the signal of civil 
war be given, before they are permitted to 
force Englishmen to sheath their swords in the 
bowels of their fellow-subjects, I hope this 
house will consider the rights of humanity, the 
original ground and cause of the present dis- 
pute. Have we justice on our side ? No : as- 
suredly no. He must be altogether a stranger 
to the British constitution, who does not know 
that contributions are voluntary gifts of the 
people ; and singularly blind, not to perceive 
that the words " liberty and property," so 
grateful to English ears, are nothing better 
than mockeiy and insult to the Americans, if 
their property can be taken without their con- 
sent. And what motive can there exist for this 
new rigor, for these extraordinary measures ? 
Have not the Americans always demonstrated 
the utmost zeal and liberality, whenever their 
succors have been required by the mother 
country ? 

" In the two last wars, they gave you more 
than you asked for, and more than their facili- 
ties warranted : they were not only liberal to- 
wards you, but prodigal of their substance. 
They fought gallantly and victoriously by your 
side, with equal valor, against our and their 
enemy, the common enemy of the liberties of 
Europe and America, the ambitious and faith- 
less French, whom now we fear and flatter. 
And even now, at a moment when you are 
planning their destruction, when you are brand- 
ing them with the odious appellation of rebels, 
what is their language, what their protesta- 
tions ? Read, in the name of Heaven, the late 
petition of the congress to the king ; and you 
will find, ' they are ready and willing, as they 
ever have been, to demonstrate their loyalty, 
by exerting their most strenuous efforts in 
granting supplies, and raising forces, when 
constitutionally required.' And yet we hear it 
vociferated, by some inconsiderate individuals, 
that the Americans wish to abolish the naviga- 
tion act : that they intend to throw off the 
supremacy of Great Britain. But would to 
God, these assertions were not rather a provo- 
cation than the truth ! They ask nothing, for 
such are the words of their petition, but for 
peace, liberty, and safety. They wish not a 
diminution of the royal prerogative ; they solicit 
I not any new right. They are ready, on the 
I contrary, to defend this preiogative, to main- 



426 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



tain the royal authority, and to draw closer the 
bonds of their connection with Great Britain. 
But our ministers, perhaps to punish others for 
their own faults, are sedulously endeavoring, 
not only to relax these powerful ties, but to 
dissolve and sever them forever. Their address 
represents the province of Massachusetts as in 
a state of actual rebellion. The other provinces 
are held out to our indignation, as aiding and 
abetting. Many arguments have been em- 
ployed, by some learned gentlemen among us, 
to comprehend them all in the same offence, 
and to involve them in the same proscription. 

'• Whether their present state is that of re- 
bellion, or of a fit and just resistance to unlaw- 
ful acts of power, to our attempts to rob them 
of their property and liberties, as they imagine, 
I shall not declare. But I well know what will 
follow, nor, however strange and harsh it may 
appear to some, shall I hesitate to announce it, 
that I may not be accused hereafter, of having 
failed in duty to my country, on so grave an 
occasion, and at the approach of such direful 
calamities. Know, then, a successful resis- 
tance is a revolution, not a rebellion : Rebellion, 
indeed, appears on the back of a flying enemy, 
but revolution flames on the breastplate of the 
victorious warrior. Who can tell, whether, in 
consequence of this day's violent and mad ad- 
dress to his majesty, the scabbard may not be 
thrown away by them as well as by us ; and 
whether, in a few years, the independent 
Americans may not celebrate the glorious era 
of the revolution of 1775, as we do that of 
1668.' The generous effort of our forefathers 
for freedom. Heaven crowned with success, or 
their noble blood had dyed our scaffolds, like 
that of Scottish traitors and rebels ; and the 
period of our history which does us the most 
honor, would have been deemed a rebellion 
against the lawful authority of the prince, not 
a resistance authorized by all the laws of God 
and man, not the expulsion of a detested 
tyrant. 

" But suppose the Americans to combat 
against us with more unhappy auspices than 
we combated James, would not victory itself 
prove pernicious and deplorable ? Would it 
not be fatal to British as well as American 
liberty .' Those armies which should subju- 
gate the colonists, would subjugate also their 
parent state. Marius, Sylla, Ca;sar, Augustus, 
Tiberius, did they not oppress Roman liberty 
with the same troops that were levied to main- 
tain Roman supremacy over subject provinces ? 
But the impulse once given, its effects extended 
much further than its authors expected ; for 
the same soldiery that destroyed the Roman 



republic, subverted and utterly demolished the 
imperial power itself. In less than fifty years 
after the death of Augustus, the armies des- 
tined to hold the provinces in subjection, pro- 
claimed three emperors at once ; disposed of 
the empire according to their caprice, and 
raised to the throne of the Caesars the object 
of their momentary favor. 

" I can no more comprehend the policy, than 
acknowledge the justice of your deliberations. 
— Where is your force, what are your armies, 
how are they to be recruited, and how sup- 
ported ? The single province of Massachusetts 
has, at this moment, thirty thousand men, well 
trained and disciplined, and can bring, in case 
of emergency, ninety thousand into the field ; 
and, doubt not, they will do it, when all that is 
dear is at stake, when forced to defend their 
liberty and property against their cruel oppres- 
sors. The right honorable gentleman with the 
blue riband assures us that ten thousand of our 
troops and four Irish regiments, will make 
their brains turn in the head a little, and strike 
them aghast with terror ? But where does the 
author of this exquisite scheme propose to send 
his army ? Boston, perhaps, you may lay in 
ashes, or it may be made a strong garrison ; but 
the province will be lost to you. You will hold 
Boston as you hold Gibraltar, in the midst of a 
country which will not be yours ; the whole 
American continent will remain in the power 
of your enemies. The ancient story of the 
philosopher Calanus and the Indian hide, will 
be verified ; where you tread, it will be kept 
down ; but it will rise the more in all other 
parts. Where your fleets and armies are sta- 
tioned, the possession will be secured while 
they continue ; but all the rest will be lost. In 
the great scale of empire, you will decline I 
fear, from the decision of this day ; and the 
Americans will rise to independence, to power, 
to all the greatness of the most renowned 
states ; for they build on the solid basis of 
general public hberty. 

" I dread the effects of the present resolu- 
tion ; I shudder at our injustice and cruelty ; I 
tremble for the consequences of our impru- 
dence. You will urge the Americans to des- 
peration. They will certainly defend their 
property and liberties, with the spirit of free- 
men, with the spirit our ancestors did, and I 
hope we should exert on a like occasion. They 
will sooner declare themselves independent, 
and risk every consequence of such a contest, 
than submit to the galling yoke which admin- 
istration is preparing for them. Recollect 
Philip II. king of Spain : remember the Seven 
Provinces, and the duke of Alva. It was delib- 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



427 



erated, in the council of the monarch, what 
measures should be adopted respecting the 
Low Countries ; some were disposed for clem- 
ency, others advised rigor ; the second pre- 
vailed. The duke of Alva was victorious, it is 
true, wherever he appeared ; but his cruelties 
sowed the teeth of the serpent. The beggars 
of the Briel, as they were called by the Span- 
iards, who despised them as you now despise 
the Americans, were those, however, who first 
shook the power of Spain to the centre. And, 
comparing the probabilities of success in the 
contest of that day, with the chances in that of 
the present, are they so favorable to England 
as they were then to Spain .' This none will 
pretend. You all know, however, the issue 
of that sanguinarj' conflict — how that powerful 
empire was rent asunder, and severed forever 
into many parts. Profit, then, by the expe- 
rience of the past, if you would avoid a similar 
fate. But you would declare the Americans 
rebels ; and to your injustice and oppression, 
you add the most opprobrious language, and 
the most insulting scoffs. If you persist in 
your resolution, all hope of a reconciliation is 
extinct. The Americans will triumph — the 
whole continent of North America will be dis- 
membered from Great Britain, and the wide 
arch of the raised empire fall. But I hope the 
just vengeance of the people will overtake the 
authors of these pernicious counsels, and the 
loss of the first province of the empire be 
speedily followed by the loss of the heads of 
those ministers who first invented them." 

Thus spoke this ardent patriot. His discourse 
was a prophecy ; and hence, perhaps, a new 
probability might be argued for the vulgar 
maxim, that the crazed read the future often 
better than the sage ; for, among other things, 
it was said also of Wilkes, at that time, that 
his intellects were somewhat disordered. 



REPLY 

Of Capt.\in Harvey, to John Wilkes, 
February 6, 1775. 

Captain Harvey answered him, in substance, 
as follows : 

" I am very far from believing myself capable 
of arguing the present question with all the 
eloquence which my vehement adversary has 
signalized in favor of those who openly, and in 
arms, resist the ancient power of Great Britain ; 
as the studies which teach men the art of dis- 
coursmg with elegance, are too different and 



too remote from my profession. This shall not 
however, deter me from declaring my senti- 
ments with freedom, on so important a crisis, 
though my words should be misinterpreted by 
the malignity of party, and myself represented 
as the author of illegal counsels, or, in the 
language of faction, the defender of tyranny. 

" And, first of all, I cannot but deplore the 
misery of the times, and the destiny which 
seems to persecute our beloved country. Can 
I see her, without anguish, reduced to this dis- 
astrous extremity, not only by the refractory 
spirit of her ungrateful children on the other 
side of the ocean, but also by some of those 
who inhabit this kingdom, and whom honor, 
if not justice and gratitude, should engage in 
words and deeds, to support and defend her? 
Till we give a check to these incendiaries, 
who, with a constancy and art only equalled by 
their baseness and infamy, blow discord and 
scatter their poison in every place, in vain c^n 
we hope, without coming to the last extremi- 
ties, to bring the leaders of this deluded people 
to a sense of their duty. 

" To deny that the legislative power of Great 
Britain is entire, general, and sovereign, over 
all parts of its dominions, appears to me too 
puerile to merit a serious answer. What I 
would say is, that under this cover of rights, 
under this color of privileges, under these pre- 
texts of immunities, the good and loyal Ameri- 
cans have concealed a design, not new, but 
now openly declared, to cast off every species 
of superiority, and become altogether an inde- 
pendent nation. They complained of the stamp- 
act. It was repealed. Did this satisfy them ? 
On the contrary they embittered more than 
ever our respective relations, refusing to indem- 
nify the victim now of their violence, and now to 
rescind resolutions that were so many strides 
towards rebellion. And yet, in these cases, 
there was no question of taxes, either internal 
or external. A duty was afterwards imposed on 
glass, paper, colors, and tea. They revolted 
anew: and the bounty of this too indulgent 
mother again revoked the greater part of these 
duties, leaving only that upon tea, which may 
yield, at the utmost, sixteen thousand pounds 
sterling. Even this inconsiderable impost. 
Great Britain, actuated by a meekness and 
forbearance without example, would have re- 
pealed also, if the colonists had peaceably 
expressed their wishes to this effect. At pre- 
sent., they bitterly complain of the regular 
troops sent amongst them to maintain the 
public repose. But, in the name of God, what 
is the cause of their presence in Boston? 
American disturbances. If the colonists had 



428 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



not first interrupted the general tranquility, if 
they had respected property, public and private ; 
ifthey hadnot openly resisted the laws of parlia- 
ment and the ordinances of the king, they 
would not have seen armed soldiers within 
their walls. But the truth is, they expressly 
excite the causes, in order to be able afterwards 
to bemoan the effects. When they were men- 
aced with real danger, when they were beset 
by enemies from within and from without, 
they not only consented to admit regular troops 
into the ver)- heart of their provinces, but 
urged us, with the most earnest solicitations, 
to send them ; but now the danger is past, and 
the colonists, by our treasure and blood, are 
restored to their original security ; now these 
troops have become necessary to repress the 
factions, to sustain the action of the laws, their 
presence is contrary to the constitution, a mani- 
fest violation of American liberty, an attempt to 
introduce tyranny : as if it were not the right 
and the obligation of the supreme authority, to 
protect the peace of the interior as well as that 
of the exterior, and to repress internal as effect- 
ually as external enemies. 

" As though the Americans were fearful of 
being called, at a future day, to take part in 
the national representation, they pre-occupy 
the ground, and warn you, in advance, that, 
considering their distance, they cannot be 
represented in the British parliament ; which 
means, if I am not deceived, that they will not 
have a representative power in common with 
England, but intend to enjoy one by themselves, 
perfectly distinct from this of the parent state. 
But why do I waste time, in these vain subtle- 
ties ? Not content with exciting discord 
at home, with disturbing all the institutions of 
social life, they endeavor also to scatter the 
germs of division in the neighboring colonies, 
such as Nova Scotia, the Floridas, and espe- 
cially Canada. Nor is this the end of their 
intrigues. Have we not read here, in this land 
of genuine felicity, the incendiary expressions 
of their address to the English people designed 
to allure them to the side of rebellion .' Yes, 
they have wished, and with all their power 
have attempted, to introduce into the bosom of 
this happy country, outrage, tumults, devasta- 
tion, pillage, bloodshed, and open resistance 
to the laws ! A thousand times undone the 
English people, should they suffer themselves 
to be seduced by the flatteries of the Ameri- 
cans ! The sweet peace, the inestimable lib- 
erty, they now enjoy, would soon be replaced 
by the most ferocious anarchy, devouring their 
wealth, annihilating their strength, contaminat- 
ing and destroying all the happiness of their 



existence. Already have the colonists trampled 
on all restraints : already have they cast off all 
human respect ; and, amidst their subtle mach- 
inations, and the shades in which they envelop 
themselves, they suffer as it were, in spite of 
themselves, their culpable designs to appear. If 
they have not yet acquired the consistence, 
they at least assume the forms, of an independ- 
ent nation. 

" Who among us has not felt emotions kind- 
ling deep in his breast, or transports of indig- 
nation, at the reading of the decrees of congress 
in which, with a language and a tone better 
beseeming the haughty courts of Versailles, or 
of Madrid, than the subjects of a great king, 
they ordain imperiously the cessation of all 
commerce between their country and our own ! 
We may transport our merchandise and our 
commodities among all other nations. It is 
only under the inhospitable skies of America, 
only in this country, dyed with the blood, and 
bathed in the sweat, we have shed for the 
safety and prosperity of its inhabitants, that 
English industry cannot hope for protection, 
cannot find an asylum ! Are we then of a 
spirit to endure that our subjects trace around 
us the circle of Propilius, and proudly declare 
on what condition they will deign to obey the 
ancient laws of the common country ? But all 
succeeds to their wish : they hope, from our 
magnanimity, that war will result, and from 
war, independence. And what a people is 
this, whom benefits cannot oblige, whom clem- 
ency exasperates, whom the necessity of de- 
fence, created by themselves, offends ! 

" If, therefore, no doubt can remain as to the 
projects of these ungrateful colonies : if an uni- 
versal resistance to the civil government, and 
to the laws of the country, if the interruption 
of a free and reciprocal commerce between one 
part and another of the realm ; if resisting 
every act of the British legislature, and abso- 
lutely, in word and deed, denying the sove- 
reignty of this country ; if laying a strong hand 
on the revenues of America ; if seizing his 
majesty's forts, artillery, and ammunition ; if 
exciting and stimulating, by every means, the 
whole subjects of America to take arms, and 
to resist the constitutional authority of Great 
Britain, are acts of treason, then are the Ameri- 
cans in a state of the most flagrant rebellion. 
Wherefore, then, should we delay to take reso- 
lute measures ? If no other alternative is left 
us, if it is necessary to use the power which 
we enjoy, under Heaven, for the protection of 
the whole empire, let us show the Americans, 
that, as our ancestors deluged this country 
with their blood, to leave us a free constitution. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



429 



we, like men, in defiance of faction at home 
and rebellion abroad, are determined, in glori- 
ous emulation of their example, to transmit it, 
perfect and unimpaired, to our posterity. I 
hear it said by these propagators of sinister 
auguries, that we shall be vanquished in this 
contest. But all human enterprises are never 
without a something of uncertainty. Are 
high-minded men for this to stand listless, and 
indolently abandon to the caprices of fortune 
the conduct of their affairs ? If this dastardly 
doctrine prevailed, if none would ever act with- 
out assurance of the event, assuredly no gen- 
erous enterprise would ever be attempted ; 
chance, and blind destiny, would govern the 
world. I trust, however, in the present crisis, 
we may cherish better hopes ; for, even omit- 
ting the bravery of our soldiers and the ability 
of our generals, loyal subjects are not so rare 
in America as some believe, or affect to believe. 
And, besides, will the Americans long support 
the privation of all the things necessary to life, 
which our numerous navy will prevent from 
reaching their shores ? 

" This is what I think of our present situa- 
tion ; these are the sentiments of a man neither 
partial nor vehement, but free from all prepos- 
sessions, and ready to combat and shed the 
last drop of his blood, to put down the excesses 
of license, to extirpate the germs of cruel 
anarchy, to defend the rights and the privileges 
of this most innocent people, whether he finds 
their enemies in the savage deserts of America, 
or in the cultivated plains of England. 

"And if there are Catilines among us, who 
plot in darkness pernicious schemes against 
the state, let them be unveiled and dragged to 
light, that they may be offered a sacrifice, as 
victims to the just vengeance of this courteous 
country ; that their names may be stamped 
with infamy to the latest posterity, and their 
memory held in execration, by all men of 
worth, in every future age ! " 



EDMUND BURKE. 

His celebrated speech delivered in 
THE House of Commons, on moving 
HIS resolution for conciliation with 
THE American colonies. 

March 22, 1775. 

I hope, sir, that, notwithstanding the aus- 
terity of the chair, your good nature will incline 
you to some degree of indulgence towards hu- 
man frailty. You will not think it unnatural, 
that those who have an object depending, which 



strongly engages their hopes and fears, should 
be somewhat inclined to superstition. As I 
came into the house full of anxiety about the 
event of my motion, I found, to my infinite sur- 
prise, that the grand penal bill, by which we 
had passed sentence on the trade and susten- 
ance of America, is to be returned to us from 
the other house.* I do confess I could not 
help looking on this event as a fortunate omen. 
I look upon it as a sort of Providential favor, 
by which we are put once more in possession 
of our deliberative capacity, upon a business so 
very questionable in its nature, so very uncer- 
tain in its issue. By the return of this bill, 
which seemed to have taken its flight forever, 
we are at this very instant nearly as free to 
choose a plan for our American government, as 
we were on the first day of the session. If, sir, 
we incline to the side of conciliation, we are 
not at all embarrassed (unless we please to 
make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture 
of coercion and restraint. We are therefore 
called upon, as it were by a superior warning 
voice, again to attend to America ; to attend 
to the whole of it together ; and to review the 
subject with an unusual degree of care and 
calmness. 

Surely it is an awful subject ; or there is none 
so on this side of the grave. When I first had 
the honor of a seat in this house, the affairs 
of that continent pressed themselves upon us, 
as the most important and most delicate object 
of parliamentary attention. My little share in 
this great deliberation oppressed me. I found 
myself a partaker in a very high trust ; and 
having no sort of reason to rely on the strength 
of my natural abilities for the proper execution 
of that trust, I was obliged to take more than 
common pains, to instruct myself in everything 
which relates to our colonies. I was not less 
under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas, 
concerning the general policy of the British 
empire. Something of this sort seemed to be 
indispensable, in order, amidst so vast a fluc- 
tuation of passions and opinions, to concentre 
my thoughts ; to ballast my conduct ; to pre- 
serve me from being blown about by every 
wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did not 
think it safe, or manly, to have fresh principles 
to seek upon every fresh mail which should 
arrive from America. 

* The act to restrain the trade and commerce of the 
province of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and 
colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Providence 
Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, 
and the British islands in the West-Indies ; and to prohibit 
such provinces and colonies from carrying on any tishery 
on the banks of New Foundland and other places therein 
mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations. 



430 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



At that period, I had the fortune to find my- 
self in perfect concurrence with a large majority 
in this house. Bowing under that high au- 
thority, and penetrated with the sharpness and 
Strength of that early impression, I have con- 
tinued ever since, without the least deviation, 
in my original sentiments. Whether this be 
owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or 
to a religious adherence to what appears to 
me truth and reason, it is in your equity to 
judge. 

Parliament, sir, having an enlarged view of 
objects, made, during this interval, more fre- 
quent changes in their sentiments and their 
conduct, than could be justified in a particular 
person upon the contracted scale of private 
information. But though I do not hazard any 
thing approaching to a censure on the motives 
of former parliaments to all those alterations, 
one fact is undoubted, that under them the 
state of America has been kept in continual 
agitation. Every thing administered as remedy 
to the public complaint, if it did not produce, 
was at least followed by, an heightening of the 
distemper ; until, by a variety of experiments, 
that important country has been brought into 
her present situation ; a situation, which I will 
not miscall, which I dare not name ; which I 
scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms 
of any description. 

In this posture, sir, things stood at the be- 
ginning of the session. About this time a 
worthy * member, of great parliamentary expe- 
rience, who, in the year 1776, filled the chair of 
the American committee with much ability, 
took me aside; and lamenting the present as- 
pect of the politics, told me things were come 
to such a pass, that our former methods of 
proceeding in the house would be no longer 
tolerated. That the public tribunal (never too 
indulgent to a long and unsuccessful opposi- 
tion) would now scrutinize our conduct W'ith 
unusual severity. That the very vicissitudes 
and shiftings of ministerial measures, instead 
of conncting their authors of inconstancy and 
want of system, would be taken as an occasion 
of charging us with a pre-determined discon- 
tent, which nothing could satisfy ; whilst we 
accused every measure of vigor as cruel, and 
every proposal of lenity as weak and irresolute. 
The public, he said, would not have patience 
to see us play the game out with our adversa- 
ries ; we must produce our hand. It would be 
expected, that those who for many years had 
been active in such affairs should show that 
they had formed some clear and decided idea 
of the principles of colony government ; and 
* Mr. Rose Fuller. 



were capable of drawing out something like a 
platform of the ground, which might be laid 
for future and permanent tranquility. 

I felt the truth of what my hon. friend repre- 
sented ; but I felt my situation too. His ap- 
plication might have been made with far greater 
propriety to many other gentlemen. No man 
was indeed ever better disposed, or worse 
qualified, for such an undertaking than myself. 
Though I gave so far in to his opinion that I 
immediately threw my thoughts into a sort of 
parliamentary form, I was by no means equally 
ready to produce them. It generally argues 
some degree of natural impotence of mind, or 
some want of know-ledge of the world, to 
hazard plans of government, except from a 
seat of authority. Propositions are made, not 
only ineffectually, but somewhat disreputably, 
when the minds of men are not properly 
disposed for their reception ; and, for my part 
I am not ambitious of ridicule ; nor absolutely 
a candidate for disgrace. 

Besides, sir, to speak the plain truth, I have 
in general no very exalted opinion of the virtue 
of paper government ; nor of any politics, in 
which the plan is to be wholly separated from 
the execution. But when I saw that anger and 
violence prevailed every day more and more, 
and that things were hastening towards an in- 
curable .alienation of our colonies, I confess my 
caution gave way. I felt this as one of those 
few moments in which decorum yields to an 
higher duty. Public calamity is a mighty 
leveller, and there are occasions when any 
even the slightest, chance of doing good must 
be laid hold on, even by the most inconsider- 
able person. 

To restore order and repose to an empire 
so great and so distracted as ours, is merely, 
in the attempt, an undertaking that would 
ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and 
obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest 
understanding. — Struggling a good while with 
these thoughts, by degrees I felt mj'self more 
firm. I derived, at length, some confidence 
from what in other circumstances usually pro- 
duces timidity. I grew less anxious even from 
the idea of my own insignificance ; for judg- 
ing of what you are, by what you ought to be, 
I persuaded myself that you would not reject a 
reasonable proposition, because it had nothing 
but its reason to recommend it. On the other 
hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of 
influence, natural or adventitious, I was very 
sure that, if my proposition were futile or dan- 
gerous, if it were weakly conceived, or impro- 
perly timed, there was nothing exterior to it, 
of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



431 



will see it just as it is, and you will treat it 
just as it desenes. 

The proposition is peace. Not peace through 
the medium of war. Not peace to be hunted 
through the labyrinth of intricate and endless 
negotiations. Not peace to arise out of uni- 
versal discord, fomented from principle in all 
parts of the empire. Not peace to depend on 
the juridical determination of perplexing ques- 
tions ; or the precise marking the shadowy 
boundaries of a complex government. It is 
simply peace, sought in its natural course, and 
its ordinary' haunts. It is peace sought in the 
spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely 
pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of 
the confidence, and by restoring the former 
unsuspecting difference of the colonies in the 
mother countr)', to give permanent satisfaction 
to your people ; and (far from a scheme of 
ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each 
other in the same act, and by the bond of the 
very same interest, which reconciles them to 
British government. 

My idea is nothing more. Refined policy 
ever had been the parent of confusion, and 
ever will be so as long as the world endures. 
Plain good intention, which is as easily dis- 
covered at the first view, as fraud is surely 
detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean 
force in the government of mankind. Genuine 
simplicity of heart is an healing and cementing 
principle. My plan, therefore, being formed 
upon the most simple grounds imaginable, 
may disappoint some people when they hear 
it. It has nothing to recommend it to the 
pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing 
at all new and captivating in it. It has nothing 
of the splendor of the project, which has been 
lately laid upon your table by the noble lord in 
the blue riband.* It does not propose to fill 
your lobby with squabbling colony agents, who 

* " That, when the governor, council or assembly, or 
general court, of any of his majesty's provinces or colonies 
in America, shall propose to make provision, according 
to the condition, circumstances and situation of such pro- 
vince or colony, for contributing their proportion to the 
common defence (such proportion to be raised under the 
authority of the general court ; or general assembly, of 
such province or colony, and disposable by parliament) 
and shall engage to make provision also for the support 
of the civil government, and the administration of justice, 
in such province or colony, it will be proper, if such pro- 
posal shall be approved by his majesty, and the house of 
parliament and for so long as such provision shall be made 
accordingly, to forbear, in respect of such province or 
colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, or to impose 
any further duty, tax, or assessment, except such duties 
as it may be expedient to continue to levy or impose for 
the regulation of commerce ; the neat produce of the 
duties last mentioned to be carried to the account of such 
province or colony respectively." Resolutions moved 
by lord North in the committee, and agreed to by the 
house, 27 Feb. 1775. 



will require the interposition of your mace, at 
every instant, to keep the peace among them. 
It does not institute a magnificent action of 
finance, where captivated provinces come to 
general ransom by bidding against each other 
until you knock down the hammer, and deter- 
mine a proportion of payments, beyond all the 
powers of algebra to equalize and settle. 

The plan, which I shall presume to suggest, 
derives, however, one great advantage from 
the proposition and registry of that noble 
lord's project. The idea of conciliation is 
admissible. First, the house, in accepting the 
resolution moved by the noble lord, has ad- 
mitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of 
our address, notwithstanding our hea\-y bill of 
pains and penalties, that we do not think our- 
selves precluded from all ideas of free grace 
and bounty. 

The house has gone farther, it has declared 
conciliation admissible, previous to any sub- 
mission on the part of America. It has even 
shot a good deal beyond that mark, and has 
admitted that the complaints of our former 
mode of exerting the right of taxation were not 
wholly unfounded. That right thus exerted is 
allowed to h,ave had something reprehensible 
in it ; something unwise, or something griev- 
ous ; since, in the midst of our heat and resent- 
ment, we of ourselves have proposed a capital 
alteration ; and, in order to get rid of what 
seemed so very exceptionable, have instituted 
a mode that is altogether new; one that is, 
indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient meth- 
ods and forms of parliament. 

The principle of this proceeding is large 
enough for my purpose. The means proposed 
by the noble lord for carr)'ing his ideas into 
execution, I think, indeed, are very indifferently 
suited to the end ; and this I shall endeavor to 
show you before I sit down. But, for the 
present, I take my ground on the admitted 
principle, I mean to give peace. Peace im- 
plies reconciliation ; and, where there has been 
a material dispute, reconciliation does in a 
manner always imply concession on the one 
part or on the other. In this state of things I 
make no difficulty in affirming that the pro- 
posal ought to originate from us. Great and 
acknowledged force is not impaired, either in 
effect or in opinion, by an unwillingness to 
exert itself. The superior power may offer 
peace with honor and with safety. Such an 
offer, from such a power, will be attributed to 
magnanimity. But the concessions of the 
weak are the concessions of fear. When such 
a one is disarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of 
his superior, and he loses forever that time and 



43= 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



those chances which, as they happen to all 
men, are the strength and resources of all 
inferior power. 

The capital leading questions, on which you 
must this day decide, are these two. First, 
whether you ought to concede ; and, secondly, 
what your concession ought to be. On the first 
of these questions we have gained (as I have 
just taken the liberty of observing to you) 
some ground. But I am sensible that a good 
deal more is still to be done. Indeed, sir, to 
enable us to determine both on the one and 
the other of these great questions, with a firm 
and precise judgment, I think it may be nec- 
essary to consider distinctly the true nature 
and the peculiar circumstances of the object 
which we have before us. Because, after all 
our struggle, whether we will or not, we must 
govern America according to that nature, and 
to those circumstances, and not according to 
our own imaginations ; not according to ab- 
stract ideas of right ; by no means according 
to mere general theories of government, the 
resort of which appears to me, in our present 
situation, no better than arrant trifling. I 
shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to 
lay before you some of the most material of 
these circumstances, in as full and as clear a 
manner as I am able to state them. 

The first thing that we have to consider with 
regard to the nature of the object, is the num- 
ber of people in the colonies. I have taken for 
some years a good deal of pains on that point. 
I can by no calculation justify myself in placing 
the number below two millions of inhabitants 
of our own European blood and color, besides 
at least 500,000 others, who form no inconsid- 
erable part of the strength and opulence of the 
whole. This, sir, is, I believe, about the true 
number. There is no occasion to exaggerate 
where plain truth is of so much weight and 
importance. But whether I put the present 
numbers too high or too low, is a matter of 
little moment. Such is the strength with 
which population shoots in that part of the 
world, that state the numbers as high as we 
will whilst the dispute continues, the exaggera- 
tion ends. Whilst we are discussing any 
given magnitude, they are grown to it. 
Whilst we spend our time in deliberating on 
the mode of governing two millions, we shall 
find we have millions more to manage. Your 
children do not grow faster from infancy to 
manhood, than they spread from families to 
communities, and from villages to nations. 

I put this consideration of the present and the 
growing numbers in the front of our delibera- 
tion ; because, sir, this consideration will make 



it evident to a blunter discernment than yours, 
that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinched 
occasional system will be at all suitable to such 
an object. It will shew you that it is not to be 
considered as one of those " minima," which 
are out of the eye and consideration of the law : 
not a paltry excrescence of the state ; not a mean 
dependent, who may be neglected with little 
damage, and provoked with little danger. It 
will prove that some degree of care and caution 
is required in the handling such an object ; it 
will shew that you ought not, in reason, to 
trifle with so large a mass of the interests and 
feelings of the human race. You could at no 
time do so without guilt, and be assured you 
will not be able to do it long with impunity. 

But the population of this country, the great 
and growing population, though a very import- 
ant consideration, will lose much of its weight 
if not combined with other circumstances. The 
commerce of your colonies is out of all propor- 
tion beyond the numbers of the people. This 
ground of their commerce indeed has been trod 
some days ago, and with great ability, by a dis- 
tinguished* person at your bar. This gentle- 
man, after thirty-five years — it is so long since he 
first appeared at the same place to plead for the 
commerce of Great Britain, — has come again 
before you to plead the same cause, without 
any other effect of time than that, to the fire of 
imagination, and extent of erudition, which even 
then marked him as one of the first literary 
characters of his age, he has added a consum- 
mate knowledge in the commercial interest 
of his country, formed by a long course of 
enlightened and discriminating experience. 

Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after 
such a person with any detail, if a great part of 
the members, who now fill the house, had not 
the misfortune to be absent when he appeared 
at your bar. Besides, sir, I propose to take 
the matter at periods of time somewhat differ- 
ent from his. There is, if I mistake not, a 
point of view from whence, if you will look at 
this subject, it is impossible that it should not 
make an impression upon you. 

I have in my hand two accounts, one a com- 
parative state of the export trade of England to 
its colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as 
it stood in the year 1772. The other a state of 
the export trade of this country to its colonies, 
alone, as it stood in 1772, compared with the 
whole trade of England to all parts of the 
world (the colonies included) in the year 1704. 
They are from good vouchers ; the latter period 
from the accounts on your table, the earlier 
from an original manuscript of Davenant, who 
* Mr. Glover. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



433 



first established the inspector-general's office, 
which has been ever since his time so abund- 
ant a source of parliamentary information. 

The export trade to the colonies consists of 
three great branches. The African, which ter- 
minating almost wholly in the colonies, must be 
put to the account of their commerce, the West 
Indian and the North American. All these are 
so interwoven, that the attempt to separate 
them would tear to pieces the contexture of 
the whole ; and, if not entirely destroy, would 
very much depreciate the value of all the parts. 
I therefore consider these three denomina- 
tions to be, what in effect they are, one trade. 

The trade to the colonies, taken on the export 
side, at the begining of this century, that is, in 
the year 1704, stood thus: 
Exports to North America and the West- 
Indies, ^^485 265 

To Africa, .... 86.665 

569,930 

In the year 1772, which I take as a middle 

year between the highest and the lowest of 

those lately laid on your table, the accounts 

were as follows : 

To North America and the West In- 
dies, £4.79f.73A 

To Africa 866,398 

To which if you add the exports trade to 
and from Scotland, which had in 1704 
no existence .... 364,000 



6.022,132 
From five hundred and odd thousands, it has 
grown to six millions ; it has increased no less 
than twelvefold. This is the state of the colony 
trade, as compared with itself at these two 
periods, within this century ; and this is mat- 
ter for meditation. But this is not all. Ex- 
amine my second account. See how the export 
trade to the colonies alone, in 1772, stood in 
the other point of view, that is, as compared to 
the whole trade of England, in 1704. 
The whole export trade of England, in- 
cluding that to the colonies, in 1704, ^6,509,000 
Except to the colonies alone, in 1772, 6,024,000 

Difference. . . 485,000 
The trade with America alone is now within 
less than ^500,000 of being equal to what this 
great commercial nation, England, carried on 
at the beginning of this century with the whole 
world ! If I had taken the largest year of 
tliose on your table, it w'ould rather have ex- 
ceeded. But it will be said, is not this Ameri- 
can trade an unnatural protuberance, that has 
drawn the juices from the rest of the body .' 
28 



The reverse. It is the very food that has 
nourished every other part into its present 
magnitude. Our general trade has been 
greatly augmented; and augmented more or 
less in almost every part to which it ever ex- 
tended ; but with this material difference, that 
of the six millions which, in the beginning of 
the century, constituted the whole mass of our 
export commerce, the colony trade was but 
one twelfth part ; it is now (as a part of seven- 
teen millions) considerably more than a third 
of the whole. This is the relative proportion 
of the importance of the colonies at these two 
periods ; and all reason concerning our mode 
of treating them must have this proportion as 
its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, and 
sophistical. 

Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail upon myself to 
hurry over this great consideration. It is good 
for us to be here. We stand where we have 
an immense view of what is, and what is past. 
Clouds indeed, and darkness rest upon the 
future. Let us, however, before we descend 
from this noble eminence, reflect that this 
growth of our national prosperity has happened 
within the short period of the life of man. It 
has happened within sixty-eight years. There 
are those alive, whose meinory might touch 
the two extremities ! For instance, my lord 
Bathurst might remember all the stages of the 
progress. He was, in 1704, of an age at least 
to be made to comprehend such things ; he 
was then old enough, acta parentum jam legere, 
et qua; sit proterit cognoscere virtus. Suppose, 
sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth 
foreseeing the many virtues, which made him 
one of the most amiable, as he is one of the 
most fortunate men of his age, had opened to 
him a vision, that when, in the fourth genera- 
tion, the third prince of the house of Brunswick 
had sat twelve years on the throne of that 
nation, which (by the happy issue of moderate 
and healing councils) was to be made Great 
Britain, he should see his son, lord Chancellor 
of England, turn back the current of hereditary 
dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a 
higher rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the 
family with a new one ; if, amidst these bright 
and happy scenes of domestic honor and pros- 
perity, that angel should have drawn up the 
curtain, and unfolded the rising glories of his 
country, and whilst he was gazing with admi- 
ration on the then commercial grandeur of 
England, the genius should point out to him a 
little speck, scarce visible in the mass of the 
national interest, a small seminal principle, 
rather than a formed body, and should tell him 
— " young man, there is America, which at this 



434 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS Of THE REVOLUTION. 



day sen'es for little more than to amuse you 
with stories of savage men, and uncouth man- 
ners ; yet shall, before you taste of death, shew 
itself equal to the whole of that commerce 
which now attracts the envy of the world. 
Whatever England has been growing to by a 
progressive increase of improvements, brought 
in by variety of people, by succession of civiliz- 
ing conquests and civilizing settlements in a 
series of seventeen hundred years, you shall 
see as much added to her by America, in the 
course of a single life ! " If this state of his 
country had been foretold to him. would it not 
require all the sanguine credulity of youth, and 
all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him 
believe it.' — Fortunate man, he has lived to see 
it ! Fortunate indeed, if he lives to see nothing 
that shall vary the prospect, and cloud the set- 
ting of the day. 

Excuse me, sir, if turning from such thoughts 
I resume this comparative view once more. 
You have seen it on a large scale ; look at it 
on a small one. I will point out to your atten- 
tion a particular instance of it in the single 
province of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that 
province called for ;£i 1,459 '" value of your 
commodities, native and foreign. This was 
the whole. What did it demand in 1772? 
Why, nearly fifty times as much, for in that 
year the export to Pennsylvania was ^507,909, 
nearly equal to the export to all the colonies 
together in the first period. 

I choose, sir, to enter into these minute and 
particular details ; because generalities, which 
in all other cases are apt to heighten and raise 
the subject, have here a tendency to sink it. 
When we speak of the commerce with our col- 
onies, fiction lags after truth ; invention is un- 
fruitful : and imagination cold and barren. 

So far, sir, as to the importance of the object 
in view of its commerce, as concerned in the 
exports from England. If I were to detail the 
imports, I could show how many enjoyments 
they procure which deceive the burthen of life : 
how many materials which invigorate the 
springs of national industry, and extend and 
animate every part of our foreign and domestic 
commerce. This would be a curious subject 
indeed ; but I must prescribe bounds to myself 
in a matter so vast and various. 

I pass, therefore, to the colonies in another 
point of view — their agriculture. This they 
have prosecuted with such a spirit, that besides 
deeding plentifully their own growing multitude, 
their annual export of grain, comprehending 
rice, has some years ago exceeded a million in 
value: of their last harvest, I am persuaded 
they will export much more. At the beginning 



of the century some of these colonies imported 
corn from the mother country. For some 
time past the old world has been fed from the 
new. The scarcity which you have felt would 
have been a desolating famine, if this child of 
your old age, with a true filial piety, with a 
Roman charity, had not put the full breast of 
its youthful exuberance to the mouth of its 
exhausted parent. 

As to the wealth which the colonies have 
drawn from the seas by their fisheries, you had 
all that matter fully opened at your bar ; you 
surely thought those acquisitions, for they 
seemed even to excite your envy ; and yet the 
spirit by which that enterprising employment has 
been exercised, ought rather, in my opinion, to 
have raised your esteem and admiration. And 
pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it ? 
Pass by the other parts, and look at the man- 
ner in which the people of New England have 
of late carried on the whale fisher)'. Whilst 
we follow them among the tumbling mountains 
of ice, and behold them penetrating into the 
deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and 
Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking for them 
beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they 
have pierced into the opposite region of polar 
cold ; that they are at the antipodes, and en- 
gaged under the frozen surface of the south. 
Falkland island, which seemed too remote and 
romantic an object for the grasp of national 
ambition, is but a stage and resting-place in 
the progress of their victorious industry. Nor 
is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to 
them than the accumul.ated winter of both the 
poles. We know that whilst some of them 
draw the line and strike the harpoon on the 
coast of Africa, others run the longitude, and 
pursue the gigantic game along the coast of 
Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their 
fisheries ; no climate that isnot witness to their 
toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor 
the activity of France, nor the dextrous and 
firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever car- 
ried this most perilous mode of hardy industry 
to the extent to which it has been pushed 
by this recent people ; a people who are still, 
as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hard- 
ened into the bone of manhood. When I con- 
template these things ; when I know that the 
colonies in general owe little or nothing to any 
care of ours, and that they are not squeezed 
into this happy form by the constraints 
of watchful and suspicious government, but 
that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a 
generous nature has been suffered to take her 
own way to perfection ; when I reflect upon 
these efforts, when I see how profitable thev 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



435 



have been to us, I feel all the pride of power 
sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of 
human contrivances melt, and die away within 
me. My rigor relents. I jiardon something 
to the spirit of liberty. 

I am sensible, sir, that all which I have 
asserted in my detail, is admitted in the gross ; 
but that quite a different conclusion is drawn 
from it. America, gentlemen, I say, is a noble 
object. It is an object well worth fighting for. 
Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best 
way of gaining them ; gentlemen, in this re- 
spect, will be led to their choice of means by 
their complexion and their habits. Those who 
understand the military art, will of course have 
some predilection for it. Those who wield the 
thunder of the state, may have more confidence 
in the efficacy of arms. But I confess. possibly 
for want of this knowledge, my opinion is 
much more in favor of prudent management 
than of force ; considering force not as an odious 
but a feeble instrument, for preserving a peo- 
ple, so numerous, so active, so growing, so 
spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate 
connection with us. 

First, sir, permit me to observe that the use 
of force alone is but temporary ; it may subdue 
for a moment, but it does not remove the 
necessity of subduing again : and a nation is not 
governed, which is perpetually to be conquered. 

My next object is its uncertainty; terror is 
not always the effect of force ; and an arma- 
ment is not a victor)'. If you do not succeed, 
you are without resource, for, conciliation fail- 
ing, force remains ; but force failing, no farther 
hope of reconciliation is left. Power and 
authority are sometimes bought by kindness ; 
but they can never be begged as alms by an 
impoverished and defeated violence. 

A farther objection to force is, that you im- 
pair the object by your very endeavors to 
preser\'e it. The thing you fought for, is not 
the thing which you recover ; but depreciated, 
sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. 
Nothing less will content me than whole Amer- 
ica. I do not choose to consume its strength 
along with our own, because in all parts it is 
the British strength that I consume. I do not 
choose to be caught by a foreign enemy at the 
end of this exhausting conflict ; and still less in 
the midst of it. I may escape, but I can make 
no insurance against such an event. Let me 
add, that I do not choose wholly to break the 
American spirit, because it is the spirit that 
has made the country. ■ ' 

Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor 
cf force as an instrument in the rule of our col- 
onies. Their growth and their utility has been 



owing to methods altogether different. Our 
ancient indulgence has been said to be pursued 
to a fault. It may be so. But we know, if 
feeling is evidence, that our fault was more 
tolerable than our attempt to mend it, and our 
sin far more salutary than our penitence. 

These, sir, are my reasons for not entertain- 
ing that high opinion of untried force, by which 
many gentlemen, for whose sentiments in 
other particulars I have great respect, seem to 
be so greatly captivated. But there is still 
behind a third consideration concerning this 
object, which serves to determine my opinion 
on the sort of policy which ought to be pursued 
in the management of America, even more 
than its population and its commerce. I 
mean its temper and character. 

In this character of the Americans a love of 
freedom is the predominating feature, which 
marks and distinguishes the whole ; and as an 
ardent is always a jealous affection, your colo- 
nies become suspicious, restive, and untracta- 
ble, whenever they see the least attempt to 
wrest from them by force, or shuffle from them 
by chicane, what they think the only advantage 
worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is 
stronger in the English colonies probably than 
in any other people of the earth, and this from 
a great variety of powerful causes ; which, to 
understand the true temper of their minds, and 
the directions which this spirit takes, it will 
not be amiss to lay open somewhat more 
largely. 

First, the people of the colonies are descend- 
ants of Englishmen. England, sir, is a nation 
which still I hope respects, and formerly 
adored her freedom. The colonists emigrated 
from you, when this part of your character was 
most predominant ; and they took this bias and 
direction the moment they parted from your 
hands. They are therefore not only devoted to 
liberty, but to liberty according to English 
ideas, and on English principles. Abstract 
liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to 
be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible 
object ; and every nation has formed to itself 
some favorite point which by way of eminence 
becomes the criterion of their happiness. Il 
happened, you know, sir, that the great con- 
tests for freedom in this country, were from 
the earliest times chiefly upon the question of 
taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient 
commonwealths turned primarily on the 
right of election of magistrates ; or on the bal- 
ance among the several orders of the state. 
The question of money was not with them so 
immediate. But in England it was otherwise. 
On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most 



436 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



eloquent tongues have been exercised ; the 
greatest spirits have acted and suffered. 

In order to give the fullest satisfaction con- 
cerning the importance of this point, it was not 
only necessary for those, who in argument de- 
fended the excellence of the English constitu- 
tion, to insist on this privilege of granting 
money as a dry point of fact, and to prove that 
the right had been acknowledged in ancient 
parchments and blind usages, to reside in a 
certain body called an house of commons. 
They went much further ; they attempted to 
prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it 
ought to be so from the particular nature of a 
house of commons, as an immediate represen- 
tative of the people, whether the old records 
had delivered this oracle or not. They took 
pains to calculate, as a fundamental principle, 
that in all monarchies the people must in effect 
themselves mediately or immediately possess 
the power of granting their own money, or no 
shadow of liberty could subsist. The colonies 
draw from you, as with their life blood, these 
ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as 
with you, fi.xed and attached on this specific 
point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or 
might be endangered in twenty other particu- 
lars, without their being much pleased or 
alarmed. Here they felt its pulse ; and as they 
found that beat, they found themselves sick or 
sound. I do not say whether they were right 
or wrong in applying your general arguments 
to their own case. It is not easy indeed to 
make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. 
The fact is, that they did thus apply those gen- 
eral arguments ; and your mode of governing 
them, whether through lenity or indolence, 
through wisdom or mistake, confirm them in 
the imagination that they, as well as you, had 
an interest in these common principles. 

They were further confirmed in this pleasing 
error by the form of their provincial legislative 
assemblies. Their governments are popular in 
an high degree, some are merely popular ; in 
all, the popular representative is the most 
weighty ; and this share of the people in their 
ordinary government never fails to inspire them 
with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aver- 
sion from whatever tends to deprive them of 
their chief importance. 

If anything were wanting to this necessary 
operation of the form of government, religion 
would have given it a complete effect. Re- 
ligion, always a principle of energy, in this new 
people, is no way worn out or impaired ; and 
their mode of professing it is also one main 
cause of this free spirit. The people are 
protestants; and of that kind which is the most 



averse to all implicit submission of mind and 
opinion. 

This is a persuasion not only favorable to 
liberty but built upon it. I do not think, sir, 
that the reason of this averseness in the dis- 
senting churches, from all that looks like abso- 
lute government, is so much to be sought in 
their religious tenets, as in their history. Every 
one knows, that the Roman Catholic religion 
is at least coeval with most of the governments 
where it prev.-iils ; that it has generally gone 
hand in hand with them, and received great 
favor and every kind of support from authority. 
The church of England too was formed from 
her cradle under the nursing care of regular 
government. But the dissenting interests have 
sprung up in direct opposition to all the ordi- 
nary powers of the world ; and could justify 
that opposition only on a strong claim to natu- 
ral liberty. Their very existence depended on 
the powerful and unremitted assertion of that 
claim. All Protestantism, even the most cold 
and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the re- 
ligion most prevalent in our northern colonies, 
is a refinement on the principle of resistance, 
it is the diffidence of dissent ; and the protes- 
tantism of the protestant religion. This re- 
ligion, under a variety of denominations agree- 
ing in nothing but in the communion of the 
spirit of liberty, is predominant in most of the 
northern provinces ; where the church of Eng- 
land, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in 
reality no more than a sort of private sect ; not 
composing most probably the tenth of the peo- 
ple. The colonists left England when this 
spirit was high : and in the emigrants was the 
highest of all, and even that strain of foreign- 
ers, which has been constantly flowing into 
these colonies, has for the greatest part, been 
composed of dissenters from the establishments 
of their several countries ; and have brought 
with them a temper and character far from 
alien to that of a people with whom they 
mixed. 

Sir, I can perceive, by their manner, that 
some gentlemen object to the latitude of this 
description : because in the southern colonies 
the church of England forms a large body, and 
has a regular establishment. It is certainly 
true. There is, however, a circumstance at- 
tending these colonies, which in my opinion, 
fully counterbalances this difference, and 
makes the spirit of liberty still more high and 
haughty than in those to the northward. It 
is that in Virginia and the Carolinas, they have 
a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the 
case ill any part of the world, those who are 
free, are by far the most proud and jealous of 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



437 



their freedom. Freedom is to them not only 
an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege. 
Not seeing there that freedom, as in countries 
where it is a common blessing, and as broad 
and general as the air, may be united with 
much abject toil, with great misery, with all 
the exterior of servitude, liberty looks amongst 
them like something that is more noble and 
liberal. I do not mean, sir, to commend the 
superior morality of this sentiment, which has 
at least as much pride as virtue in it, but I 
cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is 
so, and these people of the southern colonies 
are much more strongly, and with a higher 
and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty 
than those of the northward. Such were all 
the ancient commonwealths ; such were our 
Gothic ancestors ; such in our days were the 
Poles ; and such will be all masters of slaves, 
who are not slaves themselves. In such a peo- 
ple the haughtiness of domination combines 
with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and 
renders it invincible. 

To impoverish the colonies in general, and 
in particular to arrest the noble course of their 
marine enterprises, would be a more easy task, 
I freely confess it. We have shown a dispo- 
sition even to continue the restraint after the 
offence, looking on ourselves as rivals to our 
colonies, and persuaded that of course we must 
gain all that they shall lose. Much mischief 
we may certainly do. The power inadequate 
to all other things is often more than sufficient 
for this. I do not look on the direct and im- 
mediate power of the colonies to resist our 
violence as very formidable. In this, however, 
I may be mistaken. But when I consider, that 
we have colonies for no purpose but to be 
serviceable to us, it seems to my poor under- 
standing a little preposterous, to make them 
unserviceable, in order to keep them obedient. 
It is, in truth, nothing more than the old, and, 
as I thought, exploded problem of tyranny, 
which proposes to beggar its subjects into sub- 
mission. But remember when you have com- 
pleted your system of impoverishment, that 
nature still proceeds in her ordinary course ; 
that discontent will increase with misery ; and 
that there are critical moments in the fortune 
of all states, when they, who are too weak to 
contribute to your prosperity, may be strong 
enough to complete your ruin. Spolatis arma 
supersunt. 

The temper and character, which prevail in 
our colonies, are, I am afraid, unalterable by 
any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the 
pedigree of this fierce people, and persuade 
them that they are not sprung from a nation, in 



whose veins the blood of freedom circulates. 
The language, in which they would hear you 
tell them this tale, would detect the imposition ; 
your speech would betray you. An English- 
man is the unfittest person on earth to argue 
another Englishman into slavery. 

I think it is nearly as little in our power to 
change their republican religion, as their free 
descent ; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as 
a penalty, or the church of England as an im- 
provement. The mode of inquisition and 
dragooning is going out of fashion in the old 
world, and I should not confide much to tfieir 
efficacy in the new. The education of the 
Americans is also on the same unalterable bot- 
tom with their religion. You cannot persuade 
them to burn their books of curious science ; to 
banish their lawyers from their courts of law, or 
to quench the lights of their assemblies, by 
refusing to choose those persons who are best 
read in their privileges. It would be no less 
impracticable to think of wholly annihilating 
the popular assemblies, in which these lawyers 
sit. — The army, by which we must govern in 
their place, would be far more chargeable to us, 
not quite so effectual, and perhaps in the end, 
full as difficult to be kept in obedience. 

With regard to the high aristocratic spirit of 
Virginia and the southern colonies, it has 
been proposed, I know, to reduce it by declar- 
ing a general enfranchisement of their slaves. 
This project has had its advocates and panegy- 
rists : yet I never could argue myself into an 
opinion of it. Slaves are often much attached 
to their masters. A general wild offer of liberty 
would not always be accepted. — History fur- 
nishes few instances of it. It is sometimes as 
hard to persuade slaves to be free, as it is to 
compel freemen to be slaves, and in this auspi- 
cious scheme, w-e should have both these pleas- 
ing tasks on our hands at once. But when we 
talk of enfranchisement, do we not perceive 
that the American masters may enfranchise too, 
and arm servile hands in defence of freedom ? 
A measure to which other people have had 
recourse more than once, and not without suc- 
cess, in a desperate situation of their affairs. 

Slaves, as these unfortunate black people are, 
and dull as all men are from slavery, must they 
not a little suspect the offer of freedom from 
that very nation which has sold them to their 
present masters .' From that nation, one of 
whose causes of quarrel with those masters, is 
their refusal to deal any more in that inhuman 
traffic ? An offer of freedom from England 
would come rather oddly, shipped to them in an 
African vessel, which is refused an entry into 
the ports of Virginia and Carolina, with a cargo 



438 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of three hundred Angola negroes. It would be 
curious to see the Guinea captain attempting 
at the same instant to publish his proclamation 
of liberty, and to advertise his sale of slaves. 

But let us suppose all these moral difficulties 
got over. The ocean remains. You cannot 
pump this dry, and as long as it continues in 
its present bed, so long all the causes which 
weaken authority by distance will continue. 
" Ye Gods annihilate but space and time, and 
make two lovers happy I " was a pious and 
passionate prayer, but just as reasonable as 
many of the serious wishes of very grave and 
solemn politicians. 

If then, sir, it seems almost desperate to think 
of any alternative course for changing the moral 
causes (and not quite easy to remove the 
natural) which produce prejudices irreconcila- 
ble to the late exercise of our authority ; but 
that the spirit infallibly will continue, and con- 
tinuing, will produce such effects, as now em- 
barrass us, the second mode under considera- 
tion is to prosecute that spirit in its overt acts 
as criminal. 

At this proposition I must pause a moment. 
The thing seems a great deal too big for my 
ideas of jurisprudence. It should seem, to my 
way of conceiving such matters, that there is a 
very wide difference in reason and policy, be- 
tween the mode of proceedings in the irregular 
proceeding of scattered individuals, or even of 
bands of men, who disturb order within the state 
and the civil dissensions which may, from time 
to time, on great questions, agitate the several 
communities which compose a great empire. 
It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic, to 
apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to 
this great public contest. I do not know the 
method of drawing up an indictment against a 
whole people. I cannot insult and ridicule the 
feelings of millions of my fellow creatures, as 
sir Edward Coke insulted one excellent indivi- 
dual (sir Walter Raleigh) at the bar. I am 
not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public 
bodies, entrusted with magistracies of great 
authority and dignity, and charged with the 
safety of their fellow-citizens, upon the very 
same title that I am. I really think that, for 
wise men, this is not judicious; for sober men, 
not decent ; for minds tinctured with humanity, 
not mild and merciful. 

Perhaps, sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an 
empire, as distinguished from a single state or 
kingdom. But my idea of it is this, that an 
empire is the aggregate of many states under 
one common head ; whether this head be a 
monarch or a presiding republic. It does, in 
such constitutions, frequently happen (and 



nothing but the dismal, cold, dead uniformity 
of servitude can prevent its happening) that 
the subordinate parts have many local privi- 
leges and immunities. Between these pri- 
vileges, and the supreme common authority, 
the line may be extremely nice. Of course 
disputes, often too, very bitter disputes, and 
much ill-blood, will arise. But though every 
privilege is an exemption (in the case) from 
the ordinary exercise of the supreme authority, 
it is no denial of it. The claim of privilege 
seems rather ex vi termini, to imply a superior 
power. For to talk of the privileges of a state 
or of a person, who has no superior, is hardly 
any better than speaking nonsense. Now, in 
such unfortunate quarrels, among the com- 
ponent parts of a great political union of com- 
munities, I can scarcely conceive any thing 
more completely imprudent, than for the head 
of the empire to insist, that if any privilege is 
pleaded against his will, or his acts, that his 
whole authority is denied, instantly to proclaim 
rebellion ; to beat to arms, and to put the 
offending provinces under the ban. Will not 
this, sir, very soon teach the provinces to make 
no distinctions on their part .' Will it not 
teach them that the government, against which 
a claim of liberty is tantamount to high trea- 
son, is a government to which submission is 
equivalent to slavery? It may not always be 
quite convenient to impress dependent commu- 
nities with such an idea. 

We are, indeed, in all disputes with the colo- 
nies, by the necessity of things, the judge. It 
is true, sir. But I confess that the character 
of judge in my own cause, is a thing that 
frightens me. — Instead of filling me with pride, 
I am exceedingly humbled by it. I cannot 
proceed with a stern, assured, judicial char- 
acter. I must have these hesitations as long 
as I am compelled to recollect, that, in my 
little reading upon such contests as these, the 
sense of mankind has, at least, as often de- 
cided against the superior as the subordinate 
power. Sir, let me add, too, that the opinion 
of my having some abstract right in my favor, 
would not put me much at my ease in passing 
sentence, unless I could be sure that there 
were no rights which, in their exercises under 
certain circumstances, were not the most 
odious of all wrongs, and the most ve-xatious 
of all injustice. Sir, these considerations have 
great weight with me, when I find things so 
circumstanced, that I see the same party, at 
once a civil litigant against me in a point of 
right, and a culprit before me, while 1 sit as a 
criminal judge, on acts of his whose moral 
quality is to be decided upon the merits of that 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



439 



very litigation. Men are every now and then 
put, by the complexity of human affairs, into 
strange situations ; but justice is the same, let 
the judge be in what situation he will. 

There is, sir, also a circumstance which con- 
vinces me that this mode of criminal proceed- 
ing is not (at least in the present stage of our 
contest) altogether expedient ; which is noth- 
ing less than the conduct of those very persons 
who have seemed to adopt that mode, by 
lately declaring a rebellion in Massachusetts- 
Bay, as they had formerly addressed, to have 
traitors brought hither under an act of Henry 
the eighth for trial. For though rebellion is 
declared, it is not proceeded against as such ; 
nor have any steps been taken towards the 
apprehension or conviction of any individual 
offender, either in our late or our former 
address : but modes of public coercion have 
been adopted, and such as have much more 
resemblance to a sort of qualified hostility 
towards an independent power than the pun- 
ishment of rebellious subjects. All this seems 
rather inconsistent, but it shows how difficult 
it is to apply these juridical ideas to our pre- 
sent case. 

In this situation, let us seriously and coolly 
ponder. What is it we have got by all our 
menaces, which have been many and ferocious ? 
What advantage have we derived from the 
penal laws we have passed, and which, for the 
time, have been severe and numerous ? What 
advances have we made towards our object 
by the sending of a force which, by land and 
sea, is no contemptible strength ? Has the 
disorder abated ? Nothing less. — When I 
see things in this situation, after such confident 
hopes, bold promises, and active exertions, I 
cannot, for my life, avoid a suspicion that the 
plan itself is not correctly right. 

If then the removal of the causes of this 
spirit of American liberty be, for the greater 
part, or rather entirely impracticable ; if the 
ideas of criminal process be inapplicable, or, if 
applicable, are in the highest degree inexpe- 
dient, what way yet remains ? No way is open 
but the third and last ; to comply with the 
American spirit as necessary, or if you please, 
to submit to it as a necessary evil. 

If we adopt this mode, if we mean to con- 
ciliate and concede, let us see of what nature 
the concession ought to be ? To ascertain the 
nature of our concession, we must look at their 
complaint. The colonies complain that they 
have not the characteristic mark and zeal of 
British freedom. They complain, that they are 
ta,xed in a parliament, in which they are not 
represented. If you mean to satisfy them at 



all, you must satisfy them with regard to this 
complaint. If you mean to please any people, 
you must give them the boon which they ask : 
not what you may think better for them, but of 
a kind totally different. Such an act may be 
a wise regulation, but it is no concession ; 
whereas our present theme is the mode of giv- 
ing satisfaction. 

Sir, I think you must perceive, that I am 
resolved this day to have nothing at all to do 
with the question of the right of taxation. 
Some gentlemen startle — but it is true. I put 
it totally out of the question. It is less than 
nothing in my consideration. I do not indeed 
wonder, nor will you, sir, that gentlemen of 
profound learning are fond of displaying it on 
this profound subject. But my consideration 
is narrow, confined, and wholly limited to the 
policy of the question. I do not examine, 
whether the giving away a man's money be a 
power excepted and reserved out of the general 
trust of government, and how far all mankind, 
in all forms of polity are entitled to an exercise 
of that right by the charter of nature. Or 
whether, on the contrary, a right of taxation is 
necessarily involved in the general principle of 
legislation, and inseparable from the ordinary 
supreme power .' — These are deep questions, 
where great names militate against each other ; 
where reason is perplexed, and an appeal to 
authorities only thickens the confusion. For 
high and reverend authorities lift up their heads 
on both sides, and there is no sure footing in 
the middle. This point is the great Serbonian 
bog. betwixt Damiata and Mount Cassius old, 
where armies whole have sunk. I do not 
intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though 
in such respectable company. The question 
with me is, not whether you have a right to 
render your people miserable, but whether it is 
not your interest to make them happy .' It is 
not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what 
humanity, reason, and justice tells me I ought 
to do. Is a politic act the worse for being a 
generous one? Is no concession proper, but 
that which is made from your want of right to 
keep what you grant ? Or does it lessen the 
grace or dignity of relaxing in the exercise of 
an odious claim, because you have your evidence 
room full of titles, and all those arms .' Of 
what avail are they, when the reason of the 
thing tells me, that the assertion of title is the 
loss of my suit ; and that I could do nothing 
but wound myself by the use of my own 
weapons ? 

Such is steadfastly my opinion of the abso- 
lute necessity of keeping up the concord of this 
empire by a unity of spirit, though in a diversity 



440 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of operations ; that, if I were sure the colonists 
had, at their leaving this country, sealed a 
regular compact of ser\'itude ; that they had 
solemnly adjured all the rights of citizens ; that 
they had made a vow to renounce all ideas of 
liberty, for them and their posterity, to all 
generations ; yet I should hold myself obliged 
to conform to the temper I found universally 
prevalent in my own day, and to govern two 
millions of men, impatient of servitude, on the 
principles of freedom. I am not determining 
a point of law ; I am restoring tranquility, and 
the general character and situation of a people 
must determine what sort of government is 
fitted for them. That point nothing else can or 
ought to determine. 

My idea, therefore, without considering 
whether we yield as matter of right, or grant 
as matter of favor, is to admit the people of 
our colonies into an interest in the constitution ; 
and by recording that admission in the journals 
of parliament, to give them as strong an assu- 
rance as the nature of the thing will admit, 
that we mean forever to adhere to that solemn 
declaration of systematic indulgence. 

Some years ago the repeal of a revenue act, 
upon its understood principle, might have 
served to shew that we intended an uncondi- 
tional abatement of the exercise of a taxing 
power. Such a measure was then sufficient to 
remove all suspicion, and to give perfect con- 
tent. But unfortunate events, since that time, 
may make something farther necessary and 
not more necessary for the satisfaction of the 
colonies than for the dignity and consistency of 
our own future proceedings. 

I have taken a very incorrect measure of the 
disposition of the house, if this proposal in 
itself would be received with dislike. I think 
sir, we have few American financiers. But our 
misfortune is, we are too acute, we are too 
exquisite in our conjectures of the future, for 
men oppressed with such great and present 
evils. The more moderate among the opposers 
of parliamentaiy concession freely confess, that 
they hope no good from taxation, but they ap- 
prehend the colonists have farther views, and 
if this point were conceded, they would instant- 
ly attack the trade laws. These gentlemen are 
convinced, that this was the intention from the 
beginning, and the quarrel of the Americans 
with taxation was no more than a cloak and a 
cover to this design. Such has been the lan- 
guage even of a gentleman * of real modera- 
tion, and of a natural temper well adjusted to 
fair and equal government. I am, however, 
sir, not a little surprised at this kind of dis- 
• Mr. Rire. 



course, whenever I hear it ; and I am more 
surprised, on account of the arguments which 
I constantly find in company with it, and which 
are often urged from the same mouths, and on 
the same day. For instance, when we allege 
that it is against reason to tax a people under 
so many restraints to trade as the Americans, 
the noble lord * in the blue riband shall tell 
you, that the restraints on trade are futile and 
useless ; of no advantage to us, and of no bur- 
then to those on whom they are imposed ; that 
the trade to America is not secured by the 
acts of navigation, but by the natural and irre- 
sistible advantage of a commercial preference. 

Such is the merit of the trade laws in this 
posture of the debate. But when strong in- 
ternal circumstances are urged against the 
taxes ; when the scheme is dissected ; when 
experience and the nature of things are brought 
to prove, and do prove, the utter impossibility 
of obtaining an effective revenue from the colo- 
nies : when these things are pressed, or rather 
press themselves, so as to drive the advocates 
of colony taxes to a clear admission of the futil- 
ity of the scheme, then, sir, the sleeping trade 
laws revive from their trance ; and this, unless 
taxation is to be kept sacred, not for its own 
sake, but as a counterguard and security of the 
laws of trade. 

Then, sir, you keep up revenue laws which 
are mischievous, in order to preserve trade 
laws that are useless ; such is the wisdom of 
our plan in both its members. They are sepa- 
rately given up as of no value, and yet one is 
always to be defended for the sake of the 
other. But I cannot agree with the noble lord, 
nor with the pamphlet from whence he seems 
to have borrowed these ideas, concerning the 
inutility of the trade laws. For without idoliz- 
ing them, I am sure they are still, in many 
ways, of great use to us ; and in fo'rmer times 
they have been of the greatest. They do con- 
fine, and they do greatly narrow, the market 
for the Americans. But my perfect conviction 
of this does not help me in the least to discern 
how the revenue laws form any security what- 
soever to the commercial regulations, or that 
these commercial regulations are the true 
ground of the quarrel, or that the giving 
away, in any one instance, of authority, is to 
lose all that may remain unconceded. 

One fact is clear and indisputable. The 
public and avowed origin of this quarrel was 
on taxation. This quarrel has indeed brought 
on new disputes, on new questions ; but cer- 
tainly the least bitter, and the fewest of all, on 
the trade laws. To judge which of the two be 
* Lord North. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



441 



the real radical cause of quarrel, we have to 
see whether the commercial dispute did, in 
order of time, precede the dispute on taxation ? 
There is not a shadow of evidence for it. Next, 
to enable us to judge whether at this moment 
a dislike to the trade laws be the real cause of 
quarrel, it is absolutely necessary to put the 
taxes out of the question by a repeal. See 
how the Americans act in this position, and 
then you will be able to discern correctly what 
is the true object of the controversy, or whether 
any controversy at all will remain ? Unless 
you consent to remove this cause of difference, 
it is impossible, with decency, to assert that 
the dispute is not upon what it is avowed to he. 
And I would, sir, recommend to your serious 
consideration whether it be prudent to form a 
rule for punishing people, not on their own 
acts, but on your conjectures. Surely it is pre- 
posterous at the very best. It is not justifying 
your anger by their misconduct, but it is con- 
verting your ill-will into their delinquency. 

But the colonies will go farther — Alas ! alas ! 
When will this speculating against fact and 
reason end ? What will quiet these panic fears, 
which we entertain of the hostile effect of a 
conciliatory conduct ? Is it true that no case 
can exist, in which it is proper for the sove- 
reign to accede to the desires of his discon- 
tented subjects ? Is there any thing peculiar 
in this case, to make a rule for itself.' Is all 
authority of course lost, when it is not pushed 
to the extreme.' Is it a certain maxim, that 
the fewer causes of dissatisfaction that are left 
by government, the more the subject will be 
incUned to resist and rebel .' 

All these objections, being in fact no more 
than suspicions, conjectures, divinations formed 
in defiance of fact and experience, did not, sir, 
discourage me from entertaining the idea of a 
conciliatory concession, founded on the princi- 
ples I have just stated. 

In forming a plan for this purpose, I endea- 
vored to put myself in that frame of mind, 
which was the most natural, and the most 
reasonable ; and which was certainly the most 
probable means of securing me from all error. 
I set out with a perfect distrust of my own 
abilities ; a total renunciation of every specula- 
tion of my own, and with a profound reverence 
for the wisdom of our ancestors, who have left 
us the inheritance of so happy a constitution, 
and so flourishing an empire, and what is a 
thousand times more valuable, the treasury of 
the maxims and principles which formed the 
one, and obtained the other. 

During the reigns of the kings of Spain of 
the Austrian family, whenever they were at a 



loss in the Spanish councils, it was common 
for their statesmen to say, that they ought to 
consult the genius of Philip the second. The 
genius of Philip the second might mislead 
them, and the issue of their affair showed that 
they had not chosen the most perfect standard. 
But, sir, I am sure that I shall not be misled, 
when, in a case of constitutional difficulty, I 
consult the genius of the English constitution. 
Consulting at that oracle (it was with all due 
humility and piety) I found four capital exam- 
ples in a similar case before me, those of Ire- 
land, Wales, Chester, and Durham. 

Ireland, before the English conquest, though 
never governed by a despotic power, had no 
parliament. How far the English parliament 
was at that time modelled according to the 
present form, is disputed among antiquarians. 
But we have all the reason in the world to be 
assured that a form of parliament, such as 
England then enjoyed, she instantly communi- 
cated to Ireland ■ and we are equally sure that 
almost every successive improvement in con- 
stitutional liberty, as fast as it was made here, 
was transmitted thither. The feudal baronage, 
and the feudal knighthood, the roots of our 
primitive constitution, were early transplanted 
into that soil, and grew and flourished there. 
Magna Charta, if it did not give us originally 
the house, gave us at least a house of commons 
of weight and consequence. But your ances- 
tors did not churlishly sit down alone to the 
feast of Magna Charta. Ireland was made 
immediately a partaker. This benefit of Eng- 
lish laws and liberties, I confess, was not at 
first extended to all Ireland. Mark the conse- 
quence. English authority, and English liber- 
ties had exactly the same boundaries. Your 
standard could never be advanced an inch 
before your privileges. Sir John Davis shows, 
beyond a doubt, that the refusal of a general 
communication of these rights, was the true 
cause why Ireland was five hundred years in 
subduing : and after the vain projects of a 
military government, attempted in the reign of 
queen Elizabeth, it was soon discovered, that 
nothing could make that country English, in 
civility and allegiance, but your laws and your 
forms of legislature. It was not English arms, 
but the English constitution, that conquered 
Ireland. From that time, Ireland has ever had 
a general parliament as she had before a par- 
tial parliament ; you changed the people, you 
altered the religion, but you never touched the 
form or the vital substance of free government. 
You deposed kings ; you restored them ; you 
altered the succession to theirs, as well as to 
your own crown ; but you never altered their 



442 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



constitution, the principle of wliich was re- 
spected by usurpation ; restored with the res- 
toration of monarchy, and established, I trust 
forever, by the glorious revolution. This has 
made Ireland the great and flourishing king- 
dom that it is ; and from a disgrace and a bur- 
then intolerable to this nation, has rendered 
her a principal part of our strength and orna- 
ment. This country cannot be said to have 
ever formally taxed her. The irregular things 
done in the confusion of mighty troubles, and 
on the hinge of great revolutions, even if all 
were done that is said to have been done, form 
no e.xample. If they have any effect in argu- 
ment, they make an e.xception to prove the 
rule. None of your own liberties could stand 
a moment, if the casual deviations from them, 
at such times, were suffered to be used as 
proofs of their nullity. By the lucrative amount 
of such casual breaches in the constitution, 
judge what the stated and fixed rule of supply 
has been in that kingdom. Your Irish pen- 
sioners would starve, if they had no other fund 
to live on than taxes granted by English autho- 
rity. Turn your eyes to those popular grants 
from whence all your great supplies are come, 
and learn to respect that only source of public 
wealth in the British empire. 

My next example is Wales. This country 
was said to be reduced by Henry the third. 
It was said more truly to be so by Edward the 
first. But though then conquered, it was not 
looked upon as any part of the realm of 
England. Its old constitution, whatever that 
might have been, was destroyed, and no good 
one was substituted in its place. The care of 
that tract was put into the hand of lord Mar- 
chers — a form of government of a very singu- 
lar kind ; a strange heterogeneous monster, 
something between hostility and government ; 
perhaps it has a sort of resemblance, according 
to the modes of those times, to that of com- 
mander in chief at present, to whom all civil 
power is granted as secondary. The manners 
of the Welch nation followed the genius of the 
government ; the people were ferocious, rest- 
ive, savage and uncultivated ; sometimes com- 
posed, never pacified. Wales within itself was 
in perpetual disorder ; and it kept the frontier 
of England in perpetual alarm. Benefits from 
it to the state there were none. Wales was 
only known to England by incursion and 
invasion. 

Sir, during that state of things, parliament 
was not idle. They attempted to subdue the 
fierce spirit of the Welch by all sorts of rigor- 
ous laws. They prohibited by statute the send- 
ing all sorts of arms into Wales, as you pro- 



hibit by proclamation (with something more of 
doubt on the legality) the sending arms to 
America. They disarmed the Welch by stat- 
ute as you attempted (but still with more ques- 
tion on the legality) to disarm New England by 
instruction. They made an act to drag 
offenders from Wales into England for trial, 
as you have done (but with more hardship) 
with regard to America. By another act, 
where one of the parties was an Englishman, 
they ordained that his trial should be always 
by English. They made acts to restrain trade, 
as you do, and they prevented the Welch from 
the use of fairs and markets, as you do the 
Americans from fisheries and foreign ports. 
In short, when the statute book was not (juite 
so much swelled as it is now, you find no less 
than fifteen acts of penal regulation on the 
subject of Wales. 

Here we rub our hands — A fine body of pre- 
cedents for the authority of parliament, and the 
use of it ! I admit it fully, and pray add like- 
wise to these precedents, that all the while 
Wales eyed this kingdom like an incubus ; that 
it was an unprofitable and oppressive burthen ; 
and that an Englishman, travelling in that 
country, could not go six yards from the high 
road without being murdered. 

The march of the human inind is slow, sir ; 
it was not until alter two hundred years dis- 
covered, that, by an eternal law. Providence 
had decreed vexation to violence and poverty 
to rapine. Your ancestors did however at 
length open their eyes to the ill husbandry of 
injustice. They found the tyranny of a free 
people could, of all tyrannies, the least be en- 
dured, and that laws made against a whole 
nation were not the most effectual methods 
for securing its obedience. Accordingly, in 
the twenty-seventh year of Henry VIII. the 
course was entirely altered. With a preamble 
stating the entire and perfect rights of the 
crown of England, it gave to the Welch all the 
rights and privileges of English subjects. A 
political order was established ; the military 
power gave way to the civil ; the marches were 
turned into counties. But that a nation should 
have a right to English liberties, and yet no 
share at all in the fundamental security of 
these liberties, the grant of their own property, 
seemed a thing so incongruous, that eight 
years after, that is, in the thirty-fifth of that 
reign, a complete and not ill-proportioned repre- 
sentation by counties and boroughs was be- 
stowed upon Wales, by act of parliament. 
From that moment, as by a charm, the tumults 
subsided ; obedience was restored, peace, 
order, and civilization followed in the train of 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



443 



liberty. — When the day star of the EngHsh 
constitution had arisen in their hearts, all was 
harmony within and without. 

Simul alba nautis 

Stella retulsit, 
De6uit faxis agitatus humor ; 
Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes ; 
Et minax (quod sic voluerej ponto 

Unda recumbit- 

The very same year the county palatine of 
Chester received the same relief from its op- 
pressions, and the same remedy to its disor- 
ders. Before this time Chester was little less 
distempered than Wales. The inhabitants, 
without rights themselves, were the fittest to 
destroy the rights of others ; and from thence 
Richard II. drew the standing armies of archers, 
with which for a time he oppressed England. 
The people of Chester applied to parliament in 
a petition, penned as I shall read to you. 

" To the king, our sovereign lord, in most 
humble wise shown unto your excellent maj- 
esty, the inhabitants of your grace's county 
palatine of Chester, that where the said county 
palatine of Chester is and hath been always 
hitherto exempt, excluded and separated out 
and from your high court of parliament, to 
have any knights or burgesses within the said 
court ; by reason whereof the said inhabitants 
have hitherto sustained manifold disherisons, 
losses and damages, as well in their lands, 
goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and 
politic governance and maintainance of the 
commonwealth of their said county. (2.) And 
forasmuch as the said inhabitants have always 
hitherto been bound by the acts and statutes 
made and ordained by your said highness, and 
your most noble progenitors, by authority of 
the said court, as far forth as other counties, 
cities, and boroughs have been, that have had 
their knights and burgesses within your said 
court of parliament, and yet have had neither 
knight nor burgesses there for the said county 
palatine ; the said inhabitants, for lack thereof, 
have been oftentimes touched, and grieved 
with acts and statutes made within the said 
court, as well derogatory unto the most ancient 
jurisdictions, liberties, and privileges of your 
said county palatine, as prejudicial unto the 
commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of 
your grace's most bounden subjects inhabiting 
within the same." 

What did parliament with this audacious 
address.' Reject it as a libel.? Treat it as an 
affront to government.' Spurn it as a deroga- 
tion from the rights of legislature ? Did they 
toss it over the table? Did they burn it by the 
hands of the common hangman ? They took 



the petition of grievance, all rugged as it was, 
without softening, or temperament, unpurged 
of the original bitterness and indignation of 
complaint ; they made it the very preamble to 
their act of redress ; and consecrated its prin- 
ciple to all ages on the sanctuary of legislation. 

Here is my third example. It was attended 
with the success of my two former. Chester, 
civilized as well as Wales, has demonstrated 
that freedom and not servitude, is the cure of 
anarchy ; as religion, and not atheism, is the 
true remedy for superstition. 

Sir, this pattern of Chester was followed in 
the reign of Charles II. with regard to the 
county palatine of Durham, which is my fourth 
example. This county had long lain out of the 
pale of free legislation. So scrupulously was 
the example of Chester followed, that the style 
of the preamble is nearly the same with that of 
the Chester act ; and without affecting the ab- 
stract extent of the authority of parliament, it 
recognizes the equity of not suffering any con- 
siderable district in which the British subjects 
may act as a body, to be taxed without their 
own voice in the grant. 

Now if the doctrines of policy contained in 
these preambles, and the force of these exam- 
ples in the acts of parliament, avail anything, 
what can be said against applying them with 
regard to America .' Are not the people of 
America as much Englishmen as the Welch ? 
The preamble of the act of Henry VIII. says, 
the Welch speak a language no way resembling 
that of his majesty's English subjects. Are 
the Americans not so numerous.' If we may 
trust the learned and accurate judge Barring- 
ton's account of North Wales, and take that as 
a standard to measure the rest, there is no 
comparison. The people cannot amount to 
above 200,000 ; not a tenth part of the number 
in the colonies. Is America in rebellion? Wales 
was hardly free from it. Have you attempted 
to govern America by penal statutes ? You 
made lifteen for Wales. But your legislative 
authority is perfect with regard to America ; 
was it less perfect in Wales, Chester, and Dur- 
ham ? But America is virtually represented. 
What ! Does the electric force of virtual rep- 
resentation more easily pass over the Atlantic, 
than pervade Wales, which lies in your neigh- 
borhood ; or than Chester and Durham sur- 
rounded by abundance of representation that is 
actual and palpable ? But, sir, your ancestors 
thought this sort of virtual representation, how- 
ever ample, to be totally insufficient for the 
freedom of the inhabitants of territories that 
are so near, and comparatively so inconsidera- 
ble. How then can I think it sufficient for 



444 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



those who are infinitely greater, and infinitely 
more remote ? 

You will now, sir, perhaps, imagine that I 
am on the point of proposing to you a scheme 
for a representation of the colonies in parlia- 
ment. Perhaps I might be inclined to enter- 
tain some such thought ; but a great flood stops 
me in my course. Opposuit natura — I cannot 
remove the eternal barriers of the creation. 
The thing in that mode, I do not know to be 
possible. As I meddle with no theory, I do not 
absolutely assert the impracticability of such a 
representation. But I do not see my way to it ; 
and those who have been more confident, have 
not been more successful. However, the arm 
of public benevolence is not shortened, and 
there are often several means to the same end. 
What nature has disjoined in one way, wisdom 
may unite in another. When we cannot give 
the benefit as we would wish, let us not refuse 
it altogether. If we cannot give the principal, 
let us find a substitute. But how ? Where ? 
What substitute ? 

Fortunately I am not obliged, for the ways and 
means of this substitute, to tax my own unpro- 
ductive invention. I am not even obliged to 
go to the rich treasury of the fertile framers of 
imaginary commonwealths ; not to the republic 
of Plato, not to the Utopia of Moore, not to the 
oceans of Harrington. It is before me. It is 
at my feet, and the rude swain treads daily on it 
with his clouted shoon. I only wish you to 
recognize, for the theory, the ancient constitu- 
tional policy of this kingdom with regard to 
representatives, as that policy has been declared 
in acts of parliament ; and as to the practice, 
to return to that mode which an uniform ex- 
perience has marked out to you as best ; and 
in which you walked with security, advantage, 
and honor, until the year 1763. 

My resolutions, therefore, mean to establish 
the equity and justice of a taxation of America 
by grant and not by imposition. To mark the 
legal competency of the colony assemblies for 
the support of their government in peace, and 
for public aids in time of war. To acknowledge 
that this legal competency has had a dutiful 
and beneficial exercise ; and that experience 
has shown the benefit of their grants, and the 
futility of parliamentary taxation as a method 
of supply. 

These solid truths compose six fundamental 
propositions. There are three more resolutions 
corollary to these. If you admit the first set 
you can hardly reject the others. I?ut if you 
admit the first, I shall be far from solicitous 
whether you accept or refuse the last. I think 
these six massive pillars will be of strength suf- 



ficient to support the temple of British concord. 
I have no more doubt than I entertain of my 
existence, that if you admitted these, you would 
command an immediate peace ; and with but 
tolerable future management, a lasting obedi- 
ence in America. I am not arrogant in this 
confident assurance. The propositions are 
all mere matters of fact ; and if they are such 
facts as draw irresistible conclusions even in 
the stating, that is the power of truth, and not 
any management of mine. 

Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you to- 
gether, with such observations on the motions 
as may tend to illustrate them where they may 
want explanation. The first is a resolution^ 
"That the colonies and plantations of Great 
Britain in North America, consisting of four- 
teen separate governments, and containing 
two millions and upwards of free inhabitants, 
have not the liberty and privilege of electing 
and sending any knights and burgesses, or 
others, to represent them in the high court of 
parliament." — This is a plain matter of fact, 
necessary to be laid down, and (excepting the 
description) it is laid down in the language of 
the constitution ; it is taken nearly verbatim 
from acts of parliament. 

The second is like unto the first — " That the 
said colonies and plantations have been liable 
to, and bounden by, several subsidies, pay- 
ments, rates, and taxes, given and granted by 
parliament, though the said colonies and plan- 
tations have not their knights and burgesses, 
in the said high court of parliament, of their 
own election, to represent the condition of their 
country; by lack whereof they have been often- 
times touched and grieved by subsidies given, 
granted, and assented to, in the said court, in 
a manner prejudicial to the commonwealth, 
quietness, rest, and peace, of the subjects in- 
habiting within the same." 

Is this description too hot, or too cold, too 
strong, or too weak ? Does it arrogate too 
much to the supreme legislature ? Does it 
lean too much to the claims of the people ? If 
it runs into any of these errors, the fault is not 
mine. It is the language of your own ancient 
acts of parliament. Non mens hie sermo, sed 
qua proecepit, ofella, rusticus, abnormis sapiens , 
it is the general produce of the ancient, rustic, 
manly, home-bred sense of this country. I did 
not dare to rub off a particle of the venerable 
rust that rather adorns and preserves than 
destroys the metal. It would be a profanation 
to touch with a tool the stones which con- 
struct the sacred altar of peace. I would not 
violate, with modern polish, the ingenious and 
noble roughness of these truly constitutional 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



445 



materials. Above all things, I was resolved 
not to be guilty of tampering — the odious vice 
of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot 
in the tracks of our forefathers, where I can 
neither wander nor stumble. Determining to 
fix articles of peace, I was resolved not to be 
wise beyond what was written ; I was resolved 
to use nothing else than the form of sound 
words to let others abound in their own sense ; 
and carefully to abstain from all expressions 
of my own. What the law has said, I say. 
In all things else I am silent. I have no organ 
but for her words. This if it be not ingenious, 
I am sure is safe. 

There are, indeed, words expressive of griev- 
ance in this second resolution, which those 
who are resolved always to be in the right, 
will deny to contain matter of fact, as applied 
to the present case ; although pariiament 
thought them true with regard to the counties 
of Chester and Durham. — They will deny that 
the Americans were ever "touched and 
grieved " with the taxes. If they consider 
nothing in taxes but their weight as pecuniary 
impositions, there might be some pretence for 
this denial. But men may be sorely touched 
and deeply grieved in their privileges as well as 
in their purses. Men may lose little in properly 
by the act which takes away all their freedom. 
When a man is robbed of a trifle on the high- 
way, it is not the twopence lost that constitutes 
the capital outrage. This is not confined to 
privileges ; even ancient indulgences withdrawn, 
without offence on the part of those who 
enjoyed such favors, operate as grievances. 
But were the Americans then not touched and 
grieved by the taxes, in some measure, merely 
asked ? If so, why were they all either wholly 
repealed or exceedingly reduced .' Were they 
not touched and grieved even by the regulating 
duties of the sixth of George the II.' Else 
why were the duties first reduced to one third 
in 1764, and afterwards to a third of that third 
in the year 1766? were they not touched and 
grieved by the stamp act ? I shall say they 
were until that tax is revived. Were they not 
touched and grieved by the duties of 1767, 
which were likewise repealed, and which lord 
Hillsborough tells you (for the ministry) were 
laid contrary to the true principle of commerce ? 
Is not the assurance given by that noble person 
to the colonies of a resolution to lay no more 
taxes on them, an admission that taxes would 
touch and grieve them .'' Is not the resolution 
of the noble lord in the blue riband, now stand- 
ing on your journals, the strongest of all proofs 
that parliamentary subsidies really touched and 
grieved them ? Else why all these changes. 



modifications, repeals, assurances and resolu- 
tions ? 

The next proposition is, " That, from the 
distance of the said colonies, and from other 
circumstances, no method has hitherto been 
devised for procuring a representation in pariia- 
ment for the said colonies." This is an asser- 
tion of a fact. I go no farther on the paper, 
though in my private judgment, an useful 
representation is impossible ; I am sure it is 
not desired by them, nor ought it perhaps by 
us ; but I abstain from opinions. 

The fourth resolution is, " that each of the 
said colonies hath within itself a body chosen 
in part, or in the whole, by the freedmen, free- 
holders, or other free inhabitants thereof, com- 
monly called the general assembly, or general 
court, with powers legally to raise, levy, and 
assess, according to the several usage of such 
colonies, duties and taxes towards defraying all 
sorts of public service." 

This competence in the colony assemblies is 
certain. It is proved by the whole tenor of 
their acts of supply in all the assemblies, in 
which the constant style of granting is, " An 
aid to his majesty ; " and acts, granting to the 
crown, has regularly, for near a century, passed 
the public offices without dispute. Those who 
have been pleased paradoxically to deny this 
right, holding that none but the British parlia- 
ment can grant to the crown, are wished to 
look to what is done, not only in the colonies, 
but in Ireland, in one uniform unbroken tenor 
every session. Sir, I am surprised that this 
doctrine should come from some of the law 
servants of the crown. I say, that if the crown 
could be responsible, his majesty but cer- 
tainly the ministers are, even these law officers 
themselves, through whose hands the acts pass 
biennially in Ireland or annually in the colonies, 
in an habitual course of committing impeach- 
able offences. What habitual offenders have 
been all presidents of the council, all secretaries 
of state, all first lords of trade, all attornies, 
and all solicitors general ! However, they are 
safe, as no one impeaches them, and there is 
no ground of charge against them, except in 
their own unfounded theories. 

The first resolution is also a resolution of 
fact, " that the said general assemblies, general 
courts, or other bodies legally qualified as 
aforesaid, have at sundry times freely granted 
several large subsidies and public aids for his 
majesty's ser\-ice according to their abilities, 
when required thereto by letter from one of his 
majesty's principal secretaries of state ; and 
that their right to grant the same, and their 
cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said grants 



446 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



have been at sundry times acknowledged by 
parliament." To say nothing of their great 
expenses in the India wars ; and not to take 
their exertion in foreign ones, so high as the 
supplies in the year 1695 ; not to go back to 
their public contributions in the year 1710; I 
shall begin to travel only where the journals 
give me light ; resolved to deal in nothing but 
fact, authenticated by parliamentary record, 
and to build myself wholly on that solid basis. 

On the fourth of April, 1748, a committee of 
this house came to the following resolution : 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this 
committee, that it is just and reasonable that the 
several provinces and colonies of Massachusetts 
Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode 
Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have 
been at in taking and securing to the crown of 
Great Britain, the island of Cape Breton, and 
its dependencies." 

These expenses were immense for such colon- 
ies. They were above £200,000 sterling ; money 
first raised and advanced on their public credit. 

On the twenty-eighth of January, 1756, a 
message from the king came to us to this effect 
■ — " His majesty, being sensible of the Zealand 
vigor with which his subjects of certain colo- 
nies in North America have exerted themselves 
in defence of his majesty's just rights and pos- 
sessions, recommends it to this house to take 
the same into their consideration, and to enable 
his majesty to give them such assistance as 
may be a proper reward and encouragement." 

On the third of February, 1756. the house 
came to a suitable resolution, expressed in 
words nearly the same as those of the message, 
but with the farther addition, that the money 
they voted was as an encouragement to the 
colonies to exert themselves with vigor. It 
will not be necessary to go through all the 
testimonies which your own records have given 
to the truth of my resolutions. I will only refer 
you to the places in the journals: 

Vol. XXVH. i6th and 19th of May, 1757. 

Vol. XXVIIl. —June ist, 1758, April 26th and 
30th, 1759. 

March 26th and 31st. and 
April 28th, 1760. 
January 9th and 20th, 1761. 

Vol. XXIX. Jan.22d, and 26th, 1762, March 

14th and 17th, 1763. 

Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of 
parliament that the colonies not only gave, but 
gave to satiety. This nation has formally 
acknowledged two things : first, that the colo- 
nies had gone beyond their abilities, parliament 
having thought it necessary to reimburse them ; 
secondly,' that they had acted legally and laud- 



ably in their grants of money, and their main- 
tenance of troops, since the compensation is 
expressly given as a reward and encouragement. 
Reward is not bestowed for acts that are un- 
lawful, and encouragement is not held out to 
things that deserve reprehension. My resolu- 
tion, therefore, does nothing more than col- 
lect into one proposition what is scattered 
through your journals. I give you nothing but 
your own, and you cannot refuse in the gross, 
what you have so often acknowledged in detail. 
The admission of this, which will- be so honor- 
able to them and to you, will, indeed, be mor- 
tal to all the miserable stories, by which the 
passions of the misguided people have been en- 
gaged in an unhappy system. The people heard 
indeed from the beginning of these disputes, 
one thing continually dinned in their ears, that 
reason and justice demanded that the Ameri- 
cans, who paid no taxes, should be compelled 
to contribute. How did that fact of their pay- 
ing nothing stand when the taxing system 
began ? When Mr. Greenville began to form 
his system of American revenue, he stated, in 
this house, that the colonies were then in debt 
two million six hundred thousand pounds ster- 
ling money, and was of opinion they would dis- 
charge the debt in four years. On this state, 
those untaxed people were actually subject to 
the payment of taxes to the amount of si.x 
hundred and fifty thousand a year. In fact, 
however, Mr. Greenville was mistaken. The 
funds given for sinking the debt did not prove 
quite so ample as both the colonies and he 
expected. The calculation was too sanguine. 
The reduction was not completed till some 
years after, and at different times in difierent 
colonies. However, the taxes after the war 
continued too great to bear any addition with 
prudence or propriety ; and when the burthens 
imposed in consequence of former requisitions 
were discharged, our tone became too high to 
resort again to requisition. No colony, since 
that time, ever has had any requisition whatso- 
ever made to it. 

We see the sense of the crown, and the sense 
of parliament, on the productive nature of a 
revenue by grant. Now search the same jour- 
nals for the produce of the revenue by imposi- 
tion. Where is it.' Let us know the volume 
and the page ? What is the net produce ? To 
what service is it applied .' How have you 
appropriated its surplus ? What, can none of 
the many skilful index makers, that we are 
now employing, find any trace of it ? Well, let 
them and that rest together. But are the 
journals, which say nothing of the revenue, as 
silent on the discontent .' O no ! A child may 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



447 



find it. It is the melancholy burthen and blot 
of every page. 

I think then I am, from those journals, justi- 
fied in the sixth and last resolution, which is — 
"That it hath been found, by experience, that 
the manner of granting the said supplies and 
aids, by the said general assemblies, hath been 
more agreeable to the said colonies, and more 
beneficial and conducive to the public service, 
than the mode of giving and granting aids in 
parliament, to be raised and paid in the same 
colonies." This makes the whole of the funda- 
mental part of the plan. The conclusion is 
irresistible. You cannot say that you were 
driven by any necessity to an exercise of the 
utmost rights of legislature. You cannot assert 
that you took on yourselves the task of impos- 
ing colony taxes, from the want of another 
legal body, that is competent to the purjxise of 
supplying the exigencies of the state, without 
wounding the prejudices of the people. 
Neither is it true that the body so qualified, 
and having that competence had neglected the 
duty. 

The question now, on all this accumulated 
matter, is, whether you will choose to abide by 
a profitable experience, or a mischievous theory ; 
whether you choose to build on imagination 
or fact ; whether you prefer enjoyment or hope ; 
satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent. 

If these propositions are accepted, everything 
which has been made to enforce a contrary sys- 
tem, must. I take it for granted, fall along with it. 
On that ground, I have drawn the following res- 
olution, which, when it comes to be moved, will 
naturally be divided in a proper manner. " That 
it may be proper to repeal an act, made in the 
seventh year of the reign of his present majesty, 
entitled, an act for granting certain duties in 
the British colonies and plantations in Amer- 
ica ; for allowing a drawback of the duties of 
customs upon the exportation from this king- 
dom of coffee and cocoa nuts, of the produce 
of the said colonies and plantations ; for dis- 
continuing the drawbacks payable on China 
earthen-ware exported to America, and for 
more effectually preventing the clandestine 
running of goods in the said colonies and plan- 
tations. — And that it may be proper to repeal 
an act made in the fourteenth year of the reign 
of his present majesty, entitled, an act to dis- 
continue, in such manner, and for such time, 
as are therein mentioned, the landing and dis- 
charging, the lading and shipping, of goods, 
wares, and merchandise, at the town and within 
the harbor of Boston, in the province of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, in North America. — And that 
it may be proper to repeal an act made in the 



fourteenth year of the reign of his present 
majesty, entitled, an act for the impartial ad- 
ministration of justice, in the cases of persons 
questioned for any acts done by them, in the 
execution of the law, or for the suppression of 
riots and tumults in the province of Massachu- 
setts-Bay, in New England. — And it may be 
proper to repeal an act made in the fourteenth 
year of the reign of his present majesty, entitled, 
an act for the better regulating the government 
of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, in 
New England.— And also that it may be 
proper to explain and amend an act, 
made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of 
king Henry the eighth, entitled, an act for the 
trial of treasons committed out of the king's do- 
minions." 

I wish, sir, to repeal the Boston port hill, 
because (independently of the dangerous pre- 
cedent of suspending the rights of the subjects 
during the king's pleasure) it was passed, as I 
apprehend, with less regularity, and on more 
partial principles than it ought. The cor- 
poration of Boston was not heard, before 
it was condemned. Other towns full as 
guilty as she was, have not had their ports 
blocked up. Even the restraining bill of the 
present session does not go to the length of 
the Boston port act. The same ideas of pru- 
dence, which induced you not to extend equal 
punishment to equal guilt, even when you were 
punishing, induce me, who mean not to chas- 
tise, but to reconcile, to be satisfied with the 
punishment already partially inflicted. 

Ideas of prudence, and accommodation to 
circumstances, prevent you from taking away 
the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
as you have taken away that of Massachusetts 
colony, though the crown has far less power in 
the above two former provinces than it enjoyed 
in the latter ; and though the abuses have 
been full as great, and as flagrant, in the ex- 
empted as in the punished. The same reasons 
of prudence and accommodation have weight 
with me in restoring the charter of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay. Besides, sir, the act which 
changes the charter of the Massachusetts Bay 
is in many particulars so exceptionable, that if 
I did not wish absolutely to repeal, I would by 
all means desire to alter it, as several of its 
provisions tend to the subversion of all public 
and private justice. Such, among others, is the 
power in the governor to change the sheriff at 
his pleasure, and to make a new returning 
officer for every special cause. It is shameful 
to behold such a regulation standing among 
English laws. 

The act for bringing persons, accused of 



448 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



committing murder, under the orders of gov- 
ernment, to England, for trial, is but tempo- 
rary. That act has calculated the probable 
duration of our quarrel with the colonies, and 
is accommodated to that supposed duration. I 
would hasten the happy moment of recon- 
ciliation: and therefore must, on my prin- 
ciple, get rid of that most justly obnoxious 
act. 

The act of Henry the eighth, for the trial of 
treasons, I do not mean to take away, but to 
confine it to its proper bounds and original 
intention ; to make it e.xpressly for trial of trea- 
sons, and the greatest treasons may be com- 
mitted in places where the jurisdiction of the 
crown does not extend. 

Having guarded the privileges of local legis- 
lation, I would next secure to the colonies a 
fair and unbiased judicature ; for which pur- 
pose, sir, I propose the following resolution : 
" That, from the time when the general assem- 
bly or general court of any colony or plantation 
in North America, shall have appointed, by act 
of assembly duly confirmed, a settled salary to 
the offices of the chief justice and other judges 
of the superior court, it may be proper that the 
said chief justice and other judges of the supe- 
rior courts of such colony, shall hold his and 
their office and offices during their good be- 
havior, and shall not be removed therefrom, 
but when the said removal shall be adjudged 
by his majesty, in council, upon a hearing or 
complaint from the general assembly, or on a 
complaint from the governor, or council, or the 
house of representatives severally, of the colony 
in which the said chief justice and other judges 
have exercised the said offices." 

The next resolution relates to the courts of 
admiralty. 

It is this. " That it may be proper to regu- 
late the courts of admiralty, or vice admiralty, 
authorized by the fifteenth chapter of the fourth 
of George the third, in such a manner as to 
make the same more commodious to those 
who sue, or are sued in the said courts, and to 
provide for the more decent maintenance of 
the judges in the same." 

These courts I do not wish to take away ; 
they are in themselves proper establishments. 
This court is one of the capital securities of the 
act of navigation. The extent of its jurisdiction 
indeed has been increased : but this is alto- 
gether as proper, and is indeed, on many ac- 
counts, more eligible, where new powers were 
wanted, than a court absolutely new. But 
courts incommodiously situated, in effect, deny 
justice ; and a court, partaking in all the fruits 
of its own condemnation, is a robber. The 



congress complain, and complain justly, of this 
grievance.* 

These are the three consequential proposi- 
tions. I have thought of two or three more, 
but they come rather too near detail, and to 
the province of e.\ecutive government, which I 
wish parliament always to superintend, never 
to assume. If the first six are granted, con- 
gruity will carry the latter three. If not, the 
things that remain unrepealed, will be, I hope, 
rather unseemly incumbrances on the building 
than very materially detrimental to its strength 
and stability. 

Here, sir, I should close, but that I plainly 
perceive some objections remain, which I ought, 
if possible, to remove. The first will be, that, 
in resorting to the doctrine of our ancestors, as 
contained in the preamble to the Chester act, I 
prove too much ; that the grievance from a 
want of representation, stated in that preamble, 
goes to the whole of legislation as well as to 
taxation. And that the colonies, grounding 
themselves upon that doctrine, w^ill apply it to 
all parts of legislative authority. 

To this objection, with all possible deference 
and humility, and wishing as little as any man 
living to impair the smallest particle of our 
supreme authority, I answer, that the words 
are the words of parliament, and not mine ; 
and that all false and inconclusive inferences 
drawn from them, are not mine ; for I heartily 
disclaim any such inference. I have chosen 
the words of an act of parliament, which Mr. 
Greenville, surely a tolerably zealous and very 
judicious advocate for the sovereignty of parlia- 
ment, formerly moved to have read at your 
table, in confirmation of his tenets. It is true 
that lord Chatham considered these preambles 
as declaring strongly in favor of his opinion. 
He was a no less powerful advocate for the 
privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from 
hence to presume, that these preambles are as 
favorable as possible to both, when properly 
understood ; favorable both to the rights of 
pariiament, and the privilege of the dependen- 
cies, of this crown ? But, sir, the object of 
grievance in my resolution, I have not taken 
from the Chester but from the Durham act, 
which confines the hardship of want of repre- 
sentation to the case of subsidies ; and which 
therefore falls in exactly with the case of the 
colonies. But whether the unrepresented 
counties were de jure or de facto bound, the 
preambles do not accurately distinguish ; nor 

* The solicitor general informed Mr. B. when the re- 
solutions were separately moved, that the grievance of 
the judges, partaking of the profits of some of the seizures, 
had been redressed by office ; accordingly the resolution 
was amended. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



449 



indeed was it necessary, for, whether de jure or 
de facto, the legislature thought the exercise of 
the power of taxing as of right, or as fact with- 
out right, equally a grievance, and equally op- 
pressive. 

I do not know that the colonies have, in any 
general way, or in any cool hour, gone much 
beyond the demand of immunity in relation to 
taxes. It is not fair to judge of the temper or 
dispositions of any man, or any set of men, 
when they are composed and at rest, from 
their conduct or their expressions in a state of 
disturbance and irritation. It is besides a very 
great mistake to imagine, that mankind follow 
up practically any speculative principle, either 
of government or of freedom, as far as it will 
go in argument and logical illation. We En- 
glishmen stop very short of the principles upon 
which we support any given part of our consti- 
tution, or even the whole of it together. I 
could easily, if I had not already tired you, give 
you very striking and convincing instances of 
it. This is nothing but what is natural and 
proper. All government, indeed every human 
benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every 
prudent act, is founded on compromise and 
barter. We balance inconveniences, we give 
and take ; we remit some rights that we may 
enjoy others ; and we choose rather to be 
happy citizens than subtle disputants. And 
we must give away some natural liberty to 
enjoy civil advantages ; so we must sacrifice 
some civil liberties, for the advantages to be 
derived from the communion and fellowship of 
a great empire. But in all fair dealings, the 
thing bought must bear some proportion to the 
purchase paid. None will barter away the im- 
mediate jewel of his soul. Though a great 
house is apt to make slaves haughty, yet it is 
purchasing a part of the artificial importance 
of a great empire too dear, to pay for it all 
essential rights, and all the intrinsic dignity of 
human nature. None of us who would not 
risk his life, rather than fall under a govern- 
ment purely arbitrary. But, although there 
are some amongst us who think our constitu- 
tion wants many improvements, to make it a 
complete system of liberty, perhaps none who 
are of that opinion, would think it right to aim 
at such improvement, by disturbing this coun- 
try, and risking every thing that is dear to him._ 
In every arduous enterprise we consider what 
we are to lose, as well as what we are to gain ; 
and the more and better stake of liberty every 
people possess, the less they will hazard in a 
vain attempt to make it more. These are the 
cords of man. Man acts from adequate mo- 
tives relative to his interest, and not on meta- 
29 



physical speculations. Aristotle, the great 
master of reasoning, cautions us, and with 
great weight and propriety, against this species 
of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral 
arguments, as the most fallacious of all soph- 
istry. 

The Americans will have no interest contrary 
to the grandeur and glory of England, when 
they are not oppressed by the weight of it, and 
they will rather be inclined to respect the acts 
of a superintending legislature, when they see in 
them the acts of that power, which is itself the 
security, not the rival, of their secondary im- 
portance. In this assurance, my mind most 
pertectly acquiesces ; and I confess I feel not 
the least alarm, from the discontents which are 
to arise from putting people at their ease ; nor 
do I apprehend the destruction of this empire, 
from giving, by an act of free grace and indul- 
gence, to two millions of my fellow citizens, 
some share of those rights upon which I have 
always been taught to value myself. 

It is said indeed that this power of granting, 
vested in American assemblies, would dissolve 
the unity of the empire, which was preserved 
entire, although Wales, Chester, and Durham 
were added to it. Truly, Mr. Speaker, I do 
not know what this unity means ; nor has it 
ever been heard of that I know, in the consti- 
tutional policy of this country. The very idea 
of subordination of parts excludes this notion 
of simple and undivided unity. England is the 
head ; but she is not the head and the mem- 
bers too. Ireland has ever had, from the be- 
ginning, a separate, but not an independent, 
legislature : which, far from distracting, pro- 
moted the union of the whole. Every thing 
was sweetly and harmoniously disposed 
through both islands for the conservation of 
English dominion, and the comminution of 
English liberties. I do not see that the same 
principles might not be carried into twenty 
islands, and with the same good effect. This 
is my model with regard to America, as far as 
the internal circumstances of the two countries 
are the same. I know no other unity of this 
empire, than I can draw from its example du- 
ring these periods when it seemed, to my poor 
understanding, more united than it is now, or 
than it is likely to be by the present methods. 

But since I speak of these methods, I recol- 
lect, Mr. Speaker, almost too late, that I pro- 
mised, before I finished, to say something of 
the proposition of the * noble lord on the floor, 
which has been so lately received, and stands 
on your journals. I must be deeply concerned, 
whenever it is my misfortune to continue a dif- 
* Lord North. 



4SO 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ference with the majority of this house. But 
as the reasons for that difference are my apol- 
ogy for thus troubling you, suffer me to state 
them in a very few words. I shall compress 
them in as small a body as I possibly can, hav- 
ing already debated that matter at large, when 
the question was before the committee. 

First then, I cannot admit that proposition of 
a ransom by auction — because it is a mere pro- 
ject. It is a thing new, unheard of, supported 
by no experience, justified by no analogy, 
without example of our ancestors, or root in 
the constitution. It is neither regular parlia- 
mentary taxation, nor colony grant. Experi- 
mentum in corpore vile, is a good rule, which 
will ever make me adverse to any trial of expe- 
riments on what is certainly the most valuable 
of all subjects, the peace of this empire. 

Secondly, it is an experiment which must be 
fatal, in the end, to our constitution. For 
what is it but a scheme for taxing the colonies 
in the antechamber of the noble lord and his 
successors ? To settle the quotas and propor- 
tions in this house is clearly impossible. You, 
sir, may flatter yourself, you shall sit a state 
auctioneer, with your hammer in your hand, 
and knock down to each colony as it bids. 
But to settle (on the plan laid down by the 
noble lord) the true proportioned payment for 
four or five and twenty governments, according 
to the absolute and relative wealth of each, and 
according to the British proportion of wealth 
and burthen, is a wild and chimerical notion. 
This new taxation must therefore come in by 
the back door of the constitution. Each quota 
must be brought to this house ready formed ; 
you can neither add nor alter. You must regis- 
ter it. You can do nothing farther. For on 
what grounds can you deliberate, either before 
or after the proposition .'' You cannot hear 
the council for all these provinces quarrelling 
each on its own quantity of payment, and its 
proportion to others. If you should attempt it, 
the committee of the provincial ways and means, 
or by whatever other name it will delight to be 
called, must swallow up all the time of par- 
liament. 

Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the 
complaint of the colonies. They complain 
that they are taxed without their consent ; you 
answer, that you will fix the sum at which they 
shall be taxed. That is, you give them the 
very grievance for the remedy. You tell them, 
indeed, that you will leave the mode to them- 
selves. I really beg pardon — it gives me pain 
to mention it — but you must be sensible that 
you will not perform this part of the compact. 
For, suppose the colonies were to lay the duties. 



which furnished their contingent, upon the im- 
portation of your manufactures, you know you 
would never suffer such a tax to be laid. You 
know too, that you would not suffer many 
other modes of taxation. So that, when you 
come to explain yourself, it will be found that 
you will neither leave to themselves the quan- 
tum, nor the mode, nor indeed anything. The 
whole is delusion from one end to the other. 

Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction 
(unless it be universally accepted) will plunge 
you into great and inextricable difficulties. In 
what year of our Lord are the proportions of 
payments to be settled ? To say nothing of 
the impossibility, that colony agents should 
have general powers of taxing the colonies at 
their discretion, consider, I implore you, that 
the communication, by special messages and 
orders, between these agents and their constit- 
uents, on each variation of the case, when the 
parties come to contend together, and to dispute 
on their relative proportions, will be a matter 
of delay, perple.xity, and confusion that can 
never have an end. 

If all the colonies do not appear at the out- 
cry, what is the condition of those assemblies 
who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax 
themselves up to your ideas of their proportion? 
The refractory colonies, who refuse all compo- 
sition, will remain taxed only to your old impo- 
sitions ; which, however grievous in principle, 
are trifling as to production. The obedient 
colonies in this scheme are heavily taxed. The 
refractory remain unburthened. What will you 
do .' Will you lay new and heavier taxes by 
parliament on the disobedient .' Pray consider, 
in what way can you do it ? You are perfectly 
convinced that in the way of taxing you can 
do nothing but at the ports. Now suppose it 
is Virginia that refuses to appear at your auc- 
tion, while Maryland and North Carolina bid 
handsomely for their ransom, and are taxed 
to your quota? How will you put these colo- 
nies on a par ? Will you tax the tobacco of 
Virginia ? If you do, you give it its dead wound 
to your English revenue at home, and to one 
of the very greatest articles of your own foreign 
trade. If you tax the import of that rebellious 
colony, what do you tax but your own manu- 
factures, or the goods of some other obedient, 
and already well taxed colony ? Who has 
said one word on this labyrinth of detail, which 
bewilders you more and more as you enter 
into it ? Who has presented, who can present 
you with a clew to lead you out of it? I think, 
sir, it is impossible that you should not recol- 
lect that the colony bounds are so implicated 
in one another (you know it by your other ex- 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



451 



periments in the bill for' prohibiting the New 
England fishery) that you can lay no possible 
restraint on almost any of them, which may 
not be presently eluded, if you do not confound 
the innocent with the guilty, and burthen those 
whom upon every principle you ought to exon- 
erate. He must be grossly ignorant of Ameri- 
ca, who thinks that, without falling into this 
confusion of all rules of equity and policy, you 
can restrain any single colony, especially Vir- 
ginia and Maryland, the central and most 
important of them all. 

Let it also be considered, that either in the 
present confusion you settle a permanent con- 
tingent, which will and must be trifling, (and 
then you have no effectual revenue,) or you 
change the quota at every exigency, and then 
on every new requisition you will have a new 
quarrel. 

Reflect besides, that when you have fi.xed a 
quota for every colony, you have not provided 
for prompt and punctual payment. Suppose 
one, two, five, ten years' arrears. You cannot 
issue a treasury extent against the failing colony. 
You must make new Boston port bills, new 
restraining laws, new acts for dragging men to 
England for trial. You must send out new 
fleets, new armies. All is to begin again. 
From this day forward the empire is never to 
know an hour's tranquility. An intestine fire 
will be kept alive in the bowels of the colonies, 
which one time or other must consume this 
whole empire. I allow indeed that the empire 
of Germany raises her revenue and her troops 
by quotas and contingents ; but the revenue of 
the empire, and the army of the empire is 
the worst revenue and the worst army in the 
world. 

Instead of a standing revenue, you will there- 
fore have a perpetual quarrel. Indeed, the 
noble lord, who proposed this project of a 
ransom by auction, seemed himself to be of that 
opinion. His project was rather designed for 
breaking the union of the colonies, than for 
establishing a revenue. — He confessed, he 
apprehended, that his proposal would not be 
to their taste. I say, this scheme of disunion 
seems to be at the bottom of ihe project ; for I 
will not suspect that the noble lord meant 
nothing but merely to delude the nation by an 
airy phantom, which he never intended to" 
realize. But whatever his views may be, as I 
propose the peace and union of the colonies as 
the very foundation of my plan, it cannot with 
one, whose foundation is perpetual, descend. 

Compare the two. This I offer to give you 
is plain and simple ; the other full of perplexed 
and intricate mazes. This is mild, that harsh. 



This is found by experience effectual for its 
purposes ; the other is a new object. This is 
universal, the other calculated for certain colo- 
nies only. This is immediate in its conciliatory 
operation ; the other remote, contingent, full 
of hazard. Mine is what becomes the dignity 
of a ruling people ; gratuitous, unconditional, 
and not held out as a matter of bargain and 
sale. I have done my duty in proposing it to 
you. I have indeed tired you by a long dis- 
course ; but this is the misfortune of those to 
whose influence nothing will be conceded, and 
who must win every inch of their ground by 
argument. You have heard me with goodness ; 
may you decide with wisdom ! for my part, I 
feci my mind greatly disburthened, by what I 
have done to day. I have been the less fearful 
of trying your patience, because, on this sub- 
ject, I mean to spare it altogether in future. I 
have this comfort, that in every stage of the 
American affairs, I have steadily opposed the 
measures that have produced the confusion, and 
may bring on the destruction of this empire. I 
now go so far as to require a proposal of my 
own. If I cannot give peace to my country, I 
give it my conscience. 

But what (says the financier) is peace to us 
without money .' Your plan gives us no revenue. 
No ! But it does — for it secures to the sub- 
ject the power of REFUSAL : the first of all 
revenues. — Experience is a cheat, and fact a 
liar, if this power in the subject of proportion- 
ing his grant, or of not granting at all, has not 
been found the richest mine of revenue ever 
discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man. 
It does not indeed vote you one hundred and 
fifty- two thousand seven hundred and fifty 
pounds eleven shillings and twopence three 
farthings, nor any other paltry limited sum. 
But it gives the strong box itself, the fund, the 
bank from whence only revenues can arise 
among a people sensible of freedom : Posita 
luditur area. Cannot you in England, cannot 
you at this time of day ; cannot you (an house 
of commons) trust to the principle which has 
raised so mighty a revenue, and accumulated a 
debt of near one hundred and forty millions in 
this country ! Is this principle to be true in 
England, and false every where else } Is it not 
true in Ireland .•' Has it not hitherto been true 
in the colonies ? Why should you presume 
that in any country a body, duly constituted for 
any function, will neglect to perform its duty, 
and abdicate its trust.' Such a presumption 
would go against all government, in all modes. 
But, in truth, this dread of penury of supply, 
from a free assembly, has no foundation in na- 
ture. For, first observe, that besides the desire 



452 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



which all men have naturally of supporting 
the honor of their own government, that sense 
of dignity, and that security to property, which 
ever attends freedom, has a tendency to increase 
the stock of the free community. Most may 
be taken where most is accumulated. And 
what is the soil or climate where experience 
has not uniformly proved, that for the voluntary 
flow of heaped up plenty, bursting from the 
weight of its own rich luxuriance, has ever 
run with a more copious stream of revenue, 
than could be squeezed from the dry husks of 
oppressed indigence, by the straining of all the 
political machinery in the world. 

Next we know that parties must ever exist in 
a free country. We know too, that the emula- 
tions of such parties, their contradictions, their 
reciprocal necessities, their hopes, and their 
fears must send them all in their turns to him 
that holds the balance of the state. The par- 
ties are the gamesters ; but government keeps 
the table, and is sure to be the winner in the 
end. When this game is played, I really think 
it is more to be feared, that the people will be 
exhausted, than that government will not be 
supplied. Whereas, whatever is got by acts of 
absolute power ill obeyed, because odious, or 
by contract ill kept, because constrained, will 
be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious. 
"Ease would retract vows made in pain, as 
violent and void." 

I, for one protest against compounding our 
demands ; I declare against compounding, for 
a poor limited sum, the immense, ever grow- 
ing, eternal debt, which is due to generous 
government from protected freedom. And so 
may I speed in the great object I propose to 
you, as I think it would not only be an act of 
injustice, but would be the worst economy in 
the world, to compel the colonies to a certain 
sum, either in the way of ransom, or in the 
way of compulsory compact. 

But to clear up my ideas on this subject a 
revenue from America transmitted hither — do 
not delude yourselves — you never can receive 
it — no, not a shilling. We have experienced 
that, from remote countries, it is not to be 
expected. If, when you attempted to extract 
a revenue from Bengal, you were obliged to 
return in iron what you had taken in imposition, 
what can you expect from North America ? 
For certain if ever there was a country' qualified 
to produce wealth, it is India ; or an institution 
fit for the transmission, it is the East-India 
company. America has none of these apti- 
tudes. If America gives you taxable objects, 
on which you lay your duties here, and gives 
you at the same time, a surplus by a foreign 



sale of her commodities, to pay the duties or. 
these objects, which you tax at home, she has 
performed her part to the British revenue. But 
with regard to her own internal establishments, 
she may, I do not doubt she will, contribute in 
moderation, I say in moderation ; for she ought 
not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She 
ought to be reserved to a war ; the weight of 
which, with the enemies that we are most likely 
to have, must be considerable in her quarter 
of the globe. There she may serve you, and 
serve you essentially. 

For that service, for all service, whether of 
revenue, trade, or empire, my trust is in her 
interest in the British constitution. My hold 
of the colonies is in the close affection which 
grows from common names, from kindred 
blood, from similar privileges, and equal pro- 
tection. These are ties which though light as 
air are as strong as links of iron. Let the colo- 
nies always keep the idea of their civil rights 
associated with your government ; they will 
cling and grapple to you ; and no force under 
Heaven will be of power to tear them from 
their allegiance. But let it once be understood, 
that your government may be one thing, and 
their privileges another, that these two things 
may exist without any mutual relation, the 
cement is gone; the cohesion is loosened ; and 
ever)' thing hastens to decay and dissolution. 
As long as you have wisdom to keep the sove- 
reign authority of this country as the sanctuary 
of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our 
common faith, wherever the chosen race and 
sons of England worship freedom, they will 
turn their faces towards you. 

The more they multiply, the more friends you 
will have; the more ardently they love liberty, the 
more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery 
they can hare any where. It is a weed that 
grows in every soil. They may have it from 
Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But 
until you become lost to all feeling of your true 
interest, and your natural dignity, freedom they 
can have from none but you. This is the com- 
modity of price, of which you have the monopo- 
ly. This is the true act of navigation, which 
binds to you the commerce of the colonies, and 
through them secures to you the wealth of the 
world. Deny them this participation of freedom 
and you break that sole bond, which originally 
made, and must still preserve, the unity of the 
empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagina- 
tion, as that your registers and your bonds, 
your affidavits and your suffrances, your cock- 
ets and clearances, are what form the great 
securities of your commerce. Do not dream, 
that your letters of office, and your instructions, 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



453 



and your suspending classes are the things 
that hold together the great contexture of this 
mysterious whole. These things do not make 
your government. Dead instruments, passive 
tools as they are, it is the spirit of English com- 
munion that gives all their life and efficacy to 
them. It is the spirit of the English constitution 
which, infused through the mighty mass, per- 
vades, feeds, invigorates, vivifies, every part of 
the empire, even down to the minutest members. 

Is it not the same virtue which does every- 
thing for us here in England .' Do you imagine 
then, that it is the land tax act which raises 
your revenue ? that it is the annual vote in the 
committee of supply, which gives you your 
army ? or that it is the mutiny bill which in- 
spires it with bravery and discipline ? No ! 
surely no ! It is the love of the people, it is 
their attachment to their government, from the 
sense of the deep stake they have in such a 
glorious institution, which gives you your army 
and your na\7, and infuses into both that libe- 
ral obedience, without which your army would 
be a base rabble, and yout navy nothing but 
rotten timber. 

All this, I know well enough, will sound wild 
and chimerical to the profane herd of those 
vulgar and mechanical politicians, who have no 
place among us ; a sort of people who think 
that nothing exists but what is gross and 
material ; and who therefore, far from being 
qualified to be directors of the great movement 
of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the 
machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly 
taught, these ruling and master principles, 
which, in the opinion of such men as I have 
mentioned, have no substantial existence, are 
in truth everything, and all in all. Magnani- 
mity in politics is not seldom the truest wis- 
dom ; and a great empire and little minds go 
ill together. If we are conscious of our situa- 
tion, and glow with zeal to fill our place as 
becomes our station and ourselves, we ought 
to auspicate all our public proceedings on 
America, with the old warning of the church, 
sursum corda ! We ought to elevate our 
minds to the greatness of that trust to which 
the order of Providence has called us. By 
adverting to the dignity of this high calling, 
our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness 
into a glorious empire ; and have made the 
most extensive, and the only honorable con- 
quests ; not by destroying, but by promoting, 
the wealth, the number, the happiness, of the 
human race. Let us get an American revenue 
as we have got an American empire. English 
privileges have made it all that it is ; English 
privileges alone will make it all it can be. In 



full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now 
{quod felix faustumque sit) lay the first 
stone of the temple of peace ; and I move tc 
you, 

" That the colonies and plantations of Great 
Britain, in North America, consisting of four- 
teen separate governments and containing two 
millions and upwards of free inhabitants, have 
not had the right and privilege of electing and 
sending their knights and burgesses, or others, 
to represent in the high court of parliament." 

Upon this resolution the previous question 
was put, and carried ; for the previous question 
270, against it 78. 



GOVERNOR PENN, 

Late of Pennsylvania. His examina- 
tion BY THE House of Lords. 

Saturday, November ii, 1775. 

House of lords. The lords were yester- 
day assembled for the purposes of examining 
governor Penn, and of discussing a motion 
which the duke of Richmond proposed to 
ground on such information as that gentleman 
should afford the house. 

Previous to the calling of Mr. Penn to the 
bar, the duke of Richmond announced the 
mode he had adopted preparatory to the gov- 
ernor's examination. His grace confessed, 
" That he had apprised Mr. Penn of the ques- 
tions which would be propounded to him, but 
the noble duke disclaimed having entered into 
any sort of conversation with the governor, lest 
such conversation should be malevolently con- 
strued into a design of anticipating the answers 
Mr. Penn might think proper to return." 

The duke of Richmond having finished his 
preliminary remarks, Mr. Penn was called to 
the bar, and interrogated nearly to the follow- 
ing purport : 

Q. How long had he resided in America ? 

A. Four years. Two of those years in the 
capacity of governor of Pennsylvania. 

Q. Was he acquainted with any of the mem- 
bers of the continental congress .' 

A. He was personally acquainted with all the 
members of that congress. 

Q. In what estimation was the congress 
held? 

A. In the highest veneration imaginable by 
all ranks and orders of men. 

Q. Was an implicit obedience paid to the 
resolutions of that congress throughout all the 
provinces ? 

A. He believed this to be the case. 



454 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Q. How many men had been raised through- 
out the province of Pennsylvania ? 

A. Twenty thousand elTective men had vol- 
untarily enrolled themselves to enter into actual 
service if necessity required. 

Q. Of what rank, quality and condition were 
these persons ? 

A. Men of the most respectable character in 
the province. 

Q. Were not a considerable number of them 
entirely destitute of property .' 

A. It was presumed that, subtracted from 
so large a number as 20,000, there were some 
necessitous, but the major pait were in flour- 
ishing situations. 

Q. Besides those 20,000, who voluntarily en- 
rolled themselves to act as exigencies might 
require, what other forces had the provincials 
of Pennsylvania raised .' 

A. Four thousand minute-men, whose duty 
was pointed out by their designation. They 
were to be ready for service at a minute's 
warning. 

Q. Did the province of Pennsylvania grow 
corn sufficient for the supply of its inhabitants ? 

A. Much more than sufficient, there was a 
surplus for exportation if required. 

Q. Were they capable of making gunpowder 
in Pennsylvania? 

A. They perfectly well understood the art, 
and had effected it. 

Q. Could salt-petre be made in the pro- 
vince .' 

A. It could ; mills and other instruments for 
effecting such an undertaking had been erected 
with success. 

Q. Could cannon be cast in Pennsylvania? 

A. The art of casting cannon had been car- 
ried to great perfection ; they were amply fur- 
nished with iron for that purpose. 

Q. Could small arms be made to any degree 
of perfection ? 

A. To as great a degree of perfection as 
tould be imagined. The workmanship em- 
ployed in finishing the small arms was univer- 
sally admired for its excellence. 

Q. Were the Americans expert in ship-build- 
ing? 

A. More so than the Europeans. 

Q. To what extent of tonnage did the largest 
of their shipping amount ? 

A. A ship of about three hundred tons was 
the largest they were known to build. 

Q. Circumstanced as things at present were, 
did the witness think, that the language of the 
congress expressed the sense of the people in 
America in general ? 

A. As far as the question applied to Penn- 



sylvania, he was sure this was the case ; for the 
other provinces, he replied in the affirmative 
from information only. 

Q. Did he suppose that the congress con- 
tained delegates fairly nominated by the choice 
of the people ? 

A. He had no doubt but that the congress did 
contain delegates chosen under this description. 

Q. By what mode were the delegates in con- 
gress appointed ? 

A. By the votes of assemblies in some places, 
by ballot in others. 

Q. In what light had the petition, which the 
witness had presented to the king, been con- 
sidered by the Americans ? 

A. The petition had been considered as an 
olive branch, and the witness had been com- 
plimented by his friends, as the messenger of 
peace. 

Q. On the supposition that the prayer of 
this petition should be rejected, what did the 
witness imagine would be the consequence ? 

A. That the Americans, who placed much 
reliance on the petition, would be driven to 
desperation by its non-success. 

Q. Did the witness imagine, that sooner than 
yield to what were supposed to be unjust claims 
of Great Britain, the Americans would take the 
desperate resolution of calling in the aid of 
foreign assistance ? 

A. The witness was apprehensive that this 
would be the case. 

Q. What did the witness recollect of the 
stamp act ? 

A. That it caused great uneasiness through- 
out America. 

Q. What did the witness recollect, concern- 
ing repeal of that act ? 

A. The anniversary of that memorable day is 
kept throughout America, by every testimony 
of public rejoicing, such as bonfires, illumina- 
tions, and other exhibitions of gladness. 

Q. Would not the neglect with which the 
last petition was treated induce the Americans 
to resign all hopes of pacific negotiations ? 

A. In the opinion of witness it would. 

Q. When the witness presented the petition 
to the secretary of state, was he asked any ques- 
tions relative to the state of America ? 

A. Not a single question. 

Cross examined by the lords Denbigh 
AND Sandwich. 

As the witness had acted in the capacity of 
governor, was he well acquainted with the 
charter of Pennsylvania ? 

A. He had read the charter, and was well 
acquainted with its contents. 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



455 



Q. Did he know that there was a clause 
which specifically subjected the colony to taxa- 
tion by the British legislature ? 

A. He was well apprised that there was 
such a clause. 

Q. Were the people of Pennsylvania content 
with their charter ? 

A. Perfectly content. 

Q. Then did they not acquiesce in the right 
of the British parliament to enforce taxa- 
tion .' 

A. They acquiesced in a declaration of the 
right so long as they experienced no inconveni- 
ence from the declaration. 

Queries from lord Sandwich. 

Q. Had the witness ever heard of an act en- 
titled, " The declaratory act .' " 

A. He had heard of such an act. 

Q. Did he ever peruse, and was he suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the contents of that 
act? 

A. He never had perused it. It never had 
been much discussed whilst he resided in 
America. 

A. Did the witness apprehend that the con- 
gress acquiesced in an act which maintained the 
authority of the British parliament in all cases 
whatsoever ? 

Objected to, and the witness was desired to 
withdraw ; but being called in again, the ques- 
tion was put, and he replied : 

That, except in the case of TAXATION, he 
apprehended the Americans would have no 
objection to acknowledge the sovereignty of 
Great Britain. 

Q. Had the witness any knowledge of cer- 
tain resolutions passed by the county of Suf- 
folk? 

A. He had not attended to them. 

Q. Had the witness any knowledge of an 
answer given by the continental congress, to 
what had been commonly called lord North's 
conciliatory motion ? 

A. The witness knew nothing of the pro- 
ceedings of the congress, they were generally 
transacted under the seal of secrecy. 

Q. Was the witness personally acquainted 
with Mr. Harrison, a member of the congress ? 

A. The witness knew him well. 

Q. What character did he bear? 

A. A very respectable one. 

Q. Had the witness ever heard of any per- 
sons who had suffered persecutions, for declar- 
ing sentiments favorable to the supremacy of 
the British parliament ? 

A. He had heard of such oppressions in other 



provinces, but never met with them during his 
residence in Pennsylvania. 

Q. In the opinion of the witness, were the 
Americans now free ? 

A. They imagined themselves to be so. 

Q. In case a formidable force should be sent 
to America, in support of government, did the 
witness imagine there were many who would 
openly profess submission to the authority of 
parliament ? 

A. The witness apprehended the few who 
would join on such occasion would be too 
trivial a number to be of any consequence. 

Mr. Penn was then ordered to withdraw, 
and the duke of Richmond, after descanting 
with singular propriety on the necessity of im- 
mediate conciliation, proposed the last petition 
from the continental congress to the king, as a 
basis for a plan of accommodation. His grace 
of Richmond moved, " That the preceding 
paper furnished grounds of conciliation of the 
unhappy differences at present subsisting be- 
tween Great Britain and America, and that 
some mode should be immediately adopted, for 
the effectuating so desirable a purpose." 
This produced a debate supported on both sides 
with infinite ingenuity. The numbers were : 

For the motion 27 — Proxies 6 33 

Against the motion 50 — Proxies36 86 

Majority against the motion 52. 



WILLIAM PITT— EARL OF CHATHAM. 
His celebrated speech delivered in the 

HOUSE OF lords. 

On a motion for an address to his majesty to 
give immediate orders for remoanng his 
troops from Boston, forthwith, in order to 
quiet the tninds and take away the apprehen- 
sions of his good subjects in America, De- 
cember 20, 1775. 

My lords— Mxcr more than six weeks pos- 
session of the papers now before you, on a 
subject so momentous, at a time when the 
fate of this nation hangs on every hour, the 
ministry have at length condescended to sub- 
mit, to the consideration of the house, intelli- 
gence from America, with which your lord- 
ships and the public have been long and fully 
acquainted. 

The measures of last year, my lords, which 
have produced the present alarming stale of 
America, were founded upon misrepresentation 
— they were violent, precipitate and vindictive. 
The nation was told, that it was only a faction 



456 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



in Boston, which opposed all lawful govern- 
ment ; that an unwarrantable injury had been 
done to private property, for which the justice 
of parliament was called upon, to order repa- 
ration ; — that the least appearance of firmness 
would awe the Americans into submission, 
and upon only passing the Rubicon we should 
be fine clade victor. 

That the people might choose their represent- 
atives, under the impression of those misrep- 
resentations, the parliament was precipitately 
dissolved. Thus the nation was to be ren- 
dered instrumental in executing the vengeance 
of administration on that injured, unhappy, 
traduced people. 

But now, my lords, we find, that instead of 
suppressing the opposition of the faction at 
Boston, these measures have spread it over the 
whole continent. They have united that whole 
people, by the most indissoluble of all bands 
— intolerable wrongs. The just retribution is 
an indiscriminate, unmerciful proscription of 
the innocent with the gu-ilty, unheard and 
untried. The bloodless victory, is an impotent 
general, with his dishonored army, trusting 
solely to the pick-axe and the spade, for secu- 
rity against the just indignation of an injured 
and insulted people. 

My lords, I am happy that a relaxation of 
my infirmities permits me to seize this earliest 
opportunity of offering my poor advice to save 
this unhappy country, at this moment totter- 
ing to its ruin. But as I have not the honor 
of access to his majesty, I will endeavor to 
transmit to him, through the constitutional 
channel of this house, my ideas on American 
business, to rescue him from the misadvice of 
his present ministers. I congratulate your 
lordships that that business is at last entered 
upon, by the noble lord's (lord Dartmouth) 
laying the papers before you. As I suppose 
your lordships are too well apprised of their 
contents, I hope I am not premature in submit- 
ting to you my present motion (reads the mo- 
tion). I wish my lords not to lose a day in 
this urging present crisis: An hour now lost 
in allaying the ferment in America, may pro- 
duce years of calamity : but, for my own part, 
I will not desert for a moment the conduct of 
this mighty business from the first to the last, 
unless nailed to my bed by the extremity of 
sickness ; I will give it unremitting attention : 
I will knock at the door of this sleeping, or 
:onfounded ministry, and will rouse them to a 
sense of their important danger. When I 
state the importance of the colonies to this 
country, and the magnitude of danger hanging 
over this country from the present plan of mis- 



administration practised against them, I desire 
not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity 
of indulgence between England and America: 
I contend not for indulgence, but justice, to 
America ; and I shall ever contend that the 
Americans owe obedience to us, in a limited 
degree ; they owe obedience to our ordinances 
of trade and navigation ; but let the line be 
skilfully drawn between the objects of those 
ordinances, and their private, internal pro- 
perty : Let the sacredness of their property 
remain inviolate ; let it be taxable only by their 
own consent, given in their provincial assem- 
blies, else it will cease to be property : As to 
the metaphysical refinements attempting to 
show that the Americans are equally free from 
obedience to commercial restraints, as from 
taxation for revenue, as being unrepresented 
here, I pronounce them futile, frivolous and 
groundless. — Property is, in its nature, single 
as an atom. It is indivisible, can belong to 
one only, and cannot be touched but by his 
own consent. The law that attempts to alter 
this disposal of it annihilates it. 

When I urge this measure for recalling the 
troops from Boston, I urge it on this pressing 
principle — that it is necessarily preparatory to 
the restoration of your prosperity. It will then 
appear that you are disposed to treat amicably 
and equitably, and to consider, revise and 
repeal, if it should be found necessary, as I 
affirm it will, those violent acts and declarations 
which have disseminated confusion through- 
out your empire. Resistance to your acts, was 
as necessary as it was just ; and your vain de- 
clarations of the omnipotence of parliament, 
and your imperious doctrines of the necessity 
of submission, will be found equally impotent 
to convince or enslave your fellow subjects in 
America, who feel that tyranny, whether am- 
bitioned by an individual part of the legis- 
lature, or by the bodies which compose it, is 
equally intolerable to British principles. 

As to the means of enforcing this thraldom, 
they are found to be as ridiculous and weak in 
practice, as they were unjust in principle: In- 
deed I cannot but feel, with the most anxious 
sensibility, for the situation of general Gage 
and the troops under his command ; thinking 
him, as I do, a man of humanity and under- 
standing, and entertaining, as I ever shall, the 
highest respect, the warmest love, for the 
British troops. Their situation is truly un- 
worthy, pent up, pining in inglorious inactivity. 
They are an army of impotence. You may 
call them an army of safety and of guard ; but 
they are in truth an army of impotence and 
contempt — and to render the folly equal to 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



457 



the disgrace, they are an army of irritation. I 
do not mean to censure the inactivity of the 
troops. It is prudent and necessary inaction. 
But it is a miserable condition, where disgrace 
is prudence ; and where it is necessary to be 
contemptible. This tameness, however dis- 
graceful, ought not to be blamed, as I am 
surprised to hear is done by these ministers. 
The first drop of blood, shed in a civil and un- 
natural war, would be an immedicabile vulnus. 
It would entail hatred and contention between 
the two people, from generation to generation. 
Woe be to him who sheds the first, the unexpi- 
able drop of blood in an impious war, with a 
people contending in the great cause of public 
liberty. I will tell you plainly, my lords, no 
son of mine nor any one over whom I have 
influence, shall ever draw his sword upon his 
fellow subjects. 

I therefore urge and conjure your lordships 
immediately to adopt this conciliatory measure. 
I will pledge myself for its immediately pro- 
ducing conciliatory effects, from its being well 
timed : But if you delay, till your vain hope of 
triumphantly dictating the terms shall be ac- 
complished — you delay forever. And, even 
admitting that this hope, which in truth is des- 
perate, should be accomplished, what will you 
gain by a victorious imposition of amity ? You 
will be untrusted and unthanked. Adopt then 
the grace, while you have the opportunity of 
reconcilement, or at least prepare the way ; 
allay the ferment prevailing in America, by 
removing the obnoxious hostile corps. Ob- 
noxious and unserviceable ; for their merit 
can be only inaction. " Non dimicare est 
vincere." Their victory can never be by 
exertions. Their force would be most dispro- 
portionately exerted, against a brave, gener- 
ous, and united people, with arms in their 
hands and courage in their hearts ; three mil- 
lions of people, the genuine descendants of a 
valiant and pious ancestry, driven to these 
deserts by the narrow ma.xims of a supersti- 
tious tyranny. And is the spirit of tyrannous 
persecution never to be appeased ? Are the 
brave sons of those brave forefathers to inherit 
their sufferings, as they have inherited their 
virtues .' Are they to sustain the inflictions of 
the most oppressive and unexampled severity, 
beyond the accounts of history or the descrip-- 
tion of poetry .' " Rhadamanthus habet durris- 
sima regna, castigatque auditque." So says 
the wisest statesman and politician. But the 
Bostonians have been condemned unheard. 
The discriminating hand of vengeance has 
lumped together innocent and guilty ; with 
all the formalities of hostility, has blocked up 



the town, and reduced to beggary and famine 
30,000 inhabitants. But his majesty is advised 
that the union of America cannot last. — Minis- 
ters have more eyes than I, and should have 
more ears, but from all the information I have 
been able to procure, I can pronounce it a 
union solid, permanent and effectual. Minis- 
ters may satisfy themselves and delude the 
public with the reports of what they call com- 
mercial bodies in America. They are not com- 
mercial. They are your packers and factors ; 
they live upon nothing, for I call commission 
nothing ; I mean the ministerial authority for 
their American intelligence. The runners of 
government, who are paid for their intelligence. 
But these are not the men, nor this the influ- 
ence to be considered in America, when we esti- 
mate the firmness of their union. Even to 
extend the question, and to take/in"~tt\e really 
mercantile circle, will be totally inadequate 
to the consideration. Trade indeed increases 
the w-ealth and glory of a country ; but its 
real strength and stamina are to be looked 
for among the cultivators of the land. In their 
simplicity of life is founded the" simplicity of 
virtue, the integrity and courage of freedom. 
Those true genuine sons of the earth are invin- 
cible : and they surround and hem in the mer- 
cantile bodies ; even if those bodies, which 
supposition I totally disclaim, could be sup- 
posed disaffected to the cause of liberty. Of 
this general spirit existing in the American 
nation, for so I wish to distinguish the real and 
genuine Americans from the pseudo traders I 
have described ; of this spirit of independence, 
animating the nation of America, I have the 
most authentic information. It is not new 
among them ; it is, and ever has been their 
established principle, their confirmed persua- 
sion ; it is their nature and their doctrine. I 
remember some years ago when the repeal of 
the stamp act was in agitation, conversing in a 
friendly confidence with a person of undoubted 
respect and authenticity on this subject ; and 
he assured me with a certainty which his judg- 
ment and opportunity gave him, that these 
were the prevalent and steady principles of 
America : That you might destroy their 
towns, and cut them off from the superfluities, 
perhaps the conveniencies of life, but that they 
were prepared to despise your power, and 
would not lament their loss, whilst they had, 
what, my lords ? — Their woods and liberty. 
The name of my authority, if I am called upon, 
will authenticate the opinion irrefragably. 

I f illegal violences have been, as it is said.com- 
mitted in America, prepare the way, open a door 
of possibility, for acknowledgment and satisfac- 



458 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



tion. But proceed not to such coercion, such 
proscription. Cease your indiscriminate inflic- 
tions; amerce not thirty thousands, oppress not 
three millions, for the faults of forty or fifty. Such 
severity of injustice must forever render incu- 
rable the wounds you have given your colonies ; 
you irritate them to unappeasable rancor. 
What though you march from town to town, 
and from pro\ince to province ? — Though you 
should be able to force a temporary and local 
submission, which I only suppose, not admit, 
how shall you be able to secure the obedience 
of the country you leave behind you in your 
progress.' To grasp the dominion of i,8oo 
miles of continent, populous in valor, liberty 
and resistance .' This resistance to your arbi- 
trary system of taxation might have been fore- 
seen ; it was obvious from the nature of things 
and of mankind ; and above all, from the whig- 
gish spirit flourishing in that country. The 
spirit which now resists your taxation in 
America, is the same which formerly opposed, 
and with success opposed, loans, benevolences, 
and ship money in England — the same spirit 
which called all England on its legs, and by 
the bill of rights vindicated the English consti- 
tution — the same spirit which established the 
great fundamental and essential maxim of your 
liberties, that no subject shall be taxed, but by 
his own consent. If your lordships will turn to 
the politics of those times, you will see the at- 
tempts of the lords to poison this inestimable 
benefit of the bill, by an insidious proviso. You 
will see their attempts defeated, in their con- 
ference with the commons, by the decisive argu- 
ments of the ascertainers and maintainers of 
our liberty ; you will see the thin, inconclusive 
and fallaciousstuff of those enemies to freedom, 
contrasted with the sound and solid reasoning 
of sergeant Glanville and the rest, those great 
and learned men who adorned and enlightened 
this countr}', and placed her security on the 
summit of justice and freedom. And whilst I 
am on my legs, and thus do justice to the 
memory of those great men, I must also justify 
che merit of the living by declaring my firm and 
fixed opinion, that such a man exists this day 
[looking towards lord Cambden] ; this glorious 
spirit of whiggism animates three millions in 
America, who prefer poverty with liberty, to 
golden chains and sordid affluence ; and who 
will die in defence of their rights, as men — 
as freemen. What shall oppose this spirit .' 
aided by the congenial flame glowing in the 
breast of every whig in England, to the amount, 
I hope, of at least double the American num- 
bers ! Ireland they have to a man. In that 
country, joined as it is with the cause of the 



colonies, and placed at their head, the distinc- 
tion I contend for, is and must be observed. 

My lords — This country superintends and 
controls their trade and navigation ; but they 
tax themselves. And this distinction between 
external and internal control, is sacred and 
insurmountable ; it is involved in the abstract 
nature of things. Property is private, individ- 
ual, absolute. Trade is an extended and com- 
plicated consideration ; itreaches as far as ships 
can sail, or winds can blow. It is a great and 
various machine — To regulate the numberless 
movements of its several parts, and combine 
them into effect for the good of the w'hole, 
requires the superintending wisdom and energy 
of the supreme power in the empire. But this 
supreme power has no effect towards internal 
taxation — for it does not exist in that relation. 
There is no such thing, no such idea in this 
constitution, as a supreme power operating 
upon property. 

Let this distinction then remain forever as- 
certained. Taxation is theirs, commercial reg- 
ulation is ours. As an American, I would 
recognize to England her supreme right of 
regulating commerce and navigation. As an 
Englishman, by birth and principle. I recognize 
to the Americans their supreme, unalienable 
right to their property ; a right which they are 
justified in the defence of, to the extremity. 
To maintain this principle is the common cause 
of the whigs on the other side of the Atlantic, 
and on this. 'Tis liberty to liberty engaged, 
that they will defend themselves, their families 
and their country. In this great cause they 
are immovably allied. It is the alliance of 
God and nature — immutable, eternal, fixed as 
the firmament of Heaven ! To such united 
force, what force shall be opposed I What, my 
lords, a few regiments in America, and 17 or 
18,000 men at home ! The idea is too ridicu- 
lous to take up a moment of your lordships' 
time — nor can such a national principled union 
be resisted by the tricks of office or ministerial 
manoeuvres. Laying papers on your table, or 
counting noses on a dinsion, will not avert or 
postpone the hour of danger. It must arrive, 
my lords, unless these fatal acts are done away ; 
it must arrive in all its horrors. And then 
these boastful ministers, 'spite of all their con- 
fidence and all their manoeuvres, shall be forced 
to hide their heads. But it is not repealing 
this act of parliament, or that act of parliament 
— it is not repealing a piece of parchment that 
can restore America to your bosom. You must 
repeal her fears and her resentments, and you 
may then hope for her love and gratitude. 
But now insulted with an armed force posted 



BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 



459 



In Boston, irritated with an hostile array before 
her eyes, her concessions, if you could force 
them, would be suspicious and insecure. They 
will be, irato animo. They will not be the 
sound, honorable pactions of freemen ; they 
will be the dictates of fear and the extortions 
of force. But it is more than evident that you 
CANNOT force them, principled and united as 
they are, to your unworthy terms of submission. 
It is impossible. And when I hear general 
Gage censured for inactivity, I must retort with 
indignation on those whose intemperate meas- 
ures and improvident councils have betrayed 
him into his present situation. His situation 
reminds me, my lords, of the answer of a French 
general in the civil wars of France, Monsieur 
Turenne, I think. The queen said to him, with 
some peevishness, I observe that you were of- 
ten very near the prince during the campaign, 
why did you not take him ? — The Mareschal 
replied with great coolness — J'avois grand peur, 
que Monsieur le prince ne me pris, — I was very 
much afraid the prince would take me. 

When your lordships look at the papers 
transmitted us from America, when you con- 
sider their decency, firmness and wisdom, you 
cannot but respect their cause, and wish to 
make it your own — for myself I must declare 
and avow that, in all my reading and obsena- 
tion, and it has been my favorite study — I have 
read Thucydides, and have studied and admired 
the master statesmen of the world — that for 
solidity and reasoning, force of sagacity, and wis- 
dom of conclusion, under such a complication of 
different circumstances, no nation or body of 
men can stand in preference to the general 
congress at Philadelphia. — I trust it is obvious 
to your lordships, that all attempts to impose 
servitude on such men, to establish despotism 
over such a mighty continental nation — must be 
vain — must be futile. — We shall be forced ulti- 
mately to retract, whilst we can, not when we 
must. I say we must necessarily undo these 
violent and oppressive acts : — they must be 
repealed — you will repeal them : I pledge my- 
self for it you will in the end repeal them. I 
stake my reputation on it : I will consent to be 
taken for an idiot if they are not finally repealed. 
Avoid then this humiliating, disgraceful neces- 
sity. — With a dignity becoming your exalted 
situation, make the first advances to concord, 
to peace and happiness, for that is your true 
dignity, to act with prudence and with justice. 
That you should first concede is obvious from 
sound and rational policy. Concession comes 
with better grace and more salutary effect 
from the superior power. It reconciles supe- 
riority of power with the feelings of men ; and 



establishes solid confidence in the foundation 
of affection and gratitude. So thought the 
wisest poet, and perhaps the wisest man in 
political sagacity, the friend of Maecenas, and 
the eulogist of Augustus. To him the adopted 
son and successor of the first Caesar, to him 
the master of the world, he wisely urged this 
conduct of prudence and dignity. 

Tuque, prior, etc. ViRGIL. 

Every motive, therefore, of justice and of pol- 
icy, of dignity and of prudence, urges you to 
allay the ferment in America, by a removal of 
your troops from Boston, by a repeal of your 
acts of parliament, and by demonstration of 
amicable dispositions toward your colonies. 
On the other hand, every danger and every 
hazard, impend to deter you from perseverance 
in your present ruinous measures. Foreign 
war hanging over your heads by a slight and 
brittle thread : France and Spain watching 
for the maturity of your errors ; with a vigilant 
eye to America and the temper of your colo- 
nies, more than to their own concerns, be they 
what they may. 

To conclude, my lords, if the ministers thus 
persevere in misadvising and misleading the 
king, I will not say that they can alienate his 
subjects from his crown, but I will affirm that 
they will make the crown not worth his wearing. 
I shall not say that the king is betrayed, but 
I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone. 



SPEECH 

Of William Pitt, Earl Chatham, deliv- 
ered IN THE House of Lords, 1777. 

In opposition to Lord Suffolk's proposition to 
parliament to employ Indians against the 
American Colonists ; who had stated, in 
course of debate, that " they had a right to 
use all the means that God and nature had 
put into their hands to conquer America." 

" My Lords — I am astonished to hear such 
principles confessed ! I am shocked to hear 
them avowed in this house, or in this country I 
Principles, equally unconstitutional, inhuman, 
and unchristian ! 

My lords, I did not intend to have encroached 
again on your attention ; but I cannot repress 
my indignation. I feel myself impelled by 
every duty. My lords, we are called upon as 
members of this house, as men, as Christian 
men, to protest against such notions standing 
near the throne, polluting the ear of majesty. 
" That God and nature put into our hands ! " 
I know not what ideas that lord may entertain 



460 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



of God and nature ; but I know, that such 
abominable principles are equally abhorrent to 
religion and humanity. 

What ! to attribute the sacred sanction of 
God and nature to the massacres of the Indian 
scalping knife ? to the cannibal savage, tortur- 
ing, murdering, roasting, and eating ; literally, 
my lords, eating the mangled victims of his 
barbarous battles ! Such horrible notions 
shock every precept of religion, divine or natu- 
ral, and ever)' generous feeling of humanity. 
And, my lords, they shock every sentiment of 
honor ; they shock me as a lover of honorable 
war, and a detester of murderous barbarity. 

These abominable principles, and this, more 
abominable avowal of them ; demand the most 
decisive indignation. I call upon that right 
reverend bench, those holy ministers of the 
gospel, and pious pastors of our church : I 
conjure them to join in the holy work, and vin- 
dicate the religion of their God. I appeal to 
wisdom and the law of this learned bench, to 
defend and support the justice of their country. 
I call upon the bishops to interpose the un- 
sullied sanctity of their lawn ; upon the learned 
judges, to interpose the purity of their ermine, 
to save us from this pollution. I call upon the 
honor of your lordships to reverence the dignity 
of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. 
I call upon the spirit and humanity of my 
country, to vindicate the national character. I 
invoke the genius of the constitution. 

From the tapestry that adorn these walls, 
the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns 
with indignation at the disgrace of his country. 
In vain he led your victorious fleet against the 
boasted armada of Spain, in vain he defended 
and established the honor, the liberties, the re- 
ligion, the protestant religion of this country. 



against the arbitrary cruelties of popery and 
the inquisition, if these more than popish cruel- 
ties and inquisitorial practices are let loose 
among us ; to turn forth into our settlements, 
among our ancient connections, friends, and 
relations, the merciless cannibal, thirsting for 
the blood of man, woman and child ! to send 
forth the infidel savage — against whom .' against 
your protestant brethren ; to lay waste their 
country ; to desolate their dwellings, and extir- 
pate their race and name, with these horrible 
hell-hounds of savage warfare ! 

Spain armed herself with blood-hounds, to 
extirpate the wretched natives of America ; 
and we improve on the human example even of 
Spanish cruelty. We turn loose these savage 
hell-hounds against our brethren and country- 
men in America, of the same language, laws, 
liberty, and religion, endeared to us by every 
tie that should sanctify humanity. 

My lords, this awful subject, so important to 
our honor, our constitution, and our religion, 
demands the most solemn and effectual inquiry. 
And I again call upon your lordships and the 
united power of the state, to examine it thor- 
oughly, and decisively, and to stamp upon it an 
indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. And 
I again implore those holy prelates of our reli- 
gion, to do away these iniquities from among 
us. Let them perform a lustration ; let them 
purify this house, and this country from this 
sin. 

My lords, I am old and weak, and at present 
unable to say more ; but my feelings and indig- 
nation were too strong to have said less. I 
could not have slept this night in my bed, nor 
reposed my head upon my pillow, without giv- 
ing this vent to my eternal abhorrence of such 
preposterous and enormous principles." 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



461 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



[It seemed right that we should collect the 
following articles, and present them together, 
as containing, in themselves, the best portrait 
of the father of his country, drawn by him- 
self, that we had the power to offer — though 
in detached parts, they must needs be famil- 
iar to the American people.] Editor. 

GENERAL WASHINGTON'S SPEECH 

To Congress on accepting his Commis- 
sion, June 15, 1775. 

Mr. President — Though I am truly sensible 
of the high honor done me, in this appointment, 
yet I feel great distress, from a consciousness 
that my abilities and military experience may 
not be equal to the extensive and important 
trust. However, as the congress desire it, I 
will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert 
every power I possess in their service, and for 
support of the glorious cause. I beg they will 
accept my most cordial thanks for this distin- 
guished testimony of their approbation. 

" But, lest some unlucky event should happen 
unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be 
remembered, by every gentleman in the 
room, that I, this day, declare with the utmost 
sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the 
command I am honored with. 

" As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the 
congress, that, as no pecuniar)' consideration 
could have tempted me to accept this arduous 
employment, at the expense of my domestic 
ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any 
profit from it. I will keep an exact account of 
my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will 
discharge, and that is all I desire." 



GENERAL WASHINGTON'S ADDRESS. 

To THE inhabitants OF CANADA, 1775. 

The following address was published in Cana- 
da, on the arrival of colofiel Arnold, with the 
troops under his command. 

By his excellency George Washington, esq., 
commander in chief of the army of the United 
Colonies of North America. 

■BO THE INHABITANTS OF CANADA. 

Friends and brethren — The unnatural con- 
test between the English Colonies and Great 



Britain, has now risen to such a height, that 
arms alone must decide it. The colonies, con- 
fiding in the justice of their cause, and the 
purity of their intentions, have reluctantly 
appealed to that Being, in whose hands are all 
human events. He has hitherto smiled upon 
their virtuous efforts — the hand of tyranny has 
been arrested in its ravages, and the British 
arms, which have shone with so much splendor 
in every part of the globe, are now tarnished 
with disgrace and disappointment. Generals 
of approved e.xperience, who boasted of subdu- 
ing this great continent, find themselves cir- 
cumscribed within the limits of a single city 
and its suburbs, suffering all the shame and 
distress of a siege, while the freeborn sons of 
America, animated by the genuine principles 
of liberty and love of their country, with in- 
creasing union, firmness and discipline, repel 
every attack, and despise every danger. 

Above all, we rejoice, that our enemies have 
been deceived with regard to you — they have 
persuaded themselves, they have even dared to 
say, that the Canadians were not capable of 
distinguishing between the blessings of liberty, 
and the wretchedness of slavery ; that gratifying 
the vanity of a little circle of nobility — would 
blind the people of Canada. By such artifices 
they hoped to bend you to their views, but 
they have been deceived ; instead of finding in 
you that poverty of soul and baseness of spirit, 
they see with a chagrin, equal to our joy, that 
you are enlightened, generous, and virtuous — 
that you will not renounce your own rights, or 
serve as instruments to deprive your fellow- 
subjects of theirs. Come, then, my brethren, 
unite with us in an indissoluble union, let us 
run together to the same goal. We have taken 
up arms in defence of our liberty, our property, 
our wives, and our children ; we are determined 
to preserve them, or die. We look forward with 
pleasure to that day, not far remote (we hope) 
when the inhabitants of America shall have 
one sentiment, and the full enjoyment of the 
blessings of a free government. 

Incited by these motives, and encouraged by 
the advice of many friends of liberty among 
you, the grand American congress have sent 
an army into your province, under the com- 
mand of general Schuyler — not to plunder, but 
to protect you — to animate, and bring forth 
into action those sentiments of freedom you 



462 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



have disclosed, and which the tools of despot- 
ism would extinguish through the whole crea- 
tion. To co-operate with this design, and to 
frustrate those cruel and perfidious schemes, 
which would deluge our frontiers with the 
blood of women and children, I have detached 
colonel Arnold into your country, with a part of 
the army under my command. I have enjoined 
upon him, and I am certain that he will con- 
sider himself and act as in the country of his 
patrons and best friends. Necessaries and 
accommodations of ever}' kind which you may 
furnish, he will thankfully receive and render 
the full value. I invite you therefore as friends 
and brethren, to provide him with such supplies 
as your country affords ; and I pledge myself 
not only for your safety and security, but for 
an ample compensation. Let no man desert 
his habitation — let no one flee as before an 
enemy. The cause of America, and of liberty, 
is the cause of every virtuous American citi- 
zen ; whatever may be his religion or his 
descent, the United Colonies know no distinc- 
tion but such as slavery, corruption, and arbi- 
trary dominion, may create. Come then, ye 
generous citizens, range yourselves under the 
standard of general liberty — against which all 
the force and artifice of tyranny will never be 
able to prevail. 

G. Washington. 



CORRESPONDENCE 

Between General Washington and 
General Gage, upon the subject of 
the treatment of prisoners bv the 
British. 

Gen. Washington to General Gage. 

Headquarters, Cambridge, August 11, 1775. 

Sir — I understand that the officers, engaged 
in the cause of liberty and their country, who, 
by the fortune of war, have fallen into your 
hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into 
a common jail, appropriated for felons — that 
no consideration has been had for those of the 
most respectable rank, when languishing with 
wounds and sickness — that some of them have 
been even amputated in this unworthy sit- 
uation. 

Let your opinion, sir, of the princijiles which 
actuates them, be what it may, they suppose 
they act from the noblest of all principles, a 
love of freedom and their country. But politi- 
cal opinions, I conceive, are foreign to this 
point. The obligations arising from the rights 
of humanity, and claims of rank, are universally 



binding and extensive, except in case of retalia- 
tion. These, I should have hoped, would have 
dictated a more tender treatment of those in- 
dividuals, whom chance or war had put in your 
power. Nor can I forbear suggesting its fatal 
tendency to widen that unhappy breach, which 
you, and those ministers under whom you act, 
have repeatedly declared you wished to see for- 
ever closed. 

My duty now makes it necessary to apprise 
you, that, for the future, I shall regulate my 
conduct towards those gentlemen of your army, 
who are, or may be in our possession, exactly 
by the rule you shall observe towards those of 
ours who may be in your custody. 

If severity and hardship mark the line of 
your conduct (painful as it may be to me) your 
prisoners will feel its effect ; but if kindness 
and humanity are shown to ours, I shall, with 
pleasure, consider those in our hands only as 
unfortunate, and they shall receive from me 
that treatment to which the unfortunate are 
ever entitled. 



Answer of General Gage. 

Boston, August 13, 1775. 

Sir — To the glory of civilized nations, hu- 
manity and war have been compatible ; and 
compassion to the subdued is become almost a 
general system. 

Britons, ever pre-eminent in mercy, have 
outgone common examples, and overlooked the 
criminal in the captive. Upon these principles, 
your prisoners, whose lives, by the laws of the 
land, are destined to the cord, have hitherto 
been treated with care and kindness, and more 
comfortably lodged, than the king's troops, in 
the hospitals ; indiscriminately, it is true, for I 
acknowledge no rank that is not derived from 
the king. 

My uitelligence from your army would justify 
severe recrimination. I understand there are 
some of the king's faithful subjects, taken some- 
time since by the rebels, laboring like negro 
slaves, to gain their daily subsistence, or reduced 
to the wretched alternative, to perish by famine 
or take arms against their king and countn'. 
Those, who have made the treatment of the 
prisoners m my hands, or of your other friends 
in Boston, a pretence for such measures, found 
barbarity upon falsehood. 

I would willingly hope, sir, that the senti- 
ments of liberality, which I have always believed 
you to possess, will be e.xerted to correct these 
misdoings. Be temperate in political disquisi- 
tions ; give free operation to truth, and punish 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



463 



those who deceive and misrepresent ; and not 
only the effects, but the causes of this unhappy 
conflict will soon be removed. 

Should those, under whose usurped authority 
you act, control such a disposition, and dare to 
call severity retaliation, to God, who knows all 
hearts, be the appeal for the dreadful conse- 
quences. I trust that British soldiers, asserting 
the rights of the state, the laws of the land, 
the being of the constitution, will meet all 
events with becoming fortitude. They will 
court victory with the spirit their cause inspires, 
and from the same motive will find the patience 
of martyrs under misfortune. 

Till I read your insinuations in regard to 
ministers, I conceived that I had acted under the 
king, whose wishes, it is true, as well as those 
of his ministers, and of every honest man, have 
been to see this unhappy breach forever closed ; 
but unfortunately for both countries, those, who 
have long since projected the present crisis, 
and influence the councils of America, have 
views very distant from accommodation. 

I am, sir, your most obedient humble ser- 
vant. Thomas Gage. 

George Washington, esq. 



Washington's Reply. 

Headquarters, Cambridge, August 19, 1775. 

Sir — I addressed you on the nth inst. in 
terms which gave the fairest scope for the 
exercise of that humanity and politeness, which 
were supposed to form a part of your character. 
I remonstrated with you on the unworthy treat- 
ment shewn to the officers and citizens of Amer- 
ica, whom the fortune of war, chance, or a mis- 
taken confidence, had thrown into your hands. 

Whether British or American mercy, forti- 
tude, and patience, are most pre-eminent — 
whether our virtuous citizens, whom the hand 
of tyranny has forced intoarms, to defend their 
wives, their children, and their property, or the 
mercenary instruments of lawless domination, 
avarice, and revenge, best deserve the appella- 
tion of rebels, and the punishment of that cord, 
which your affected clemency has forborne to 
inflict — whether the authority under which I 
act, is usurped, or founded upon the genuine 
principles of liberty — were altogether foreign 
to the subject. I purposely avoided all politi- 
cal disquisition ; nor shall I now avail myself 
of those advantages, which the sacred cause of 
my country, of liberty and human nature, give 
me over you ; much less shall I stoop to retort 
any invective. But the intelligence, you say 
you have received from our army, requires a 



reply. I have taken time, sir, to make a strict 
enquiry, and find it has not the least foundation 
in truth. Not only your officers and soldiers 
have been treated with a tenderness due to 
fellow citizens and brethren, but even those 
execrable parricides, whose councils and aid 
have deluged their country with blood, have 
been protected from the fury of a justly en- 
raged people. Far from compelling or permit- 
ting their assistance, I am embarrassed with 
the numbers who crowd to our camp, animated 
with the purest principles of virtue and love of 
their country. You advise me to give free 
operation to truth ; to punish misrepresenta- 
tion and falsehood. If experience stamps 
value upon counsel, yours must have a weight 
which few can claim. You best can tell, how 
far the convulsion, which has brought such 
ruin on both countries, and shaken the mighty 
empire of Britain to its foundation, may be 
traced to these malignant causes. 

You affect, sir, to despise all rank, not deri- 
ved from the same source with your own. I 
cannot conceive one more honorable, than that 
which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a 
brave and free people, the purest source and 
original fountain of all power. Far from mak- 
ing it a plea for cruelty, a mind of true magna- 
nimity and enlarged ideas, would comprehend 
and respect it. 

What may have been the ministerial views 
which have precipitated the present crisis, 
Lexington, Concord, and Charlestown, can best 
declare. May that God, to whom you then 
appealed, judge between America and you. 
Under his providence, those who influence the 
councils of America, and all the other inhabi- 
tants of the United Colonies, at the hazard of 
their lives, are determined to hand down to 
posterity those just and invaluable privileges 
which they received from their ancestors. 

I shall now, sir, close my correspondence 
with you, perhaps forever. If yourofficers, our 
prisoners, receive a treatment from me, differ- 
ent from what I wished to shew them, they 
and you will remember the occasion of it. 

I am, sir, your very humble sen'ant, 

George Washington. 

General Gage, 



464 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



GENERAL WASHINGTON'S LETTER 

To THE President of Congress, 1776. 

To John Hancock, esq. president of congress. 

Colonel Morris's, on the Heights of Harlem, \ 
Sept. 24, 1776. J 

Sir — From the hours allotted to sleep, I will 
borrow a few moments to convey my thoughts, 
on sundry important matters, to congress. I 
shall offer them with the sincerity which ought 
to characterize the man of candor, and with 
the freedom which may be used in giving use- 
ful information, without incurring the imputa- 
tion of presumption. 

We are now, as it were, upon the eve of 
another dissolution of our army. The remem- 
brance of the difficulties which happened upon 
the occasion last year, the consequences which 
might have followed the change, if proper ad- 
vantages had been taken by the enemy, added 
to a knowledge of the present temper and sit- 
uation of the troops, reflect but a very gloomy 
prospect upon the appearance of things now, 
and satisfy me beyond the possibility of doubt, 
that, unless some speedy and effectual meas- 
ures are adopted by congress, our cause will 
be lost. 

It is in vain to expect, that any, or more than 
a trifling part of this army will again engage in 
the service on the encouragement offered by 
congress. When men find that their towns- 
men and companions are receiving twenty, 
thirty, and more, dollars for a few months' 
service (which is truly the case) it cannot be 
expected, without using compulsion ; and to 
force them into the service, would answer no 
valuable purpose. When men are irritated, 
and the passions inflamed, they fly hastily and 
cheerfully to arms : but after the first emotions 
are over, a soldier reasoned with upon the good- 
ness of the cause he is engaged in, and the in- 
estimable rights he is contending for, hears you 
with patience, and acknowledges the truth of 
your observation, but adds, that it is of no 
more importance to him than others. The 
officer makes you the same reply, with this 
further remark, that his pay will not support 
him, and he cannot ruin himself and family to 
serve his countr)' when every member of the 
community is equally interested and benefited 
by his labors. 

It becomes evidently clear then, that, as this 
contest is not likely to be the work of a day ; 
as the war must be carried on systematically ; 
and to do it you must have good officers ; there 
are, in my judgment, no other possible means 
to obtain them, but by establishing your army 



upon a permanent footing, and giving your 
officers good pay. This will induce gentlemen, 
and men of character, to engage : and, till the 
bulk of your officers are composed of such 
persons as are actuated by principles of honor 
and a spirit of enterprise, you have little to 
expect from them. They ought to have such 
allowances as will enable them to live like, and 
support the characters of, gentlemen. Besides, 
something is due to the man who puts his life 
in your hands, hazards his health, and forsakes 
the sweets of domestic enjoyment. Why a 
captain in the continental service should re- 
ceive no more than five shillings currency per 
day, for performing the same duties that an 
officer of the same rank in the British service 
receives ten shillings sterling for, I never could 
conceive, especially when the latter is provided 
with ever)- necessary he requires, upon the best 
terms, and the former can scarcely procure 
them at any rate. There is nothing that gives 
a man consequence, and renders him fit for 
command, like a support that renders him in- 
dependent of every body but the state he 
serves. 

With respect to the men, nothing but a good 
bounty can obtain them upon a permanent es- 
tablishment ; and for no shorter time than the 
continuance of the war, ought they to be en- 
gaged, as facts incontestibly prove that the 
difficulty and cost of enlistments increase with 
time. When the army was first at Cambridge, 
I am persuaded the men might have been got, 
without a bounty, for the war. After this, they 
began to see that the contest was not likely to 
end so speedily as was imagined, and to feel 
their consequence by remarking, that, to get in 
the militia in the course of the last year, many 
towns were induced to give them a bounty. 

Foreseeing the evils resulting from this, and 
the destructive consequences which unavoida- 
bly would follow short enlistments, 1 took the 
liberty, in a long letter, (date not recollected, 
as my letter book is not here) to recommend 
the enlistments for and during the war, assign- 
ing such reasons for it as experience has since 
convinced me were well founded. At that 
time, twenty dollars would, I am persuaded, 
have engaged the men for this term. But it 
will not do to look back : and, if the present 
opportunity is slipped, I am persuaded that 
twelve months more will increase our dilflcul- 
ties fourfold. I shall therefore take the free- 
dom of giving it as my opinion, that a good 
bounty be immediately offered, aided by the 
proffer of at least a hundred, or a hundred and 
fifty acres of land, and a suit of clothes and 
blanket, to each non-commissioned officer and 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



465 



soldier ; as I have good authority for saying, 
that, however high the men's pay may appear, 
it is barely sufficient, in the present scarcity 
and dearness of all kinds of goods, to keep 
them in clothes, much less afford support to 
their families. 

If this encouragement then is given to the 
men, and such pay allowed the officers as will 
induce gentlemen of character and liberal sen- 
timents, to engage, and proper care and pre- 
caution used in the nomination (having more 
regard to the characters of persons than the 
number of men they can enlist) we should, in a 
little time, have an army able to cope with any 
that can be opposed to it, as there are excellent 
materials to form one. But while the only 
merit an officer possesses, is his ability to raise 
men ; while those men consider and treat him 
as an equal, and, in the character of an officer, 
regard him no more than a broom-stick, being 
mixed together as one common herd, no order 
nor discipline can prevail ; nor will the officer 
ever meet with that respect which is essentially 
necessary to due subordination. 

To place any dependence upon militia is 
assuredly resting upon a broken staff; men 
just dragged from the tender scenes of domes- 
tic life ; unaccustomed to the din of arms ; 
totally unacquainted with military skill ; which 
being followed by a want of confidence in them- 
selves, when opposed to troops regularly trained, 
disciplined, and appointed ; superior in knowl- 
edge and superior in arms, makes them timid 
and ready to fly from their own shadows. 
Besides, the sudden change in their manner of 
Hving, particularly in their lodgings, brings on 
sickness in many, impatience in all : and such 
an unconquerable desire of returning to their re- 
spective homes, that it not only produces shame- 
ful and scandalous desertions among them- 
selves, but infuses the Hke spirit into others. 

Again ; men accustomed to unbounded free- 
dom and no control, cannot brook the restraint 
which is indispensably necessary to the good 
order and government of an army ; without 
which, licentiousness and every kind of disorder 
triumphantly reign. To bring men to a proper 
degree of subordination is not the work of a 
day, a month, or even a year: and, unhappily 
for us and the cause we are engaged in, the 
little discipline I have been laboring to estab- 
lish in the army under my immediate command, 
is in a manner done away, by ha\'ing such a 
mixture of troops as have been called together 
within these few months. 

Relaxed and unfit as our rules and regula- 
tions of war are, for the government of an 
army, the militia (those properly so called ; for 

30 



of these we have two sorts, six months' men, 
and those sent in as temporary aid) do not 
think themselves subject to them, and therefore 
take liberties which the soldier is punished for. 
This creates jealousy : jealousy begets dissatis- 
faction : and these by degrees, ripen into 
mutiny, keeping the whole army in a confused 
and disordered state ; rendering the time of 
those who wish to see regularity and good 
order prevail, more unhappy than words can 
describe. Besides this, such repeated changes 
take place that all arrangement is set at nought, 
and the constant fluctuation of things deranges 
every plan as fast as adopted. 

These, sir, congress may be assured, are but 
a small part of the inconveniences which might 
be enumerated, and attributed to militia ; but 
there is one that merits particular attention, 
and that is the expense. Certain I am, that it 
would be cheaper to keep fifty or a hundred 
thousand in constant pay, than to depend upon 
half the number, and supply the other half 
occasionally by militia. The time the latter are 
in pay, before and after they are in camp, 
assembling, and marching; the waste of am- 
munition, the consumption of stores, which, in 
spite of every resolution or requisition of con- 
gress, they must be furnished with, or sent 
home, added to other incidental expenses conse- 
quent upon their coming and conduct in camp, 
surpasses all idea, and destroys every kind of 
regularity and economy which you could estab- 
lish among fixed and settled troops, and will, 
in my opinion, prove, if the scheme is adhered 
to, the ruin of our cause. 

The jealousies of a standing army, and the 
evils to be apprehended from one, arc remote, 
and, in my judgment, situated and circum- 
stanced as we are, not at all to be dreaded ; 
but the consequence of wanting one, according 
to my ideas, formed from the present view of 
things, is certain and inevitable ruin. For, if I 
was called upon to declare upon oath, whether 
the militia have been most serviceable or hurt- 
ful, upon the whole, I should subscribe to the 
latter. I do not mean by this, however, to 
arraign the conduct of congress ; in so doing I 
should equally condemn my own measures, if I 
did not my judgment ; but experience, which is 
the best criterion to work by, so fully, so clearly, 
and decisively reprobates the practice of trust- 
ing to militia, that no man, who regards order, 
regularity and economy, or who has any regard 
for his own honor, character, or peace of mind,, 
will risk them upon this issue. 

An army formed of good officers moves like 
clock-work ; but there is no situation upon ■ 
earth less enviable nor more distressing than 



466 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



that person's who is at the head of troops who 
are regardless of order and discipline, and who 
are unprovided with almost every necessary. 
In a word, the difficulties which have forever 
surrounded me, since I have been in the service, 
and kept my mind constantly upon the stretch; 
the wounds which my feelings, as an officer, 
have received by a thousand things which have 
happened contrary to my expectations and 
wishes : added to a consciousness of my inabil- 
ity to govern an army composed of such dis- 
cordant parts, and under such a variety of 
intricate and perplexing circumstances, induce, 
not only a belief, but a thorough conviction in 
my mind, that it will be impossible, unless 
there is a thorough change in our military 
system, for me to conduct matters in such a 
manner as to give satisfaction to the public, 
which is all the recompense I aim at, or ever 
wished for. 

Before I conclude, I must apologize for the 
liberties taken in this letter, and for the blots 
and scratchings therein, not having time to 
give it more correctly. With truth, I can add, 
that, with every sentiment of respect and es- 
teem, I am yours and the congress's most 
obedient, etc. 

George 'Washington. 



GENERAL 'WASHINGTON'S 

General orders issued to the army, 
April i8, 1783. 

Headquarters, Chatham, April i8, 1783. 

The commander in chief orders the cessation 
of hostilities between the United States of 
America and the king of Great Britain, to be 
publicly proclaimed to-morrow at twelve o'clock, 
at the new building ; and that the proclama- 
tion which will be communicated herewith, be 
read to-morrow evening at the head of every 
regiment and corps of the army ; after which 
the chaplains, with the several brigades, will 
render thanks to the Almighty God for all his 
mercies, particularly for his over-ruling the 
wrath of man to his own glon,', and causing 
the rage of war to cease among the nations. 

Although the proclamation before alluded to, 
extends only to the prohibition of hostilities, 
and not to the annunciation of a general peace, 
yet it must afford the most rational and sincere 
satisfaction to every benevolent mind, as it 
puts a period to a long and doubtful contest, 
stops the effusion of human blood, opens the 
prospect to a more splendid scene, and, like 
another morning star, promises the approach 



of a brighter day than hath hitherto illuminated 
the western hemisphere. On such a happy 
day, which is the harbinger of peace, a day 
which completes the eighth year of the war, it 
would be ingratitude not to rejoice ; it would 
be insensibility not to participate in the general 
felicity. 

The commander in chief, far from endeav- 
oring to stifle the feelings of joy in his own bo- 
som, offers his most cordial congratulations on 
the occasion to all the officers of every denomi- 
nation ; to all the troops of the United States 
in general ; and in particular to those gallant 
and persevering men who had resolved to de- 
fend the rights of their invaded country, so 
long as the war should continue. For these 
are men who ought to be considered as the 
pride and boast of the American army ; and 
who, crowned with well earned laurels, may 
soon withdraw from the field of glory to the 
more tranquil walks of civil life. While the 
commander in chief recollects the almost infi- 
nite variety of scenes through which we have 
past, with a mixture of pleasure, astonishment, 
and gratitude ; while he contemplates the 
prospects before us with rapture, he cannot 
help wishing that all the brave, of whatever 
condition they may be, who have shared the 
toils and dangers of effecting this glorious rev- 
olution ; of rescuing millions from the hand of 
oppression, and of laying the foundation of a 
great empire, might be impressed with a 
proper idea of the dignified part they have been 
called to act. under the smiles of Providence 
on the stage of human affairs ; for happy, thrice 
happy ! shall they be pronounced hereafter, 
who have contributed anything, who have per- 
formed the meanest office in erecting this stu- 
pendous fabric of freedom and empire, on the 
broad basis of independency ; who have assisted 
in protecting the rights of human nature, and 
established an asylum for the poor and , op- 
pressed of all nations and religions. The glo- 
rious task for which we first flew to arms being 
accomplished — the liberties of our country be- 
ing fully acknowledged and firmly secured by 
the smiles of heaven on the purity of our cause ; 
and the honest exertions of a feeble people, 
determined to be free, against a powerlul na- 
tion disposed to oppress them ; and the char- 
acter of those who have persevered, through 
every extremity of hardship, suffering and dan- 
ger, being immortalized by the illustrious 
appellation of the patriot army — nothing now 
remains but for the actors of this mighty scene 
to preserve a perfect unvarying consistency of 
character through the very last act, to close 
the drama with applause ; and to retire from 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



467 



the military theatre with the same approbation, 
of angels and men, which have crowned all 
their former virtuous actions. For this purpose 
no disorder or licentiousness must be tolerated. 
Ever>- considerate and well disposed soldier 
must remember it will be absolutely necessary 
to wait with patience until peace shall be de- 
clared, or congress shall be enabled to take 
proper measures for the security of the public 
stores, etc. As soon as these arrangements 
shall be made, the general is confident, there 
will be no delay in discharging, with"«-ever>- 
mark of distinction and honor, all the men en- 
listed for the war, who will then have faithfully 
performed their engagements with the public. 
The general has already interested himself in 
their behalf, and he thinks he need not repeat 
the assurance of his disposition to be useful to 
them on the present, and every other proper 
occasion. In the mean time, he is determined 
that no military neglects or excesses shall go 
unpunished, while he retains the command of 
the army. 

The adjutant-general will have such work- 
ing parties detached, to assist in making the 
preparations for a general rejoicing, as the 
chief engineer of the army shall call for ; and 
the quarter-master general will, without delay, 
procure such a number of discharges to be 
printed as will be sufficient for all the men en- 
listed for the war — he will please to apply to 
head quarters for the form. An extra ration 
of liquor to be issued to every man to-morrow 
to drink " Perpetual peace and happiness to the 
United States of America." 



GENERAL WASHINGTON'S. 
Circular letter to the Governors of 

EACH of the states. 

Announcing his proposed retirement from the 
command of the army, and refers to the fu- 
ture of the country and the duty of the people 
looking to the maintenance of their liberties. 

Headquarters, Newburgh, New York, yune 18, 1783. 

'■ Sir — The object for which I had the honor 
to hold an appointment in the service of my 
country, being accomplished, I am now pre-, 
paring to resign it into the hands of congress, 
and return to that domestic retirement, which, 
it is well known, I left with the greatest reluc- 
tance ; a retirement for which I have never 
ceased to sigh through a long and painful 
absence, in which, (remote from the noise and 
trouble of the world,) I meditate to pass the 



remainder of life, in a state of undisturbed 
repose ; but, before I carry this resolution into 
effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me to 
make this my last official communication, to 
congratulate you on the glorious events which 
heaven has been pleased to produce in our 
favor ; to offer my sentiments respecting some 
important subjects, which appear to me to be 
intimately connected with the tranquility of 
the United States ; to take my leave of your 
e.xcellency as a public character; and to give 
my final blessing to that country, in whose 
serv'ice I have spent the prime of my life ; for 
whose sake I have consumed so many anxious 
days and watchful nights, and whose happi- 
ness, being extremely dear to me, will always 
constitute no inconsiderable part of my own. 

" Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on 
this pleasing occasion, I will claim the indul- 
gence of dilating the more copiously on the 
subject of our mutual felicitation. When we 
consider the magnitude of the prize we con- 
tended for, the doubtful nature of the contest 
and the favorable manner in which it has ter- 
minated, we shall find the greatest possible 
reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a 
theme that will afford infinite delight to every 
benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event 
in contemplation be considered as a source 
of present enjoyment, or the parent of future 
happiness ; and we shall have equal occasion to 
felicitate ourselves on the lot which Provi- 
dence has assigned us, whether we view it in a 
natural, a political, or moral point of light. 

" The citizens of America, placed in the most 
enviable condition, as the sole lords and pro- 
prietors of a vast tract of continent, compre- 
hending all the various soils and climates of 
the world, and abounding with all the neces- 
saries and conveniences of life, are now, by the 
late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to 
be possessed of absolute freedom and indepen- 
dency : they are from this period to be consid- 
ered as the actors on a most conspicuous 
theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designed 
by Providence for the display of human great- 
ness and felicity. Here they are not only sur- 
rounded with every thing that can contribute 
to the completion of private and domestic en- 
joyment, but heaven has crowned all its other 
blessings, by giving a surer opportunity for 
political happiness, than any other nation has 
ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate 
these observations more forcibly than a recol- 
lection of the happy conjuncture of times and 
circumstances, under which our republic as- 
sumed its rank among the nations. — The 
foundation of our empire was not laid in a 



468 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but 
at an epocha when the rights of mankind were 
better understood and more clearly defined, 
than at any former period. Researches of the 
human mind after social happiness have been 
carried to a great extent ; the treasures of 
knowledge acquired by the labors of philos- 
ophers, sages, and legislators, through a long 
succession of years are laid open for us, and 
their collected wisdom may be happily applied 
in the establishment of our forms of govern- 
ment. The free cultivation of letters, the 
unbounded extension of commerce, the progres- 
sive refinement of manners, the growing liber- 
ality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and 
benign light of revelation, have had a meliora- 
ting influence on mankind, and increased the 
blessings of society. At this auspicious period, 
the United States came into existence as a na- 
tion ; and if their citizens should not be com- 
pletely free and happy, the fault will be entirely 
their own. 

" Such is our situation, and such are our pros- 
pects. But notwithstanding the cup of bless- 
ing is thus reached out to us ; notwithstanding 
happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to 
seize the occasion, and make it our own, yet it 
appears to me there is an option still left to the 
United States of America, whether they will 
be respectable and prosperous, or contempt- 
ible and miserable as a nation. This is the 
time of their political probation : this is the 
moment when the eyes of the whole world are 
turned upon them : this is the time to establish 
or ruin their national character forever : this is 
the favorable moment to give such a tone to the 
federal government, as will enable it to answer 
the ends of its institution : or, this may be the 
ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the 
union, annihilating the cement of the confed- 
eration, and exposing us to become the sport 
of European politics, which may play one 
state against another, to prevent their growing 
importance, and to serve their own interested 
purposes. For, according to the system of 
policy the states shall adopt at this moment, 
they will stand or fall ; and by their confirma- 
tion or lapse, it is yet to be decided, whether 
the revolution must ultimately be considered 
as a blessing or a curse, not to the present age 
alone, for with our fate will the destiny of 
unborn millions be involved. 

" With this conviction of the importance of 
the present crisis, silence in me would be a 
crime ; I will therefore speak to your excellency 
the language of freedom and sincerity, without 
disguise. I am aware, however, those who 
differ from me in political sentiments may, 



perhaps, remark, I am stepping out of the 
proper line of my duty ; and they may probably 
ascribe to arrogance or ostentation, what I 
know is alone the result of the purest intention. 
But the rectitude of my own heart, which dis- 
dains such unworthy motives ; the part I have 
hitherto acted in life ; the determination I have 
formed of not taking any share in public busi- 
ness hereafter, the ardent desire 1 feel, and 
shall continue to manifest, of quietly enjoying 
in private life, after all the toils of war, the 
benefits of a wise and liberal government, 
will, I flatter myself, sooner or later, convince 
my country, that I could have no sinister views 
in delivering, with so little reserve, the opinion 
contained in this address. 

"There arc four things which, I humbly con- 
ceive, are essential to the well being, I may 
even venture to say, to the existence, of the 
United States, as an independent power. 

" I St. An indissoluble union of the states 
under one federal head. 

" 2dly. A sacred regard to public justice. 

" 3dly. The adoption of a proper peace estab- 
lishment. And, 

" 4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and 
friendly disposition among the people of the 
United States, which will induce them to forget 
their local prejudices and policies ; to make 
those mutual concessions which are requisite to 
the general prosperity ; and in some instances, 
to sacrifice their individual advantages to the 
interest of the community. 

" These are the pillars on which the glorious 
fabric of our independency and national charac- 
ter must be supported. Liberty is the basis — • 
and whoever would dare to sap the foundation, 
or overturn the structure, under whatever spe- 
cious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the 
bitterest execration, and the severest punish- 
ment, which can be inflicted by his injured 
country. 

" On the three first articles I will make a few 
observations, leaving the last to the good sense 
and serious consideration of those immediately 
concerned. 

" L'nder the first head, although it may not 
be necessary or proper for me in this place to 
enter into a particular disquisition of the prin- 
ciples of the union, and to take up the great 
question which has been frequently agitated, 
whether it be expedient and requisite for the 
states to delegate a larger proportion of power 
to congress, or not ; yet it will be a part of my 
duty, and that of every true patriot, to assert, 
without reserve, and to insist upon the follow- 
ing positions : — That, unless the states will 
suffer congress to exercise those prerogatives 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



469 



they are undoubtedly invested with by the con- 
stitution, every thing must very rapidly tend to 
anarchy and confusion : That it is indispens- 
able to the happiness of the individual states, 
that there should be lodged, somewhere, a 
supreme power to regulate and govern the 
general concerns of the confederated republic, 
without which the union cannot be of long 
duration. That there must be a faithful and 
pointed compliance on the part of every state 
with the late proposals and demands of con- 
gress, or the most fatal consequences will 
ensue : That whatever measures have a ten- 
dency to dissolve the union, or contribute to 
violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought 
to be considered as hostile to the liberty and 
independence of America, and the authors of 
them treated accordingly. And, lastly, that, 
unless we can be enabled by the concurrence 
of the states to participate in the fruits of the 
revolution, and enjoy the essential benefits of 
civil society, under a form of government so 
free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded 
against the danger of oppression, as has been 
devised and adopted by the articles of confed- 
eration, it will be a subject of regret, that so 
much blood and treasure have been lavished 
for no purpose ; that so many sufferings have 
been encountered without a compensation, and 
that so many sacrifices have been made in 
vain. Many other considerations might here 
be adduced to prove, that, without an entire 
conformity to the spirit of the union, we cannot 
exist as an independent power. It will be 
sufficient for my purpose to mention but one or 
two, which seem to me of the greatest import- 
ance. It is only in our united character as an 
empire, that our independence is acknowledged, 
that our power can be regarded, or our credit 
supported among foreign nations. The treaties 
of the European powers with the United States 
of America, will have no validity on a dissolu- 
tion of the union. We shall be left nearly in a 
state of nature ; or we may find, by our own 
unhappy experience, that there is a natural 
and necessary progression from the extreme of 
anarchy to the extreme of tyranny ; and that 
arbitrary power is most easily established on 
the ruins of liberty, abused to licentiousness. 

" As to the second article, which respects 
the performance of public justice, congress 
have, in their late address to the United States, 
almost exhausted the subject ; they have ex- 
plained their ideas so fully, and have enforced 
the obligations the states are under to render 
complete justice to all the public creditors, 
with so much dignity and energy, that, in my 
opinion, no real friend to the honor and inde- 



pendency of America can hesitate a single 
moment respecting the propriety of complying 
with the just and honorable measures proposed. 
If their arguments do not produce conviction. 
I know of nothing that will have greater influ- 
ence, especially when we reflect that the system 
referred to, being the result of the collected 
wisdom of the continent, must be esteemed, if 
not perfect, certainly the least objectionable, 
of any that could be devised ; and that, if it 
should not be carried into immediate execution, 
a national bankruptcy, with all its deplorable 
consequences, will take place before any differ- 
ent plan can possibly be proposed or adopted ; 
so pressing are the present circumstances, and 
such is the alternative now offered to the 
states. 

" The ability of the country to discharge the 
debts which have been incurred in its defence, 
is not to be doubted ; and inclination, I flat- 
ter myself, will not be wanting. The path 
of our duty is plain before us ; honesty will be 
found, on every experiment, to be the best and 
only true policy. Let us then, as a nation, be 
just ; let us fulfil the public contracts which 
congress had undoubtedly a right to make for 
the purpose of carrying on the war, with the 
same good faith we suppose ourselves bound 
to perform our private engagements. In the 
meantime, let an attention to the cheerful per- 
formance of their proper business, as individ- 
uals, and as members of society, be earnestly 
inculcated on the citizens of America ; then 
will they strengthen the bands of government, 
and be happy under its protection. Every one 
will reap the fruit of his labors : every one will 
enjoy his own acquisitions, without molestation 
and without danger. 

"In this state of absolute freedom and per- 
fect security, who will grudge to yield a very 
little of his property to support the common 
interests of society, and ensure the protection 
of government .'' Who does not remember the 
frequent declarations at the commencement of 
the war — that we should be completely satis- 
fied if, at the expense of one half, we could 
defend the remainder of our possessions ? 
Where is the man to be found, who wishes to 
remain in debt, for the defence of his own per- 
son and property, to the exertions, the bravery, 
and the blood of others, without making one 
generous effort to pay the debt of honor and 
of gratitude .' In what part of the continent 
shall we find any man, or body of men, who 
would not blush to stand up and propose meas- 
ures purposely calculated to rob the soldier of 
his stipend, and the public creditor of his due ? 
And were it possible that such a flagrant in- 



470 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



stance of injustice could ever happen, would it 
not excite the general indignation, and tend to 
bring down upon the authors of such meas- 
ures the aggravated vengeance of Heaven ? 
If, after all, a spirit of disunion, or a temper of 
obstinacy and perverseness should manifest 
itself in any of the states ; if such an ungra- 
cious disposition should attempt to frustrate all 
the happy effects that might be expected to 
flow from the union ; if there should be a 
refusal to comply with requisitions for funds to 
discharge the annual interest of the public 
debts ; and if that refusal should revive all those 
jealousies, and produce all those evils, which 
are now happily removed, congress, who have 
in all their transactions shown a great degree 
of magnanimity and justice, will stand justified 
in the sight of God and man ! and that state 
alone, which puts itself in opposition to the 
aggregate wisdom of the continent, and follows 
such mistaken and pernicious councils, will be 
responsible for all the consequences. 

" For my own part, conscious of having 
acted, while a servant of the public, in the 
manner I conceived best suited to promote 
the real interests of my country ; having, in 
consequence of my fixed belief, in some meas- 
ure pledged myself to the army, that their 
country would finally do them complete and 
ample justice, and not wishing to conceal any 
instance of my official conduct from the eyes 
of the world, I have thought proper to transmit 
to your excellency the enclosed collection of 
papers, relative to the half pay and commuta- 
tion granted by congress, to the officers of the 
army. From these communications my de- 
cided sentiment will be clearly comprehended, 
together with the conclusive reasons which 
induced me, at an early period, to recommend 
the adoption of this measure in the most earn- 
est and serious manner. As the proceedings 
of congress, the army, and myself, are open to 
all, and contain, in my opinion, sufficient in- 
formation to remove the prejudices and errors 
which may have been entertained by any, I 
think it unnecessary to say anything more 
than just to obsene, that the resolutions of 
congress, now alluded to, are as undoubtedly 
and absolutely binding upon the United States, 
as the most solemn acts of confederation or 
legislation. 

" As to the idea which. I am informed, has 
in some instances prevailed, that the half-pay 
and commutation are to be regarded merely in 
the odious light of a pension, it ought to be 
exploded forever , that provision should be 
viewed, as it really was, a reasonable compen- 
sation offered by congress, at a time when 



they had nothing else to give to officers of the 
army, for services then to be performed. It 
was the only means to prevent a total derelic- 
tion of the service. It was a part of their hire. 
I may be allowed to say, it was the price of 
their blood and of your independency. It is 
therefore more than a common debt ; it is a 
debt of honor ; it can never be considered as 
a pension, or gratuity, nor cancelled until it is 
fairly discharged. 

" With regard to the distinction between 
officers and soldiers, it is sufficient that the 
uniform experience of every nation of the 
world, combined with our own, proves the 
utility and propriety of the discrimination. 
Rewards, in proportion to the aid the public 
draws from them, are unquestionably due to all 
its servants. In some lines, the soldiers have, 
perhaps, generally, had as ample compensation 
for their services, by the large bounties which 
have been paid them, as their officers will 
receive in the proposed commutation, in others, 
if, besides the donation of land, the payment 
of arrearages of clothing and wages, (in which 
articles all the component parts of the army 
must be put upon the same footing,) we take 
into the estimate the bounties many of the 
soldiers have received, and the gratuity of one 
year's full pay. which is promised to all, possi- 
bly their situation, (every circumstance being 
duly considered,) will not be deemed less eligi- 
ble than that of the officers. — Should a farther 
reward, however, be judged equitable, I will 
venture to assert, no man w\\\ enjoy greater 
satisfaction than myself, in an exemption from 
ta.xes for a limited time, (which has been peti- 
tioned for in some instances,) or any other ade- 
quate immunity or compensation granted to 
the brave defenders of their country's cause. 
But neither the adoption or rejection of this 
proposition will, in any manner, affect, much 
less militate against, the act of congress, by 
which they have offered five years' full pay, in 
lieu of the half pay for life, which had been 
before promised to the officers of the army. 

" Before I conclude the subject on public 
justice, I cannot omit to mention the obliga- 
tions this country is under to that meritorious 
class of veterans, the non-commissioned offi- 
cers and privates, who have been discharged 
for inability, in consequence of the resolution 
of congress, of the 23d of April, 17S2. on an 
annual pension for life. Their peculiar suffer- 
ings, their singular merits and claims to that 
provision, need only to be known, to interest 
the feelings of humanity in their behalf. Noth- 
ing but a punctual payment of their annual 
allowance, can rescue them from the most 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



471 



complicated misery ; and nothing could be a 
more melancholy and distressing sight, than to 
behold those who have shed their blood, or 
lost their limbs in the service of their country, 
without a shelter, without a friend, and without 
the means of obtaining any of the comforts or 
necessaries of life, compelled to beg their bread 
daily from door to door. Suffer me to recom- 
mend those of this description, belonging to 
your state, to the warmest patronage of your 
excellency and your legislature. 

" It is necessary to say but a few words on 
the third topic which was proposed, and which 
regards particularly the defence of the republic 
— as there can be little doubt but congress will 
recommend a proper peace establishment for 
the United States, in which a due attention 
will be paid to the importance of placing the 
militia of the union upon a regular and respect- 
able footing. If this should be the case, I 
should beg leave to urge the great advantage 
of it in the strongest terms. 

" The militia of this country must be consid- 
ered as the palladium of our security, and the 
first effectual resort in case of hostility. It is 
essential, therefore, that the same system 
should pervade the whole ; that the formation 
and discipline of the militia of the continent 
should be absolutely uniiorm ; and that the 
same species of arms, accoutrement, and mili- 
tary apparatus, should be introduced in every 
part of the United States. No one, who has 
not learned it from experience, can conceive 
the difficulty, expense, and confusion, which 
result from a contrary system, or the vague 
arrangements which have hitherto prevailed. 

" If in treating of political points, a greater 
latitude than usual has been taken in the 
course of the address, the importance of the 
crisis, and the magnitude of the objects in dis- 
cussion, must be my apology. It is, however, 
neither my wish nor expectation, that the pre- 
ceding observations should claim any regard, 
except so far as they shall appear to be dic- 
tated by a good intention, consonant to the 
immutable rules of justice ; calculated to pro- 
duce a liberal system of policy, and founded on 
whatever experience may have been acquired 
by a long and close attention to public; busi- 
ness. Here I might speak with more confi- 
dence, from my actual observations ; and if -it 
would not swell this letter (already too prolix,) 
beyond the bounds I had prescribed myself, I 
could demonstrate to every mind open to con- 
viction, that, in less time, and with much less 
expense than has been incurred, the war might 
have been brought to the same happy conclu- 
sion, if the resources of the continent could 



have been properly called forth ; that the 
distresses and disappointments which have 
very often occurred, have, in too many in- 
stances, resulted more from a want of energy 
in the continental government than a deficiency 
of means in the particular states ; that the in- 
efficacy of the measures, arising from the want 
of an adequate authority in the supreme pow- 
er, from partial compliance with the requisi- 
tions of congress, in some of the states, and 
from a failure of punctuality in others, while 
they tended to damp the zeal of those who 
were more willing to exert themselves, served 
also to accumulate the expenses of the war, 
and to frustate the best concerted plans ; and 
that the discouragement occasioned by the 
complicated difficulties and embarrassment's, 
in which our affairs were by this means in- 
volved, would have long ago produced the dis- 
solution of any army, less patient, less virtuous, 
and less persevering, than that which I have 
had the honor to command. But while I men- 
tion those things which are notorious facts, as 
the defects of our federal constitution, particu- 
larly in the prosecution of a war, I beg it may 
be understood, that, as I have ever taken a 
pleasure in gratefully acknowledging the assist- 
ance and support I have derived from every 
class of citizens, so I shall always be happy to 
do justice to the unparalleled exertions of the 
individual states, on many interesting occa- 
sions. 

" I have thus freely disclosed what I wished 
to make known, before I surrendered up my 
public trust to those who committed it to me. 
The task is now accomplished ; I now bid 
adieu to your excellency, as the chief magistrate 
of your state ; at the same time I bid a last 
farewell to the cares of office, and all the em- 
ployments of public life. 

" It remains, then, to be my final and only 
request, that your excellency will communi- 
cate these sentiments to your legislature, at 
their next meeting ; and that they may be con- 
sidered as the legacy of one who has ardently 
wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his 
country, and who, even in the shade of retire- 
ment, will not fail to implore the Divine bene- 
diction upon it. 

" I now make it my earnest prayer, that God 
would have you, and the state over which you 
preside, in his holy protection ; that he would 
incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a 
spirit of subordination and obedience to gov- 
ernment ; to entertain a brotherly affection and 
love for one another ; for their fellow-citizens 
of the United States at large, and particularly 
for their brethren who have served in the field ; 



472 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



and, finally, that he would most graciously be 
pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love 
mercy, and to demean ourselves with that 
charity, humility, and pacific temper of the 
mind, which were the characteristics of the 
Divine Author of our blessed religion ; without 
an humble imitation of whose example, in 
these things, we can never hope to be a happy 
nation. 

" I have the honor to be, with much esteem 
and respect, sir, your excellency's most obe- 
dient and most humble servant. 

" George Washington." 



GENERAL WASHINGTON 

To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, RESIGN- 
ING HIS COMMISSION, DECEMBER 23, 1783. 

" Mr. President — The great events on which 
my resignation depended, having at length 
taken place, I have now the honor of offering 
my sincere congratulations to congress, and of 
presenting myself before them to surrender into 
their hands the trust committed to me, and to 
claim the indulgence of retiring from the 
service of my country. 

" Happy in the confirmation of our indepen- 
dence and sovereignty, and pleased with the 
opportunity afforded the United States of be- 
coming a respectable nation, I resign, with 
satisfaction, the appointment I accepted with 
diffidence ; a diffidence in my abilities to ac- 
complish so arduous a task, which, however, 
was superseded by a confidence in the recti- 
tude of our cause, the support of the Supreme 
Power of the union, and the patronage of 
Heaven. 

" The successful termination of the war has 
verified the most sanguine expectations ; and 
my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, 
and the assistance I have received from my 
countrymen, increases with every review of the 
momentous contest. 

" While I repeat my obligations to the army 
in general, I should do injustice to my own 
feelings, not to acknowledge, in this place, the 
peculiar services and distinguished merits of 
the persons who have been attached to my 
person during the war. It was impossible the 
choice of confidential officers to compose my 
family could have been more fortunate. Per- 
mit me, sir, to recommend in particular, those 
who have continued in the service to the present 
moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and 
patronage of congress. 



" I consider it as an indispensable duty to 
close this last solemn act of my official life, 
by commending the interests of our dearest 
country to the protection of Almighty God, and 
those who have the superintendence of them, 
to his holy keeping. 

" Having now finished the work assigned me, 
I retire from the great theatre of action ; and, 
bidding an affectionate farewell to this august 
body, under whose orders I have long acted, I 
here offer my commission, and take my leave 
of all the employments of public life." 



PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S SPEECH 

to the first congress of the united 
States, April 30, 1789. 

Fellow-citizens of the senate 

and of the house of representatives : 

Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no 
event could have filled me with greater anxie- 
ties than that, of which the notification was 
transmitted by your order, and received on the 
4th day of the present month. On the one 
hand, I was summoned by my country, whose 
voice I can never hear but with veneration and 
love, from a retreat which I had chosen with 
the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering 
hopes, with an immutable decision as the asylum 
of my declining years ; a retreat which was 
rendered every day more necessary as well as 
more dear to me, by the addition of habit to 
inclination, and of frequent intermptions in my 
health to the gradual waste cominitted on it by 
time : on the other hand, the magnitude and 
difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my 
country called me, being sufficient to awaken, 
in the wisest and most experienced of her citi- 
zens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifica- 
tions, could not but overwhelm with despond- 
ence one who, inheriting inferior endowments 
from nature, and unpractised in the duties of 
civil administration, ought to be peculiarly con- 
scious of his own deficiences. In this conflict 
of emotions, all I dare aver is, that it has been 
my faithful study to collect my duty from a 
just appreciation of every circumstance by which 
it might be effected. All 1 dare hope is, that 
if, in executing this task, I have been too much 
swayed by a grateful remembrance of former 
instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to 
this transcendent proof of the confidence of my 
fellow-citizens, and have thence too little con- 
sulted my incapacity as well as disinclination 
for the weighty and untried cares before me. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



473 



my error will be palliated by the motives which 
misled me, and its consequences be judged by 
my country, with some share of the partiality 
in which they originated. 

Such being the impressions under which I 
have, in obedience to the public summons, re- 
paired to the present station, it would be pe- 
culiarly improper to omit, in this first official 
act, my fer\'ent supplications to that Amighty 
Being, who rules over the universe, who pre- 
sides in the councils of nations, and whose 
providential aids can supply every human de- 
fect, that his benediction may consecrate to the 
liberties and happiness of the people of the 
United States, a government instituted by 
themselves for these essential purposes, and 
may enable every instrument employed in its 
administration, to execute, with success, the 
functions allotted to his charge. In tendering 
this homage to the Great Author of every pub- 
lic and private good, I assure myself that it 
expresses your sentiments not less than my 
own ; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large 
less than either. No people can be bound to 
acknowledge and adore the invisible hand 
which conducts the affairs of men, more than 
the people of the United States. Every step, 
by which they have advanced to the character 
of an independent nation, seems to have been 
distinguished by some token of providential 
agency. And, in the important revolution just 
accomplished, in the system of their united 
government, the tranquil deliberations and vol- 
untary consent of so many distinct communities, 
from which the event has resulted, cannot be 
compared with the means by which most gov- 
ernments have been established, without some 
return of pious gratitude, along with an humble 
anticipation of the future blessings, which the 
past seem to presage. These reflections, aris- 
ing out of the present crisis, have forced them- 
selves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. 
You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that 
there are none under the influence of which, 
the proceedings of a new and free government 
can more auspiciously commence. 

By the article establishing the executive de- 
partment, it is made the duty of the president 
" to recommend to your consideration, such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expe- 
dient." The circumstances under which I now 
meet you, will acquit me from entering into 
that subject farther than to refer you to the 
great constitutional charter under which we 
are assembled ; and which, in defining your 
powers, designates the objects to which your at- 
tention is to be given. It will be more consistent 
with those circumstances, and far more con- 



genial with the feelings which actuate me, to 
substitute, in place of a recommendation of 
particular measures, the tribute that is due to 
the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism 
which adorn the characters selected to devise 
and adopt them. In these honorable qualifi- 
cations, I behold the surest pledges, that as, 
on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, 
no separate views nor party animosities, will 
misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye 
which ought to watch over this great assem- 
blage of communities and interests — so, on 
another, that the foundations of our national 
policy will be laid in the pure and immutable 
principles of private morality ; and the pre- 
eminence of a free government be exemplified 
by all the attributes which can win the affec- 
tions of its citizens, and command the respect 
of the world. 

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfac- 
tion which an ardent love for my country can 
inspire : since there is no truth more thorough- 
ly established than that there exists, in the 
economy and course of nature, an indissoluble 
union between virtue and happiness — between 
duty and advantage — between the genuine 
maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy 
and the solid rewards of public prosperity and 
felicity — since we ought to be no less persuaded 
that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never 
be expected on a nation that disregards the 
eternal rules of order and right which Heaven 
itself has ordained — and since the preserva- 
tion of the sacred fire of liberty, and the des- 
tiny of the republican model of government, 
are justly considered as deeply, perhaps, as 
finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to 
the hands of the American people. 

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to 
your care, it will remain with your judgment to 
decide how far an exercise of the occasional 
power delegated by the fifth article of the con- 
stitution is rendered expedient, at the present 
juncture, by the nature of objections which 
have been urged against the system, or by the 
degree of inquietude which has given birth to 
them. Instead of undertaking particular re- 
commendations on this subject, in which I 
could be guided by no lights derived from offi- 
cial opportunities, I shall again give way to my 
entire confidence in your discernment and pur- 
suit of the public good ; For, I assure myself, 
that, whilst you carefully avoid every alteration 
which might endanger the benefits of an united 
and effective government, or which ought to 
await the future lessons of experience, a rever- 
ence for the characteristic rights of freemen, 
and a regard for the oublic harmony, will suffi- 



474 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ciently influence your deliberations on the 
question, how far the former can be more im- 
pregnably fortified, or the latter be safely and 
more advantageously promoted. 

To the preceding observations I have one to 
add, which will be most properly addressed to 
the house of representatives. It concerns my- 
self, and will therefore be as brief as possible. 

When I was first honored with a call into the 
service of my country, then on the eve of an 
arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in 
which I contemplated my duty, required that I 
should renounce every pecuniary compensation. 
From this resolution I have in no instance 
departed. And being still under the impres- 
sions which produced it, I must decline, as in- 
applicable to myself, any share in the personal 
emoluments, which may be indispensably in- 
cluded in a permanent provision for the execu- 
tive department ; and must accordingly pray 



that the pecuniary estimates for the station in 
■which I am placed, may, during my continua- 
tion in it, be limited to such actual expenditures 
as the public good may be thought to require. 
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, 
as they have been awakened by the occasion 
which brings us together, I shall take my pre- 
sent leave, but not without resorting once more 
to the benign Parent of the human race, in 
humble supplication, that, since he has been 
pleased to favor the American people with op- 
portunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, 
and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled 
unanimity, on a form of government for the 
security of their union, and the advancement of 
their happiness, so his Divine blessing may be 
equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the 
temperate consultations, and the wise measures 
on which the success of this government must 
depend. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



We offer to our readers extracts from some 
unpublished letters of Dr. Franklin, which may 
be considered as properly belonging to the 
general stock of materials for the determination 
of his character; and for the national history. 
We have added to them an extract of a letter 
of Silas Dean, in relation to him, containing an 
interesting anecdote which we have not seen in 
print. The letter of Franklin to his son, on 
the subject of the stamp-act, is important ; as 
is, indeed, almost every particular, however 
small, connected with that measure — the im- 
mediate cause of the most momentous and 
exemplary of political relations. 

Nat. Gaz. 



INTERESTING LETTERS. 

Extract of a letter from Dr. Franklin 
TO H. R. Esq., of Philadelphia. 

London, Feb. 26, 1761. 
" You tell me you sometimes visit the ancient 
Junto. I wish you would do it oftener ; I 
know they all love and respect you, and regret 
your absenting yourself so much. People are 
apt to grow strange and not understand one 
another so well, when they meet but seldom. 



Since we have held that club till we are gfrown 
grey together, let us hold it out to the end. 
For my own part I find I love company, chat, a 
laugh, a glass, and even a song, as well as 
ever ; and, at the same time, relish better than 
I used to do, the grave obsen-ations and wise 
sentences of old men's conversation. So that 
I am sure the Junto will be still as agreeable to 
me as it ever has been ; I therefore hope it will 
not be discontinued as long as we are able to 
crawl together." 

To THE SAME. 

London, July 7, 1765. 
" I wish you would continue to meet the 
Junto, notwithstanding that some effect of our 
public political misunderstandings may some- 
times appear there. 'Tis now perhaps one of 
the oldest clubs as I think it was formerly one 
of the best, in the king's dominions; it wants 
but about two years of forty since it was estab- 
lished ; we loved and still love one another ; we 
are grown grey together, and yet it is too early 
to part. Let us sit till the evening of life is 
spent ; the last hours were always the most 
joyous ; when we can stay no longer 'tis time 
enough then to bid each other good-night, 
separate and go quietly to bed." 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



475 



To THE SAME. 

London, Feb. 37, 1766. 

" I received your kind letter of Nov. 27th ; 
you cannot conceive how much good the cor- 
dial salutations of an old friend do to the heart 
of a man so far from home, and hearing fre- 
quently of the abuse thrown on him in his 
absence by the enemies that party has raised 
against him. 

" In the meantime I hope I have done even 
those enemies some service in our late struggle 
for America. It has been a hard one, and we 
have been often between hope and despair ; 
but now the day begins to clear ; the ministry 
are fixed for us, and we have obtained a major- 
ity in the house of commons for repealing the 
stamp-act. and giving us ease in every com- 
mercial grievance. God grant that no bad 
news of farther excesses in America may arrive 
to strengthen our adversaries and weaken the 
hands of our friends, before this good work is 
quite completed. 

" The partisans of the late ministry have 
been strongly crj'ing out rebellion, and calling 
for force to be sent against America. The 
consequence might have been terrible ! but 
milder measures have prevailed." 



Extract of a letter from Benjamin 
Franklin to his son William Frank- 
lin, Esq. 

London, Nov, g, 1765. 

" Mr. Cooper, secretary of the treasury, is our 
old acquaintance, and expresses a hearty friend- 
ship for us both. Enclosed I send you his bil- 
let proposing to make me acquainted with lord 
Rockingham. I dine with him to-morrow. 

" I had a long audience on Wednesday with 
lord Dartmouth. He was highly recommended 
to me by lords Grantham and Besborough, as a 
young man of excellent understanding, and the 
most amiable dispositions. They seemed ex- 
tremely intent on bringing us together. I had 
been to pay my respects to his lordship on his 
appointment to preside at the board of trade ; 
but during the summer he has been much out 
of town, so that I had not, till now, the oppor- 
tunity of conversing with him. I found him all 
they said of him. He even exceeded the 
expectations they had raised in me. If he con- 
tinues in that department, I foresee much hap- 
piness from it to the American affairs. He 
inquired kindly after you, and spoke of you 
handsomely. I gave it him as my opinion, that 
the general execution of the stamp-act would 
be impracticable, without occasioning more 



mischief than it was worth, by totally alienat- 
ing the affections of the Americans, and thereby 
lessening their commerce. I therefore wished 
that advantage might be taken of the address 
expected over, (if expressed, as I hoped it would 
be in humble and dutiful terms) to suspend 
the execution of the act for a term of years, till 
the colonies should be more clear of debt, and 
better able to bear it, and then drop it on some 
decent pretence, without ever bringing the ques- 
tion of right to decision. 

" And I strongly recommended either a 
thorough union with America, or that govern- 
ment here would proceed in the old method of 
requisition, by which I was confident more 
would be obtained in the way of voluntary 
grant, than could probably be got by com- 
pulsory taxes laid by parliament. I stated that 
particular colonies might at times be back- 
ward, but at other times, when in better tem- 
per, they would make up for that backwardness, 
so that on the whole it would be nearly equal. 
That to send armies and fleets to enforce the 
act, would not, in my opinion, answer any 
good end : That the inhabitants would prob- 
ably take every method to encourage the sol- 
diers to desert, to which the high price of labor 
would contribute, and the chance of being never 
apprehended in so extensive a country, where 
the want of hands, as well as the desire of 
wasting the strength of an army come to op- 
press, would incline every one to conceal 
deserters, so that the officers would probably 
soon be left alone : That fleets, indeed, might 
easily obstruct their trade, but withal must 
ruin great part of the trade of Britain ; as the 
properties of American and British or London 
merchants were mixed in the same vessels, and 
no remittance could be received here ; besides 
the danger, by mutual violences, excesses and 
severities, of creating a deep rooted aversion 
between the two countries, and laying the 
foundation of a future total separation. 

" I added, that, notwithstanding the present 
discontents, there still remained so much re- 
spect in America for this country, that wisdom 
would do more towards reducing things to 
order, than all our forces, and that, if the ad- 
dress expected from the congress of the colo- 
nies should be unhappily such as could not be 
made the foundation, three or four wise and 
good men, personages of some rank and dig- 
nity, should be sent over to America, with a 
royal commission to enquire into grievances, 
hear complaints, learn the true state of affairs, 
giving expectations of redress where they found 
the people really aggrieved, and endeavoring to 
convince and reclaim them by reason, when; 



476 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



they found them in the wrong : That such an 
instance of the considerateness, moderation; 
and justice of this country towards its remote 
subjects would contribute more towards secur- 
ing and perpetuating the dominion, than all its 
forces, and be much cheaper. 

" A great deal more I said on our American 
affairs ; too much to write. His lordship heard 
all with great attention and patience. As to 
the address expected from the congress, he 
doubted some difficulty would arise about re- 
ceiving it, as it was an irregular meeting, un- 
authorized by any American constitution ; I said 
I hoped government here would not be too nice 
on that head ; that an address of the whole 
there seemed necessary, their separate petitions 
last year being rejected. And to refuse hear- 
ing complaints and redressing grievances, from 
punctilios about form, had always an ill effect, 
and gave great handle to those turbulent, fac- 
tious spirits who are ever ready to blow the coals 
of dissension. He thanked me politely for the 
visit and desired to see me often. 

" It is true that inconveniences may arise to 
government here by a repeal of the act. as it 
will be deemed a tacit gi\'ing up the sovereignty 
of parliament, and yet I think the inconveni- 
ences of persisting much greater, as I have 
said above. The present ministry are truly 
perplexed how to act on the occasion : as, if 
they relax, their predecessors will reproach 
them with giving up the honor, dignity, and 
power of their nation. And yet even they, I 
am told, think they have carried things too 
far ; so that if it were indeed true that I had 
planned the act (as you say it is reported with 
you) I believe we should soon hear some of 
them exculpating themselves by saying I had 
misled them. I need not tell you, that I had 
not the least concern in it. It was all cut and 
dried, and every resolve framed at the treasury 
ready for the house, before I arrived in Eng- 
land, or knew any thing of the matter ; so that 
if they had given m.e a pension on that ac- 
count, (as is said by some,) it would have been 
very dishonest in me to accept it. I wish an 
enquiry was made of the Dutch parsons how 
they came by the letter you mention, which is 
undoubtedly a forgery, as not only there were 
no such facts, but there is no such person as the 
queen's chaplain. I think there is no doubt, 
but that, though the stamp act should be re- 
pealed, some mulct or punishment will be 
inflicted on the colonies that have suffered the 
houses of officers, etc., to be pulled down ; 
especially if their respective assemblies do not 
immediately make reparation." 



Extract of a letter from Silas Deane, 
AT Paris, respecting Dr. Franklin. 

" Gratitude, as well as justice, to that truly 
great man, to whose friendship, and counsel, I 
owe much, oblige me to say on this occasion, 
that I not only believe, but know that the reports 
of his enemies, to say no more, are directly the 
reverse of the character which Dr. Franklin has 
ever sustained, and which he now most emi- 
nently supports. It gives me pleasure to re- 
flect on the honors and respect universally paid 
him by all orders of people in France, and 
never did I enjoy greater satisfaction, than in 
being the spectator of the public honors paid 
him. 

" A celebrated cause being to be heard be- 
fore the parliament of Paris, and the house and 
street leading to it crowded with people, on 
the appearance of Dr. Franklin, way was made 
for him in the most respectful manner, and he 
passed through the crowd to the seat reserved 
for him, amid the acclamations of the people — 
an honor seldom paid to their first princes of 
the blood. 

" When he attended the operas and plays, 
similar honors were paid him, and I confess I 
felt a joy and pride which was pure and honest, 
though not disinterested, for I considered it 
an honor to be known to be an American and 
his acquaintance. I am unable to express the 
grief and indignation I feel at finding such a 
character represented as the worst that human 
depravity is capable of exhibiting, and that 
such a representation should be made even by 
Americans. 



CORRESPONDENCE 

Between Dr. Franklin, and Lord Howe, 
1775- 

[Lord Howe was one of the commissioners 
sent out in 1775, to prevent the revolution. 
On his arrival he addressed the following 
note to Dr. Franklin — the reply of the latter 
is truly a master-piece. It has been fre- 
quently published, but it seemed as if we 
could not dispense with its insertion in this 
volume.! 



Lord Howe to Dr. Franklin. 

" I cannot, my worthy friend, permit the 
letters and parcels, which I have sent, to be 
landed without addinga word upon the subjects 
of the injurious extremities, in which our un- 
happy disputes have engaged us. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



477 



" You will learn the nature of my mission 
from the oflficial despatches, which I have 
recommended to be forwarded by the same 
conveyance. — Retaining all the earnestness, I 
ever expressed, to see our differences accommo- 
dated, I shall conceive, if I meet with the dis- 
position in the colonies, which I was once 
taught to expect, the most flattering hopes of 
proving serviceable in the objects of the king's 
paternal solicitude, by promoting the establish- 
ment of lasting peace and union with the colo- 
nies : but, if the deep rooted prejudices of 
America, and the necessity of preventing her 
trade from passing into foreign channels, must 
keep us still adivided people, I shall, from every 
private as well as public motive, most heartily 
lament that this is not the moment wherein 
those great objects of my ambition are to be 
attained ; and that I am to be longer deprived of 
an opportunity to assure you personally of the 
regard with which I am," etc. 



Dr. Franklin's answer. 

" I received safe the letters your lordship so 
kindly forwarded to me, and beg you to accept 
my thanks. 

" The official despatches, to which you refer 
me, contained nothing more than what we had 
seen in the act of parliament, viz. : " Offers of 
pardon upon submission;" which I am sorry 
to find, as it must give your lordship pain to be 
sent so far on so hopeless a business. 

" Directing pardons to be offered to the 
colonies, who are the very parties injured, 
expresses indeed that opinion of our ignorance, 
baseness and insensibility, which your unin- 
formed and proud nation has long been pleased 
to entertain of us ; but it can have no other 
effect than that of increasing our resentments. 
It is impossible we should think of submission 
to a government that has, with the most 
wanton barbarity and cruelty, burned our de- 
fenceless towns in the midst of winter ; excited 
the savages to massacre our peaceful farmers, 
and our slaves to murder their masters ; and 
is even now bringing foreign mercenaries to 
deluge our settlements with blood. These 
atrocious injuries have extinguished every spark 
of affection for that parent country, that we 
once held so dear, but were it possible for us 
to forget and forgive them, it is not possible for 
you, I mean the British nation, to forgive the 
people you have so heavily injured. You can 
never confide again in those as fellow subjects, 
and permit them to enjoy equal freedom, to 
whom you know you have given such just 



causes of lasting enmity; and this must im- 
pel you, were we again under government, to 
endeavor to break our spirit by the severest 
tyranny, and obstructing by every means in 
your power, our growing strength and pros- 
perity. 

" Your lordship mentions • the king's pater- 
nal solicitude for promoting the establishment 
of lasting peace and union with the colonies.' 
If, by peace, he here meant a peace, to be 
entered into by distinct states, now at war, and 
his majesty has given your lordship powers to 
treat with us of such a peace, I may venture to 
say, though without authority, that I thmk a 
treaty for that purpose not quite impracticable, 
before we enter into foreign alliances ; but I 
am persuaded you have no such powers. — Your 
nation thought, by punishing those American 
governors, who have fomented the discord ; 
rebuilding our burnt towns, and repairing, as 
far as possible, the mischiefs done us, she 
might recover a great share of our regard, and 
the greatest share of our growing commerce, 
with all the advantages of that additional 
strength to be derived from a friendship with 
us ; yet, I know too well her abounding pride 
and deficient wisdom, to believe she will ever 
take such salutary measures. Her fondness 
for conquest, as a warlike nation ; her lust of 
dominion, as an ambitious one ; and her thirst 
for a gainful monopoly, as a commercial one, 
none of them legitimate causes of war, will 
join to hide from her eyes every view of her 
true interest, and continually goad her on, in 
these ruinous distant expeditions, so destruc- 
tive both of lives and of treasure, that they 
must prove as pernicious to her in the end, as 
the crusades formerly were to most of the 
nations of Europe. 

" I have not the vanity, my lord, to think of 
intimidating by thus predicting the effects of 
this war : for I know that it will, in England, 
have the fate of all my former predictions, not 
to be believed till the event shall verify it. 

" Long did I endeavor, with unfeigned and 
unwearied zeal, to preserve from breaking that 
fine and noble porcelain vase, the British em- 
pire : for, I knew that, being once broken, the 
separate parts could not retain even their share 
of the strength and value that existed in the 
whole, and that a perfect re-union of those 
parts could scarce ever be hoped for. Your 
lordship may possibly remember the tears of 
joy that wetted my cheek, when, at your good 
sister's, in London, you once gave me expecta- 
tions, that a reconciliation might take place. 
I had the misfortune to find these expectations 
disappointed, and to be treated as the cause ol 



478 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



the mischief I was laboring to prevent. My 
consolation, under that groundless and malev- 
olent treatment, was that I retained the friend- 
ship of many wise and good men in that coun- 
try, and among the rest, some share in the 
regard of lord Howe. 

" The well founded esteem, and permit me 
to say, affection, which I shall always have for 
your lordship, make it painful to me to see you 
engaged in conducting a war, the great ground 
of which, as described in your letter, is, ' the 
necessity of preventing the American trade 
from passing into foreign channels.' To me it 
seems that neither the obtaining or retaining 
any trade, how valuable soever, is an object for 
which men may justly spill each other's blood ; 
that the true and sure means of extending and 
securing commerce are the goodness and 
cheapness of commodities : and that the prof- 
its of no trade can ever be equal to the ex- 
pense of compelling it, and holding it by fleets 
and armies. I considered this war against us, 
therefore, as both unjust and unwise ; and I 
am persuaded that cool and dispassionate pos- 
terity will condemn to infamy those who ad- 
vised it : and that even success will not save 
from some degree of dishonor those who have 
voluntarily engaged to conduct it. 

■' I know your great motive in coming hither 
was the hope of being instrumental in a recon- 
ciliation ; and, I believe, when you find that to 
be impossible, on any terms given you to pro- 
pose, you will then relinquish so odious a com- 
mand, and return to a more honorable private 
station. 

" With the greatest and most sincere re- 
spect, I have the honor to be," etc. 



DR. FRANKLIN'S ADDRESS 

To THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND, WRITTEN 

WHILE AT Versailles, France, October 
4. 1778. 

TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF IRELAND. 

The misery and distress which your ill-fated 
country has been so frequently exposed to, and 
has so often experienced, by such a combina- 
tion of rapine, treachery, and violence, as would 
have disgraced the name of government, in the 
most arbitrary country in the world, has most 
sincerely affected your friends in America, and 
has engaged the most serious attention of con- 
gress ; the ministry of Britain have seen the 
extreme meanness and folly of the attempt to 
establish a supreme authority in parliament, as 



their venal scribblers had endeavored to define 
it, exempt from question and control, appeal or 
restriction ; but it is evident to all the world, 
that such doctrine is incompatible with every 
idea of a civil constitution, for all compacts, 
bills of right, nay, the solemn obligation of theii 
king to govern according to the statutes in par- 
liament agreed on, and the laws and customs 
of the same, would have been all nugatory 
trumpery, were such a supremacy admitted; 
for this supreme authority having no rule or 
law to direct its operations, or limit its power, 
it must necessarily become arbitrary and abso- 
lute ; for ceasing to be a government by force, 
and it will appear fully evident that this unnat- 
ural war, in which we have been unavoidably 
engaged, has been beg^n and supported for no 
other purpose than to establish this supreme or 
arbitrary power, for they are individually the 
same ; nor is it in the power of sophistry to 
draw a line of separation ; the flimsy and con- 
tradictory speech of lord North, introductory to 
his conciliatory motion, furnishes the fullest 
conviction on this point. He says, " before the 
war broke out, he offered a conciliatory 
proposition. The ground upon which he 
made it was. That it was just the colonies 
should contribute to the support of govern- 
ment." And almost in the same breath he 
says " he thought necessary to shew the colo- 
nies we were not fighting for taxation, for he 
never thought taxation would be beneficial to 
us." He farther says, " he never proposed any 
tax, his maxim was to say nothing about Amer- 
ica, neither to propose or repeal laws, neither 
to advance nor recede, but to remain in total 
silence." His lordship, I hope, will excuse me, 
if I presume to look beyond the acknowledged 
indolence of his disposition, to explain this 
stupor of a first minister, and the case is very 
obvious ; for as soon as their five regiments 
should have completed the conquest of Amer- 
ica, it should lie with the lives and properties 
of its inhabitants, at the mercy of the conquer- 
or's sword. The very names of assemblies, 
conventions, or charters, those odious appenda- 
ges of democratical power, should be finished, 
and the tyrant's fiat should henceforth become 
the law of the land, and hence sprung the tor- 
pedo that benumbed the minister's faculties. 

His lordship says, his proposition was misin- 
terpreted or misunderstood, and was rendered 
suspicious by a supposition of a variety of 
cases ; the congress treated it as unreasonable 
and insidious, and rejected it. War began, 
and his intention w^as, from the beginning, at 
the moment of victory, to propose the same 
proposition in terms obviating all the misrepr©- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



479 



scntations and misunderstandings concerning 
it. Here it is confessed, that this wise and 
virtuous administration at every hazard, and at 
a certain expense, has almost annihilated pub- 
lic credit, have been looking for victory which 
has never come, and I trust never will come, 
and which, if it did come, must have been ac- 
complished by the murder of fellow citizens, 
sooner than clear their own propositions of 
their ambiguity and suspicion. And what de- 
prives them of the color of excuse, for the hor- 
rid barbarities of the war, the city of London, 
in the most respectful language, petitioned the 
throne to declare clearly and explicitly before 
the war commenced, what they wished to have 
done on the part of America ; but all to no 
purpose ; they would not, they dare not declare 
their true object. The solemn appeal was 
made, and, for the honor of virtue, the comfort 
of human nature, and the terror of oppression, 
it will be indelibly recorded in the historic page, 
that a few virtuous citizens could effectually 
resist the most vigorous efforts of the most 
powerful tyranny, and thereby establish the 
freedom of the western world forever. To 
arrive at power, Gustavus like, by a bold effort 
of courage, proves at least the existence of 
one virtue, at the same time we detest the 
treachery ; but to sacrifice the public treasure, 
to devote every effort of rapacious taxation, and 
the fruits of an ever-growing excise, to this 
idol of madness and folly, to establish a system 
of venality, by which the price of every man's 
integrity and abilities was to be determined, to 
stipulate the precise condition for which he 
shall treacherously betray the interest of his 
country, and violate every obligation of private 
friendship and public virtue, to beat down every 
fence to honor and principle, to destroy the 
very bond and frame of civil society, to make 
the pillage of property the means to accomplish 
the plunder of liberty, and to drive the people 
into all the miseries of a civil war, in pursuit of 
this dream of power, are instances of such 
determined depravity as are not to be described 
even in the language of a country where new 
villainy adds to the catalogue of crimes almost 
every day. The perfect similarity of the de- 
claratory act of supremacy, and that relating 
to your country, viz.. That Ireland should be 
subordinate to and depend on the imperial 
crown of Great Britain, is very obvious ; but 
this declaration fx parte can avail nothing, at 
the same time that it furnishes the most incon- 
testible and decisive proofs, that no such sub- 
ordination or dependence was ever understood 
before, or there would have been no necessity 
for such an act. 



The navigation act, which had been framed 
for the sole purpose of securing to the British 
subjects, all the advantages to be derived from 
the commerce of their own settlements, has, 
by subsequent acts, been framed into the most 
odious and impolitic monopoly that could be 
devised : creating local distinctions and com- 
mercial schisms, giving privilege to one set of 
subjects to the injury of others, and operating 
on all the indicted provinces as an oppressive 
tax, comprehending all the taxes of Britain, 
however variously modified or compounded. 
And we wish to have it forever fixed on your 
minds, that by a monopoly of trade every pre- 
tence to internal taxation is given up ; for were 
you even without a constitution of your own, 
and as dependent as usurpation has endeavored 
to make you, the monopoly of your trade is 
more than a full and equitable compensation 
for all other taxes, and it <\'ill not appear para- 
doxical to futurity, that the rise and fall of the 
British empire have been owing to this act : 
and the engine by which the wise politician, 
who framed it, designed to wind up and con- 
nect the British interest all over the world, we 
have seen employed as the wheel on which 
British liberty and grandeur have disgracefully 
expired. 

The anticipation of public revenue has fixed 
the crisis of Britain, the labor of their people 
for all succeeding generations being engaged 
to pay the interests of their public debts. I 
cannot suppose it an unfair deduction to say 
they are all born in a state of slavery, for an 
obligation to work for any other purpose than 
one's own advantage, is truly the condition of 
a slave, and every new tax adds a link to the 
chain. But even in this gloomy picture there 
is a dawn of hope ; all bodies are capable of 
refraction to a certain degree, beyond which it 
is impossible to expand them ever so little, 
without absolute destruction. It is evident to 
all the world, that the nerves of public credit 
in England are on the rack of extension, and 
the dreadful explosion must follow of course ; 
and can it be supposed that the system of 
weakness and folly, that has so long usurped 
the name of constitution, can survive the 
shock ; and their people may yet hope to see a 
vigorous young one grow out of the ruins of 
the old. 

I have it in my commission to repeat to you, 
my good friends, the cordial concern that con- 
gress takes in every thing that relates to the 
happiness of Ireland ; they are sensibly affected 
by the load of oppressive pensions on your 
establishment, the arbitrary and illegal ex- 
actions of public money by king's letters ; the 



48o 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



profuse dissipation, by sinecure appointments 
with large salaries, and the very arbitrary and 
impolitic restrictions on your trade and manu- 
factures, which are beyond example in the 
history of the world, and can only be equalled 
by that illiberal spirit which directs it, and 
which has shewn itself so abundantly in peti- 
tions from all parts of their islands, and in the 
debate in their house of commons, when you 
had been lately amused with the vain hope of 
an extension of your trade, and which were 
conducted with such temper and language as 
might be supposed to suit their copper-colored 
allies in America, but must fix a stain on the 
character of a civilized nation forever. 

When I had the pleasure of residing in your 
capital some years ago, it gave me pain to 
observe such a debility and morbid languor in 
every department of your government, as 
would have disgraced anarchy itself; the laws 
are too weak to execute themselves, and vice 
and violence often reign with impunity ; and 
even the military with you seem to claim an 
exemption from all civil restraint, or jurisdic- 
tion, and individuals are forced to trust to 
themselves for that security and protection 
which the government of the country can no 
longer afford them. We congratulate you 
however, on the bright prospect which the 
western hemisphere has afforded to you, and 
the oppressed of every nation, and we trust 
that the liberation of your country has 
been effected in America, and that you never 
will be called on for those painful, though 
necessary exertions, which the sacred love of 
liberty inspires, and which have enabled us to 
establish our freedom forever. 

We hope the political Quixots of Great Brit- 
ain will no longer be able to disturb the peace 
and happiness of mankind, and which Provi- 
dence has permitted perhaps to shew the mon- 
strous abuse of power; yet lost to all public 
virtue as they are, we wish they may turn from 
their wickedness and live ; and we doubt not 
the noble efforts of America will meet the full 
approbation of every virtuous Briton, when 
they shall be able to distinguish between the 
mad pursuits of government and the true in- 
terest of their people. But as for you, our dear 
and good friends of Ireland, w-e must cordially 
recommend to you to continue peaceable and 
quiet in every possible situation of your affairs, 
and endeavor, by mutual good will, to supply 
the defects of administration. But if the gov- 
ernment, whom you at this time acknowledge, 
does not, in conformity to her own true in- 
terest, take off and remove every restraint on 
vour trade, commerce and manufactures, I am 



charged to assure you, that means will be 
found to establish your freedom iti this re- 
spect, in the fullest and amplest manner. And 
as it is the ardent wish of America to promote, 
as far as her other engagements will permit, a 
reciprocal commercial interest with you, I am 
to assure you, they will seek every means to 
establish and extend it ; and it has given the 
most sensible pleasure to have those instruc- 
tions committed to my care, as I have ever re- 
tained the most perfect good will and esteem 
for the people of Ireland. And am, with every 
sentiment of respect, their obedient and hum- 
ble servant, Benjamin Franklin. 

Versailles, October i„ 1778. 



An account of Franklin's introduc- 
tion TO THE Academy of France, and 
his association with Voltaire. 

His introduction into the academy, was as 
high a testimonial of esteem as one great 
people could offer another. As he entered 
D'AIembert saluted him with the celebrated 
line, 
Eripuit ccelo fidmen, sceptrumque tyrannis. 

Condorcet thus describes this grateful and 
memorable ceremony : — " At this same time 
Paris boasted, also, the presence of the cele- 
brated Franklin, who, in another hemisphere, 
had been the apostle of philosophy and tolera- 
tion. Like Voltaire, he had often employed 
the weapon of humor which corrects the ab- 
surdities of men, and had displayed their per- 
verseness as a folly more fatal but also worthy 
of pity. He had joined to the science of meta- 
physics the genius of practical philosophy ; as 
Voltaire, that of poetry. Franklin had de- 
livered the vast continent of America from the 
yoke of Europe, and I was eager to see a man 
whose reputation had long been spread over 
both worlds. — Voltaire, although he had lost 
the habit of speaking English, endeavored to 
support the conversation in that language, and 
afterwards resuming the French, he said, ' I 
could not resist the desire of speaking the 
language of Mr. Franklin, for a moment.' 
The American philosopher presented his 
grandson to Voltaire, with a request that he 
would give him his benediction. ' God and 
liberty,' said Voltaire, ' it is the only benedic- 
tion which can be given to the grandson of 
Franklin.' 

"They went together to a public assembly 
of the Academy of Sciences, and the public at 
the same time beheld with emotion these two 
men, born in different quaiters of the globe, 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



481 



venerable by their years, their glory, the em- 
ployment of their life, and both enjoying the 
influence which they had exercised over the 
age in which they lived. They embraced each 
other amidst public acclamations, and it was 
said to be Solon who embraced Sophocles. 
But the French Sophocles had trampled on 
error and advanced the reign of reason ; and 
the Solon, of Philadelphia, having placed the 
constitution of his country on the immovable 
foundation of the rights of man, had no fear 
of seeing his uncertain laws, even during his 
own life, open the way to tyranny, and prepare 
fetters for his country." 



DR. FRANKLIN. 



Interesting notice in relation to him, 

AND extracts from ARTICLES PRINTED 

BY HIM IN London in 1779. 

The author of the " Systeme de la Nature " 
says — " What imports it to me, that Mauper- 
tuis is a good geometrician, if he be a despotic 
and merciless president, and if I be obliged to 
live in his domain or his academy ? A benefi- 
cent man is, in my opinion, much more esti- 
mable, than a being who is learned, but cruel." 
— Mirabeau the Elder. Not so with our Dr. 
Franklin — for, " Whatever he writes, his fellow- 
citizens read with eagerness, delight, and plea- 
sure — and whatever \\t performs, the civilized 
part of the world approves."— Turgol to 
Dr. Price. 



From among "the political, miscellaneous, 
and philosophical pieces of Dr. Franklin, printed 
in London, 1779, p. 297," is extracted the fol- 
lowing, and placed at your ser\-ice. Civis. 

"At the conclusion of the peace of 1762, 
when certain projectors asked the English 
to leave the French in possession of Canada, in 
order that they might check the too rapid 
increase of the English colonies, the celebrated 
Dr. Franklin obser\'ed, ' It is a modest word, 
this check for massacreing men, women, and 
children ; and for all the other horrors of Indian 
warfare." It was being very far-sighted indeed, 
to feel so soon the necessity of checking the 
excessive population of the then English colo- 
nies. ' But,' continues this truly great man, 
with that Socratic simplicity which is the 
peculiar characteristic of his writings. ' If it 
be, after all, ' thought necessary to check the 
growth of our colonies, give me leave to 
31 



propose a method less cruel. It is a method 
of which we have an example in the scripture. 
The murder of husbands, of wives, of brothers, 
sisters, and children, whose pleasing society 
has been for some time enjoyed, affects deeply 
the respective sur\-i\ing relations ; but grief for 
the loss of a child just bom is short, and ea- 
sily supported. The method I mean is, that 
which was dictated by the Egyptian policy, 
when the infinite increase of the children of 
Israel was appehended as dattgerotis to the 
state; and Pharaoh said unto his priests, be- 
hokl the people of the children of Israel are more 
and mightier than we ; come on, let us deal wise- 
ly with them, lest they multiply, and it come to 
pass that when there falleth out any war, they 
join also unto our enemies and fight against 
us, and so get them up out of the land. And 
the king spake unto the Hebrew midwives, etc. 
— Exo. Chap. I., Now,' says the doctor, ' let an 
act of parliament be made, enjoining the colony 
midwives to stifle, in their birth, every third 
or fourth child. By this means may you keep 
the colonies to their size. And if they were 
under the hard alternative of submitting to one 
or the other of these schemes for checking 
their growth, I dare answer for them they 
would prefer the latter." 

Note by the transcriber. They seem to have 
found out since that time, another method or 
scheme which, bye the bye they never have 
dared to own, ' and have always disavowed ' 
it personally to our ambassadors ; though they 
have never discontinued it in practice, until 
general J. made an example of two of their noto- 
rious assistants ; and could he have been so 
fortunate as to have caught the \.\\o principal 
agents, col. W — e and col N — s, and made them 
also the objects of ' exact justice,' we should 
not hear for a length of time of any more 
' secret schemes for the depopulation of the 
frontiers of the United States. ' ' 

—Bost. Pat. 



INTERESTING ACCOUNT 

Given by Thomas Jefferson, (Frank- 
lin's SUCCESSOR AT Versailles,) of the 

VENERATION AND ESTEEM OF THE FRENCH 

PEOPLE FOR Dr. Franklin. 

Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. William 
Smith, expresses himself, " I can testify that 
there appeared to me more veneration and re- 
spect attached to the character of Dr. Franklin 
in France, than to that of any other person in 
the same country, foreign or native. 1 had an 



482 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



opportunity of knowing particularly how far 
these sentiments were felt by the foreign am- 
bassadors and ministers at the court of Ver- 
sailles. The fable of his capture by the Alger- 
ines, propagated by the English newspapers, 
excited no uneasiness, as it was seen at once 
to be a dish cooked up to please certain read- 
ers ; but nothing could exceed the anxiety of 
his diplomatic brethren, on a subsequent report 
of his death, which although premature, bore 
some marks of authenticity. I found the min- 
isters of France equally impressed with his 
talents and integrity. The Count de Ver- 
gennes, particularly, gave me repeated and 
unequivocal demonstrations of his entire confi- 
dence in him." 

" When he left Passy, it seemed as if the vil- 
lage had lost its Patriarch. On taking leave 
of the court, which he did by letter, the king 
ordered him to be handsomely complimented, 
and furnished him with a litter and mules of 
his own, the only kind of conveyance the state 
of his health could bear. The succession to 
Dr. Franklin at the court of France, was an ex- 
cellent school of humility to me. On being 
presented to any one, as the minister of Ameri- 
ca, the common place question was ' Is it you, 
sir, who replace Dr. Franklin .' ' I generally 
answered, " no one can replace him, sir; I am 
only his successor." 



EULOGY ON DR. FRANKLIN. 

Action of the French assembly on the 
Announcement of his death ; Glow- 
ing Eulogy pronounced by the Abbe 
Fauchett. 

The people of France have, on various oc- 
casions, evinced that they partook of our politi- 



cal sentiments and feelings. When the death 
of Washington was announced, Bonaparte and 
the national representatives wore mourning. 
On the death of Franklin, the national assembly 
put on the emblems of grief, and appointed one 
of their members. Abbe Fauchett, to pronounce 
his eulogy ; the place in which he spoke was 
hung with black, and decorated with the most 
expensive devices. In the course of the oration 
the orator burst forth in this apostrophe : 
" Thou bright luminary of freedom, why should 
I call thee great ? Grandeur is too often the 
scourge of the human kind, whose felicity thy 
goodness was ever exerted to promote. Thou 
hast been the benefactor of the universe ; be 
thy name ever revered. May it be the com- 
fort of the wretched, the joy of the free. What 
man is more entitled to our gratitude .' It was 
not sufficient to control the lightning of Heaven 
and to avert the fury of the growing tempest ; 
thou hast rendered unto mankind a service 
still greater ; thou extinguishest the thunder 
of earthly despots, which was ready to be 
hurled upon their trembling subjects. 

What pleasure must it have been to thee on 
earth, to perceive others profiting by thy pre- 
cepts and thy example. With what greater 
rapture must thou now contemplate thy own 
diffusion of light ; it will illumine the world, and 
man, perceiving his natural dignity, will raise 
his soul to Heaven and bow to no empire but 
that which is founded on virtue and reason. 
I have but one wish to utter : it is a wish dear 
to my heart ; a wish always cherished in thy 
virtuous and benevolent bosom — surely it will 
derive sovn^ favor from the throne of God, 
when uttered in the name of Franklin. It is 
that, in becoming free, men may become also 
wiser and better — there is no other means of 
deserving liberty." 



THE CONTINENTAL NAVY. 



THE FIRST SEA FIGHT. 

Action between the continental brig 
OF war Tyrannicide, and the British 
sloop OF WAR Despatch, (776. 

The late rev. Dr. Bently, of Salem, Mass., 
whose decease was equally deplored by the 
friends of religion, patriotism and literature — 
who for many years enriched the columns of 
the " Essex Register " with his remarks, when 



speaking of the revolutionary pension law, 
seized the opportunity to give us the following 
interesting scrap of history : 

" The following history may discover how a 
man may engage in the public ser\'ice, and yet 
not be qualified according to law for the bounty 
of a term short of one year's service. Joshua 
Ward, who belonged to Salem, but who has 
lived many years in Marblehead, a painter, 
marched on the 19th of April, to Charlcstown 



THE CONTINENTAL NAVY. 



483 



Neck, as a fifer of the first company in colonel 
Timothy Pickering's regiment of militia, com- 
manded by capt. William Pickman, and soon 
after entered the army under captain Thomas 
Barnes. From Cambridge he was ordered to 
Watertown to guard the public stores, and 
remained at this station till the battle of Bun- 
ker's Hill. He then joined the regiment under 
colonel Mansfield on Prospect Hill, in Charles- 
town, in the Massachusetts line, and acted as 
fife-major, till he joined gen. Sullivan's brigade, 
on Winter Hill, when he was promoted as fife- 
major general. He continued in the service 
till the first day of January, 1776, when he was 
discharged, having continued the time of his 
enlistment. He then entered captain Benjamin 
Ward's company, and performed garrison duty 
at fort William and Mary, now fort Pickering, 
till the 19th of June following. He then volun- 
teered with the first lieutenant Haraden, a well 
known brave and able officer, with others 
of his companions, on board the Tyrannicide, 
a public armed brig of 14 guns and 75 men, 
commanded by captain John Fiske, afterwards 
a major general in Massachusetts, and eminent 
by his public services. He was in this brig 
during three cruises, and was at the taking of 
eight prizes, the first of which was the king's 
armed schooner Dispatch, belonging to lord 
Howe's fleet, then on their passage from Hali- 
fax to New York, it being loth July. In the 
engagement one man was killed in the Tyran- 
nicide, three wounded, and one died of his 
wounds. He continued in this vessel till the 
14th of February, 1777, when he returned from 
a four and an half months' cruise in the West 
Indies, and all were discharged. He is now 
72 years of age. In the action with thd Dis- 
patch, which lasted 7 glasses, her commander, 
John Goodrich, 2d lieut. of the Renown of 50 
guns, then in the fleet, was killed, and several 
men. Mr. Moore, sailing master, was wounded 
and his limb amputated. Mr. Collingsin, mid- 
shipman, had his limb amputated but he died. 
The Dispatch was so disabled that they were 
obliged to take her in tow, and they brought 
her into Salem, after being out 17 days. The 
Dispatch had eight carriage guns, 12 swivels, 
and a complement of 41 picked men from dif- 
ferent ships in the fleet. This was the first sea 
fight. The Tyrannicide was the first vessel 
that was built for the public service, and her 
commission was signed by John Hancock. 
The Dispatch was no prize to the crew, except- 
ing a small bounty on her guns. And yet 
this worthy man in his poverty, comes not 
within the letter of the law, and instead of his 
bounty, must accept a hearty recommenda- 



tion to the generous care of his fellow-citi- 
zens." 



LIST OF NAVAL FORCES 
On Lake Champlain, October, 1776. 



Ship Inflexible, lieutenant Schank, 18 twelve 
pounders. Schooner Maria, lieutenant Starke, 
14 six pounders. Schooner Carleton, lieuten- 
ant Dacres, 12 six pounders. Radeau Thun- 
derer, lieutenant Scott, 6 twenty-four, 6 twelve 
pounders, 2 howitzers. Gondola Loyal Con- 
vert, lieutenant Longcroft, 7 nine pounders. 
Twenty gun-boats, each a brass field piece, 
some twenty-fours to nines, some with howit- 
zers. Four long-boats, with each a carriage 
gun. serving as armed tenders. Twenty-four 
long boats with provisions. 

CONTINENTAL. 

Schooner Royal Savage, 8 six pounders, and 
4 four pounders, burnt the nth of October, at 
Valicour. Schooner Revenge, 4 six pounders, 
and fours, escaped to Ticonderoga the 13th 

of October. Sloop , 10 four pounders, 

escaped to ditto the 13th of October. Cutter 
Lee, I nine pounder in her bow ; i twelve 
pounder in her stern, and 2 six pounders in her 
sides ; abandoned the 13th of October. Gal- 
ley Congress, 2 eighteen pounders in her bow, 
2 twelve pounders in her stern, and 6 six 
pounders in her sides ; run on shore and burnt 
the 13th of October. Galley Washington, i 
eight and I twelve pounder in her bow, 2 nine 
pounders in her stern, and 6 six pounders in 
her sides; taken the 13th of October. Galley 
Trumbull, like the Washington, escaped to 
Ticonderoga the 1 3th October. Eight Gondo- 
las, carrying i eight pounder in the bow, and 2 
nine pounders in the sides ; some of these had 
4 guns in their sides — one taken the 12th, one 
sunk the nth, four burnt the 13th; one es- 
caped, and one missing. Schooner , 

taken from major Skeene, was gone for provis- 
ions. Galley Gates, expected to join them in 
a few days. 

A LIST OF THE SEAMEN DETACHED FROM 
THE king's ships and vessels in THE 

RIVER St. Lawrence, to serve on Lake 
Champlain. 

Isis, 100 seamen; Blond, 70; Triton, 60; 
Garland, 30 ; Canceau, 40 ; Magdalen, Bruns- 
wick, Gaspee 18 seamen each ; Treasury, and 
armed brigs, 90 men each. 



484 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Province armed vessels. — Fell, 30, lately 
wrecked ; Charlotte, 9 ; volunteers from no 
ship, 9; ditto from the transports 214. Total 
670, exclusive of 8 officers, and 19 petty of- 
ficers. 



COMMODORE PAUL JONES, 
(Continental Navy). Interesting 

SKETCH relating TO HIS SERVICES, FROM 

A British Magazine. 

This distinguished person was the son of a 
small farmer a few miles from Dumfries, and 
impelled by that love of enterprise which is so 
.frequently to be met with among the peasantry 
of Scotland, he seems to h.ave eagerly embarked 
in the cause of the colonies against the mother 
country. Whether he was actuated, in any 
degree, by a sense of the injustice of Britain 
toward America at the outset of his career, or 
merely availing himself of the opportunities in 
which revolutionary warfare so greatly abounds, 
to rise from his original obscurity, it is now, per- 
haps, impossible to determine, and unnecessary 
to inquire. But it will be seen, from the letters 
we are going to lay before our readers, that, in 
the progress of his adventurous life, he well 
knew how to employ the language of men in- 
spired with the love of liberty, and that he was 
honored by some of its warmest friends in both 
hemispheres. 

There are probably few instances, especially 
among adventurers who have risen from the 
condition in which Paul Jones was originally 
placed — of more enlarged views — more gener- 
ous feelings — and a more disinterested conduct, 
than the following letter exhibits, combined 
as these are with sentiments of relentless 
hostility towards the claims of his native 
country. 

In the progress of the revolutionary war, 
Paul Jones obtained the command of a squad- 
ron, with which, 1778, he undertook to annoy 
the coasts of Great Britain. On the 2d of 
December, 1777, he arrived at Nantez, and in 
January he repaired to Paris, with the view of 
making arrangements with the American min- 
isters and the French government. In Februar)- 
he convoyed some American vessels to the Bay 
of Quiberon, and, on his return to Brest, com- 
municated his plan to Admiral D'Aruillers, who 
afforded him every means of forwarding it. 
He accordingly left Brest, and sailed through 
the Bristol Channel without giving any alarm. 
Early in the morning of the 23d of April, he 
made ati attack on the harbor of Whitehaven, 
in which there were about three hundred sail. 



He succeeded in setting fire to several vessels 
but was not able to effect anything decisive 
before daylight, when he was obliged to retire. 
The next exploit, which took place on the 
same day, was the plunder of lord Selkirk's 
house, in St. Mary's Isle, near the town of 
Kirkcudbright. The particulars of this event, 
and of the action which succeeded, as well as 
the motives upon which Jones acted, are well 
given in the following letter, which he addressed 
to Lady Selkirk, and which has not before been 
printed : 

'^ Ranger, Brest, %th May^ 1778. 

" Madam — It cannot be too much lamented, 
that, in the profession of arms, the officer of 
finer feeling, and of real sensibility, should be 
under the necessity of winking at any action 
of persons under his command which his heart 
cannot approve ; but the reHection is doubly 
severe, when he finds himself obliged, in ap- 
pearance, to countenance such action by 
authority. 

" This hard case was mine, when, on the 23d 
of April last, I landed on St. Mary's Isle. 
Knowing lord Selkirk's interest with the king, 
I wished to make him the happy instrument of 
alleviating the horrors of hopeless captivity, 
when the brave are overpowered and made 
prisoners of war. It was perhaps fortunate for 
you, madam, that he was from home, for it was 
my intention to have taken him on board the 
Ranger, and to have detained him, until through 
his means, a general and fair exchange of pris- 
oners, as well in Europe as in America, had 
been effected. 

" When I was informed by some men whom 
I met at landing, that his lordship was absent, 
I walked back to my boat, determined to leave 
the island. By the way, however, some officers 
who were with me, could not forbear express- 
ing their discontent, observing, that in Amer- 
ica no delicacy was shown by the English, who 
took away all sorts of movable property, setting 
fire not only to towns, and to the houses of the 
rich without distinction, but not even sparing 
the wretched hamlets and milch-cows of the 
poor and helpless, at the approach of an inclem- 
ent winter. That party had been with me 
as volunteers the same morning at Whitehaven ; 
some complaisance, therefore, was their due. 
I had but a moment to think how I might 
gratify them, and, at the same time, do your 
ladyship the least injury. I charged the two 
officers to permit none of the seamen to enter 
the house, or to hurt anything about it ; to 
treat you, madam, with the utmost respect , to 
accept of the plate which was offered ; and to 
come away without making a search, or de- 



THE CONTINENTAL NAVY. 



4S5 



manding anything else. I am induced to 
believe that I was punctually obeyed, since I 
am informed that the plate which they brought 
away is far short of the quantity which is 
expressed in the inventory which accompanied 
it. I have gratified my men, and when the 
plate is sold I shall become the purchaser, 
and will gratify my own feelings, by restoring 
it to you by such conveyance as you shall please 
to direct. 

" Had the earl been on board the following 
evening, he would have seen the awful pomp 
and dreadful carnage of a sea engagement ; 
both affording ample subject for the pencil, as 
well as melancholy reflection for the contem- 
plative mind. Humanity starts back at such 
scenes of horror, and cannot but execrate the 
vile promoters of this detested war : 

For t/tcy, twas they, unsheathed the ruthless blade, 
And Heaven shall ask the havoc it has made. 

" The British ship of war Drake, mounting 
twenty guns, with more than her full comple- 
ment of officers and men, besides a number of 
volunteers, came out from Carrickfergus, in 
order to attack and take the continental ship of 
war Ranger, of eighteen guns, and short of 
her complement of officers and men ; the ships 
met, and the advantage was disputed with 
great fortitude on each side for an hour and 
five minutes, when the gallant commander 
of the Drake fell, and victory declared in favor 
of the Ranger. His amiable lieutenant lay 
mortally wounded, besides near forty of the 
inferior officers and crew killed and wounded. 
A melancholy demonstration of the uncertainty 
of human prospects. I buried them in a spa- 
cious grave, with the honors due to the memory 
of the brave. 

" Though I have drawn my sword in the pre- 
sent generous struggle for the rights of men, yet 
I am in arms, merely as an American, nor am I in 
pursuit of riches. My fortune is liberal enough, 
having no wife nor family, and having lived long 
enough to know that riches cannot ensure hap- 
piness. I profess myself a citizen of the world, 
totally unfettered by the little mean distinctions 
of climate or of country, which diminish the 
benevolence of the heart, and set bounds to 
philanthropy. Before this war began, I had, at 
an early time of life, withdrawn from the sea 
service, in favor of ' calm contemplation and 
poetic ease.' I have sacrificed, not only my 
favorite scheme of life, but the softer affections 
of the heart, and my prospects of domestic 
happiness, and ! am ready to sacrifice my life 
also, with cheerfulness, if that forfeiture would 
restore peace and good will among mankind. 



" As the feelings of your gentle bosom can- 
not, in that respect, but be congenial with 
mine, let me entreat you, madam, to use your 
soft persuasive arts with your husband, to 
endeavor to stop this cruel and destructive war, 
in which Britain never can succeed. Heaven 
can never countenance the barbarous and 
unmanly practices of the Britons in America, 
which savages would blush at, and which, if 
not discontinued, will soon be retaliated in 
Britain by a justly enraged people. Should 
you fail in this, (for I am persuaded you will 
attempt it — and who can resist the power of 
such an advocate ?) your endeavors to effect a 
general exchange of prisoners will be an act of 
humanity, which will afford you golden feelings 
on a death bed. 

" I hope this cruel contest will soon be 
closed : but should it continue, I wage no war 
with the fair ! I acknowledge their power, 
and bend before it with profound submission ! 
Let not, therefore, the amiable countess of 
Selkirk regard me as an enemy ; I am ambi- 
tious of her esteem and friendship, and would 
do anything consistent with my duty to 
merit it. 

"The honor of a line from your hand, in 
answer to this, will lay me under a very singu- 
lar obligation ; and if I can render you any 
acceptable service, in France or elsewhere, I 
hope you see into my character so far as to 
command me without the least grain of service. 
I wish to know, exactly, the behavior of my 
people, as I am determined to punish them if 
they have exceeded their liberty. 

" I have the honor to be, with much esteem 
and with profound respect, madam, your most 
obedient and most humble servant, 

Paul Jones. 
" To the Right Hon. the countess of 
Selkirk, St. Mary's Isle, Scotland." 



COMMODORE SAMUEL TUCKER, 

Of Massachusetts. His services in the 
Continental Navy. 

From the Eastern Argus, Portland, Me., Dec. 12, 1820. 

It is with great satisfaction that we have it in 
our power to state, that the venerable com- 
modore Tucker has been appointed, by the 
unanimous votes of the electoral college of this 
state, a special messenger to carry the votes 
for president and vice president to the seat of 
government. And a gratifying event it must 
be to this war-worn veteran, now in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age, to be the bearer of the 
unbought suffrages of a free people for an- 
other revolutionary worthy to fill the highest 



486 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



office in their gift. Commodore Tucker was 
among the most distinguished naval com- 
manders in the war of the revolution. Though 
it is not our intention, at this time, to give an 
outline of the interesting adventures of this 
officer through our eight years' struggle for 
independence, it may not be unacceptable to 
our readers to be reminded of some of the im- 
portant benefits which our country derived from 
his skill and courage in the time of her great- 
est need. We are apt in the unbroken flow of 
prosperity, to forget the merits and achieve- 
ments of those to whom we are indebted for it. 

In March, 1776. after the British army had 
been driven from Boston in shameful flight, and 
were lying with the fleet at Long Island point, 
a transport, loaded with powder, for use of the 
troops, was captured by a vessel under the 
orders of Commodore Tucker, and commanded 
by one of his officers, just before she arrived 
within the protection of the British guns. The 
merits of the arrangements for the capture 
belonged to the commodore, and he received, 
if we are not mistaken, the thanks of general 
Washington. Though Boston was then evacu- 
ated, it will be recollected by those who are 
conversant with that period of our history, that 
the enemy had been driven from his post by a 
band of freemen, armed only with fowling 
pieces, and -without powder or ball. The 
ammunition at the disposal of the American 
commander at one time, was not mote than 
sufficient to furnish his army with more than 
four or five rounds to each man. The capture 
of this vessel, though not an event calculated 
to attract attention by the dazzling lustre of 
military glory, was, in fact, one of the most 
important naval occurrences of the war. 

Another event, of superior interest, and 
which displayed the gallantry of the commodore 
in a stronger light, was the preser\-ation of the 
Eustatia fleet in 1779. The American agents 
had contracted in Holland for a large quantity 
of clothing for the army. It was deposited by 
the Dutch merchants in Eustatia. and put on 
board a fleet of merchantmen to be transported 
to our ports. Commodore Tucker was ordered 
to sail with the Boston frigate and Confederacy 
to meet this fleet and convoy it safe, at all 
events, into port. The salvation of the army 
and of the country, depended on the safe 
arrival of these supplies, the soldiers being not 
only without pay, but destitute of clothing, and, 
as soldiers always will be in such cases, irritated, 
refractory, and mutinous. The moment of the 
commodore's meeting this fleet was most 
critical. Two British frigates were then in the 
pursuit, and were now within gun-shot of the 



hindermost vessels, when two strange sail 
were seen bearing down upon them directly 
ahead. A signal was made for the fleet to dis- 
perse, and soon after. Tucker having come 
within hailing distance of one of the foremost 
vessels, discovered that it was the fleet of which 
he was in the pursuit. He instantly made a 
signal for the Confederacy to bear down upon 
and attack the windward sail, while he wore 
ship and prepared to engage the vessels at the 
leeward. The enemy, however, though supe- 
rior in force, declined meeting him. He fled to 
New-York, where the commander, after a sham 
trial, was acquitted on the excuse that his crew 
was mutinous ; and the American commodore 
led his fleet in triumph into the harbor of Phil- 
adelphia, without the loss of a ship. The safe 
arrival of this fleet was a most important event 
to the country. 

Soon after, the British commander fitted out 
a vessel for the express purpose of cruising for 
Tucker, and bringing the rebel into the harbor 
of New York. His ship was again somewhat 
superior to the Boston, and manned with fifty 
chosen men, in addition to the usual crew. He 
soon had the good or ill fortune to meet with 
Tucker. Such was the skill and adroitness 
with which the American commander man- 
oeuvred, that he brought his ship within half 
pistol shot under the quarters of the British 
vessel, before the captain discovered that it was 
an enemy, the commodore having English 
colors flying. He then sent up the stars and 
stripes, and summoned the enemy to surrender. 
Such was the commanding position that the 
American frigate had obtained, that the British 
captain thought it prudent to surrender before 
a gun was fired on either side. 

Commodore Tucker's enterprise and naval 
talents were in constant requisition, and he was 
in active service during the whole war. He 
took from the enemy se"<.ienty five prizes, and 
more than six hundred and fifty mounted 
cannon, a greater number, we believe, than was 
captured by any other naval commander. 

When the venerable patriot arrived at Wash- 
ington with the electoral votes, it was con- 
templated to pass a resolution to admit him 
within the bar of the house of representatives. 
But it is a standing rule of the house, that all 
persons to whom a vote of thanks has been 
passed, may use that privilege, and it was 
found that commodore Tucker might claim it 
from a vote of the old congress — and the house 
had too much sensibility on the subject, in any 
manner to depreciate so honorable a claim, by 
acting on the case, except to permit him to 
take a seat as a matter of right. 



THE CONTINENTAL NAV\-. 



487 



His presence at Washington gave rise to a 
publication of the following correspondence — 

yuiNCY, January 18, 1816. 

Sir — Samuel Tucker, esq. a member of our 
Massachusetts legislature, has a petition to 
government for justice or customary favor to 
meritorious officers, which will be explained 
before the proper judges. I cannot refuse his 
request to certify what I know of his character 
and historv'. My acquaintance with him com- 
menced early in the year 1776, when he was 
first appointed to a command in the naxy, in 
which he served with reputation and without 
reproach, to the end of the year 1783. 

His biography would make a conspicuous 
figure even at this day, in the naval annals of 
the United States. I can be particular only in 
one instance. In 1778, he was' ordered to 
France in the Boston frigate. He sailed in 
February, and soon fell in with three British 
frigates, sent from Rhode Island expressly to 
intercept him. Fighting of one against three 
was out of the question. In a chase of three 
days and three nights, he baffled all the inven- 
tions, and defeated all the manoeuvres of the 
enemy, and was separated from him, at last, 
in the Gulf Stream by a furious hurricane, 
which, for three days more, threatened him 
with immediate destruction. Nor was this his 
last danger from seas or from enemies. He 
had two other storms, and two other detach- 
ments of British men of war to encounter ; one 
in the English Channel, and another in the Bay 
of Biscay. He arrived in Bordeaux in April. 

Nothing but vigilance, patience, and perse- 
verance, added to consummate nautical skill, 
could have preserved that ship through so 
many dangers at that equinoctial season, and 
such a succession of irresistible enemies. 

1 heartily wish captain Tucker success ; and 
beg the favor of you, sir, to communicate to 
any committee, who may be charged with the 
examination of his application, this letter from 
your friend and humble servant, 

John Adams. 
Hon. Mr. Cronvninshield, 

Secretary of the navy of the U. S. 

The foregoing is a true copy of the original 
now in my possession. 

Mark L. Hill. 

Connected with this letter is an anecdote of 
the now venerable writer, which we do not 
recollect to have before seen in print. From 
the unaffected simplicity with which the letter 
is written, it would not appear that Mr. Adams 
was on board the vessel commanded by captain 
Tucker, in the cruise of which he speaks : but 



this was the fact. Captain Tucker then com- 
manded the Boston frigate, and was charged 
with the important duty, at that difficult time, 
of carrying Mr. Adams out as ambassador to 
France. About fifteen days before their arri- 
val at Bordeaux, there hove in sight a large 
English ship, showing a tier of guns. Tucker 
immediately held a conversation with Mr. Ad- 
ams, assured him he could take her, and wished 
to obtain his consent to run down for her ; this 
was granted. — The Boston bore down : Mr. 
Adams being a non-combatant, was desired 
to retire into the cock-pit, below water. He 
descended, at this request, into the cabin. 
Tucker returned immediately to his duty, and 
in fifteen minutes the Boston was within hail 
of the English ship, which proved to be the 
Martha, and had been lying to, to meet her 
enemy. Upon Tucker's hailing the British 
ship, she answered by a broadside, which shot 
away a piece of the mizen yard of the Boston, 
which fell upon Tucker's shoulder, and brought 
him flat on the deck. This, for a moment, 
prevented the order to return the fire ; but as 
he leaped from the deck and gained his legs, 
he found the colors of the Martha hauled down ; 
and looking forward, observed Mr. Adams 
among the marines, with a musket in his hand, 
having privately applied to the officer of the 
marines for a gun, and taken his station among 
them. At this sight captain Tucker became 
alarmed ; for he was responsible for the safety 
of Mr. Adams ; and walking up to the ambas- 
sador desired to know how he came there? 
upon which the other smiled, gave up his gun, 
and went immediately below. 



CQMMODORE JOSHUA BARNEY, 
Of Maryland, Continental navy. 

Interesting account of his capture of the 
British sloop of War " General Monk," 
April 8, 1782. 

By a misprint, we presume, the late commo- 
dore Barry was said to have captured the Brit- 
ish ship " General Monk," in 1782. The error 
brought forth in the Washington City Gazette, 
of June — , 1820, the following explanations and 
remarks, in a letter addressed to the editor : 

I have observed in your Gazette, taken from 
a Philadelphia paper, an account of a gallant 
action performed by the late commodore Bar- 
ney, during the revolutionary war. I allude to 
the action between the American vessel Hyder 
Ally, captain Barney, and his Britannic Majesty's 



488 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



sloop of war General Monk, captain Rogers, in 
1782. "Honor to the brave." My only object 
in addressing you this letter, is to correct an 
error as to the name of the commander of the 
Hyder Ally. It was not captain Barry, as is 
erroneously stated in the papers. It was the 
late commodore Barney who commanded the 
Hyder Ally, the same who received a severe 
wound at the battle of Bladensburg, and who 
lately died at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. I was 
then in Philadelphia, quite a lad, when the 
action took place. Both ships arrived at the 
lower part of the city with a leading wind, 
immediately after the action, bringing with 
them all their killed and wounded. Attracted 
to the wharf by the salute which the Hyder 
Ally fired, of thirteen guns, which was then the 
custom, (one for each state) I saw the two 
ships lying in the stream, anchored near each 
other. In a short time, however, they warped 
into the wharf to land their killed and wounded, 
and curiosity induced me, as well as many 
others, to go on board each vessel. The Hyder 
Ally was, as stated, a small ship of 16 six 
pounders. The Monk, a king's ship of large 
dimensions, of 18 nine pounders. The difference 
in the size and equipments of the two ships 
wasmatterof astonishment to all the beholders. 
The Gen. Monk's decks were, in every direc- 
tion, besmeared with blood, covered with the 
dead and wounded, and resembled a charnel 
house. Several of her bow ports were knocked 
into one — a plain evidence of the well directed 
fire of the Hyder Ally. She was a king's ship, 
a very superior vessel, a fast sailer, and cop- 
pered to the bends. I was on board during 
the time they carried on shore the killed and 
wounded, which they did in hammocks. 

I was present at a conversation which took 
place on the quarter deck of the General Monk, 
between captain Barney and several merchants 
in Philadelphia. I remember one of them 
observing, " why, captain Barney, you have 
been truly fortunate in capturing this vessel, 
considering she is so far superior to you in 
point of size, guns, men and metal." Yes, sir, 
he replied, I do consider myself fortunate — 
when we were about to engage, it was the 
opinion of myself, as well as my crew, that she 
would have blown us to atoms ; but we were 
determined she should gain her victory dearly. 
One of the wounded British sailors observed — 
■* Yes, sir, captain Rogers observed toourcrew, 
a little before the action commenced, 'Now, 
my boys, we shall have the yankee ship in five 
minutes ; ' and so we all thought, but here we 
are." You will find, by recurrence to the 
journals of the old congress, that a sword was 



voted to captain Joshua Barney, for the gal- 
lantry displayed In the action with his Britan- 
nic Majesty's ship General Monk. 

I can readily account why the name of cap- 
tain Barry should have been inserted instead of 
captain Barney. Captain Barry, about the same 
time, commanded a brig of 16 six pounders, 
called the Hibernia, and was fortunate in cap- 
turing several British armed vessels. He after- 
wards commanded the frigate United States, 
now in our service, and then on the West India 
station, and was very successful during our 
short war with the French republic. H^ died 
in Philadelphia in 1803. I feel the more dis- 
posed to set this matter right, as commodore 
Barney was an intimate friend of mine. If you 
think these items of information worthy of in- 
sertion in your Gazette, they are at your service. 

I am, respectfully, yours, etc., Co. 



THE "GENERAL MONK." 
Account of her capture. 

On the 8th April, 1782, an action took place 
at the entrance of the Delaware bay, between 
an American sloop of war, commanded by 
captain Barney, called the Hyder Ally, mount- 
ing 16 six pounders, and carrying no men; 
and the British sloop of war General Monk, 
under captain Rogers, of 20 nine pounders, 
and 136 men. The former had four men 
killed and eleven wounded ; the latter twenty 
killed and thirty-three wounded. In the navy 
department at Washington is a representation 
of this action. On the left of the painting ap- 
pears Cape Henlopen light-house, and on the 
right, the point of Cape May. In the centre is 
seen the Hyder Ally and General Monk en- 
gaged, the latter in the act of striking her 
colors. In front is the frigate Quebec, which, 
not finding sufficient water in Cape May 
channel, was obliged to go around the Overfall 
Shoals to get into the bay. It was during this 
time that the action took place. To the right 
of the fighting ships, the English brig Fair 
American, of 16 guns, is seen chasing and 
firing at one of the Hyder Ally's convoy, which 
escaped under the Jersey shore. At a distance 
is seen the vessels convoyed by the Hyder 
Ally steering. up the bay. 

RECAPITULATION. 

guns p. lbs. jnen kd. ivd 
Hyder Ally, 16 6 is 96 no 4 11 

guns p. lbs. men kd. ivd. 
Gen. Monk, 20 9 180 136 20 33 



THE CONTINENTAL NAVY. 



489 



NAVAL POWER OF SALEM, 

Mass., from March i to Nov. i, 1781. 

The following list of PRIVATEERS, fitted out 
and chiefly owned at Salem and Beverly, from 
March l, to Nov. I, 1 781, was found among 
the papers of the late Mr. Jami's Jeffry. whose 
accuracy was well known to those by whom he 
is remembered. At that period, privateering 
was the principal business of the town. — Salem 
Gazette. 

SHIPS. 



Ships' Nantes, 

Pilgrim 

Essex 

Franklin 

Scourge 

Disdain 

Congress 

Royal Louis 

Porus 

Grand Turk 

Rattle Snake 

Rover 

Cromwell 

Jason 

Marquis 

Hendrick 

Junius Brutus 

Rhodes 

Harlequin 

Neptune 

Mohawk 

Buccanier 

Cicero 

Rambler 

Defence 

Independence 

Jack 

26 ships. 



No. 0/ 
Guns, 



U'eig^hi No, of 
of Metal, Men, 



18 
20 
18 
20 
20 
20 
18 
20 

24 
20 
20 
16 
16 
16 
18 
20 
20 
20 
16 
22 
18 
18 
16 

14 
16 
12 



476 



6 
6 
6 
6 

9 
6 

9 
6 

4 
4 
6 
6 

4 
6 
6 
6 
4 
4 
6 

9 
9 
6 
6 
4 
9 



Brigs^ Names. 



Tyger 

Montgomery 

Sturdy-Beggar 

Captain 

New Adventure. . . . 

Active 

Hero 

Fortune 

Swift 

Blood-Hound 

Flying-Fish 

Carried forward 



16 
14 
14 
10 

14 

14 

8 

14 
14 
14 
10 



142 



4«. 

4 

4 

3 

3 

4 

4 

4 

4 

3 

3 



120 
no 
100 
no 
no 
130 
100 
130 
120 
95 
95 
100 
100 

75 

100 

no 

no 

95 

75 

no 

120 

120 

95 

85 

70 

60 



2645 



Men. 



70 
60 
60 
45 
55 
60 
40 
60 
60 
55 
45 



BRIGS — CONTINUED. 



Brigs^ Names. 



Brought forward 

Fox 

Cato 

Chace 

Lion 

Speedwell 



16 brigs. 



Guns. 



142 
14 
14 

10 

12 

14 

206 



Metal. 



40 

3 
3 
3 

4 

3 



SCHOONERS. 



Schooners^ Names. 



Greyhound 

Livsly 

Shackle 

Pine Apple 

Languedoc 

Dolphin 

Panther 

8 schooners. 



Guns. 


Metal. 


8 


3«. 


8 


3 


6 


3 


6 


3 


6 


2 


6 


3 


6 


3 


4 


3 


50 





Men. 



610 

55 
55 
45 
50 
55 



870 



Men. 



35 
35 
30 
30 
25 
30 
30 
20 



235 





SLOOPS. 






S/oo/s^ Names. 


Guns. 


Metal. 


Men. 




8 
6 


3 


40 
30 






2 sloops. 




14 




70 



7 shallops, names not mentioned. 



RECAPITULATION 








Vessels. 


Guns. 


Men. 




26 

16 

8 

2 


476 

206 

50 

14 


2645 




870 


Schooners 


235 


Sloops 


70 


Shallops, men only 


120 


Total 


52 


746 


3940 



"MARINE TURTLE." 

A sub-marine battery invented and first 
used for the destruction of British ships in New 
York harbor. See sketch of Captain Ezra 
Lee, Connecticut, page 54. 



610 



NAVAL ENGAGEMENT 

In Chesapeake Bay, between Virginia naval 
vessels and British Barges, 1783. See sketch 
of General Cropper, Virginia, page 320. 



490 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



BOSTON ORATIONS. 

Introductory Notice. 
[These orations which will be found on pages 
17 to 79 were inadvertently separated from 
this introductory notice. They were first 
collected and published in a volume, by Mr. 
Peter Edes of Boston, printer, son of the 
Mr. Edes of that town whose press was so 
notorious for its fearless devotion to the lib- 
erties of America ; both before the Revolu- 
tion commenced and during the time of its 
continuance.] 

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF 
BOSTON. 

I hope my collecting, in one volume, the 
following orations, which were first severally 
printed at your request, but many of which 
have been long since not to be purchased, will 
be considered in the mild light of an attempt 
to please the public. 

Americans have been reprehended for not 
preserving, with sufficient care, the various 
pamphlets and political tracts which this coun- 
try has afforded during the late war. 

Many of those productions which appear 
trite to us, who live on the spot where they 
grew, may, however, be considered as sources 
of curiosity to strangers. Many of these ora- 
tions have been considered as the sentiments 
of this metropolis, from time to time touching 
the revolution ; and as our eariiest public in- 
vectives against oppression. 

As the institution of an oration upon the 
fifth of March is now superseded by the cele- 
bration of the anniversary of independence, 
upon the fourth of July, I have given to this 
volume a general title, which will apply to both 
institutions : so that if hereafter there shall be 
a volume, containing the orations of that anni- 
versary, this may be considered the first and 
that the second volume of Boston orations. 

I am, with the greatest respect, your obedi- 
ent humble servant, Peter Edes. 
Boston, January, 1785. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF A SOLDIER'S 
DAUGHTER. 

FROM WOODWORTH's LITERARY CASKET. 

At the commencement of the revolutionary 



war, my father had attained the age when the 
mind yields most easily to the passion for mili- 
tary glory, and he was among the first who 
were enrolled under the banner of American 
liberty. 

The sentiment of freedom was electric, and 
no age or sex was exempt from its influence. 
The fond mother who had shrunk from expos- 
ing the darting of her bosom to the slightest 
personal danger, now beheld, with proud satis- 
faction, that son decorated with the knapsack 
her own hand had wrought, and cheerfully 
resigned him to the call of patriotism. 

Thus do the sentiments of freedom elevate 
the mind above its ordinary exertions, and call 
forth the latent energies of soul, that have im- 
mortalized a Cornelia. My venerable grand- 
sire, whom I can just remember as an old man 
with snowy locks, who used to pacify my infant 
clamors with tales of military prowess, was 
often heard to boast that he led five sons to the 
battle of Bunker-hill. 

The third of these sons was he from whom I 
inherited that spirit of patriotism which has ac- 
companied me through life. With feelings 
which neither time nor sorrow can obliterate, I 
review the scenes of my childhood, and while 
my brave parent, bending with age and infir- 
mity, is verging to the grave, a desire to snatch 
his memory from oblivion prompts me to 
record the following detail : 

Some of the brightest years of my existence 
were passed in the vicinity of Bunker hill, and 
I was earty taught to venerate that spot, as 
connected with a display of that magnanimous 
virtue. It was to that spot my gallant father 
led his family of sprightly boys, and, over the 
grave of Warren, inculcated lessons of heroism 
and virtue. Nor was I always excluded from 
the party, for though my father believed that 
nature had designed me for a domestic sphere, 
he did not believe that an ardent love of liberty 
and thorough estimate of its value, as purchased 
by the blood of my fathers, could unfit me for 
the discharge of the important duties which 
Providence has assigned to a woman. 

It was a fine morning in May, and nature 
seemed to have communicated her smile to the 
heart, and diffused a joyous serenity over all its 
feelings, when my three little brothers and 
myself received the welcome summons to pre- 
pare to attend our parent on his morning 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



491 



excursion. — "Whither shall we walk?" said 
he, as we sallied forth with all the eagerness of 
childhood—" To Bunker-hill " was the spon- 
taneous reply of every little voice, and to Bun- 
ker-hill my father led the way. 

Days of artless innocence, alas ! ye are fled 
forever. Never can I recal the sportive hilarity 
with which we lightly bounded over the adja- 
cent hills, never regain the innocent gayety and 
improvident lightness of heart, that, under 
present enjoyments, shut the future from my 
view. Yet memory, busy memory, oft retards 
the flowery way, and, in the visions of the past, 
loses the sense of the present, and the anticipa- 
tions of the future. 

With that buoyancy of spirit which refuses 
to yield to weariness, we climbed the ascent, 
and found ourselves on the summit, from 
whence we were presented with a view of the 
whole peninsula, with the bay and harbor of 
Boston. My father pointed out the relative 
positions of the armies, and entered into a 
minute detail of events, which abler historians 
have recorded : they will not therefore occupy 
a place in this narration. 

His own personal adventure, and narrow 
escape from a living grave, are all that filial 
piety will justify this feeble attempt to per- 
petuate. 

'■ Pray, papa," said my oldest brother, " was 
it here that you received that ugly wound that 
had nearly cost you your life .'' " 

" It was on this very spot, my son, behind 
this breast-work— but the story is long— you 
must have patience, and let me commence at 
the beginning." 

Each little heart beat high with expectation, 
and mutually promising profound attention, we 
listened to the following tale : 

" You see that narrow speck of land yonder 
that unites the peninsula of Charlestown to the 
adjacent country. Over that isthmus, it be- 
came my duty to lead the little band under my 
command, to join the main army, iii the in- 
trenchment, where we now stand. You see 
how it is exposed to water — well there lay the 
Glasgow frigate, which kept up a continual 
fire of shot and bombs across that pass, while 
several floating batteries, and the fortification 
on Copp's hill, endeavored to annoy the troops 
on the hill, and drive them from the entrench- 
ment. 

" My little band had each the spirit of a 
Leonidas, and not a murmur was heard, when 
I ordered them to attempt gaining the hill, by 
running singly across the dangerous pass. 
The first who attempted was my poor drum- 
mer, who was killed not five paces from me ; 



but the next, not at all deterred by the fate of 
his comrade, commenced the race, and got 
over in safety. In like manner, most of our 
heroic band succeeded, and one honest fellow, 
as he bowed to the word of command, thus 
addressed me, " Captain, I see it is close dodg- 
ing, but let me once get safely over, and I'll 
spend my heart's last drop for you, and bring 
you off again dead or alive, that I will." 

" This honest fellow was a native of Ireland, 
and about six months previous was confined 
for debt in the prison of Salem, whence I 
released him on condition that he would enlist ; 
and never man was blessed with a more 
devoted friend than Murphy M'Culloch proved 
to me. 

" I was the last to make the adventurous 
attempt, and though the balls showered about 
my head, none were permitted to touch me, 
and we gained the entrenchment, and passed 
into the line of battle. 

" On this spot as near I could recollect, I 
stood, and endeavored to do my duty as a 
soldier of liberty. I received a ball through 
the calf of my leg, and another through my 
left shoulder, but these were mere trifles, and 
I stood my ground in spite of them. 

" The gallant and generous Warren was on 
horseback, pressing from one end of the line to 
the other, animating the troops to a vigorous 
defence, and every heart hailed him with love 
and gratitude. 

" He had ever distinguished me with pecu- 
liar marks of friendship, and as he passed the 
spot where I stood, he condescended to address 
me with words of cordial recognition. I know 
not whether any historian has recorded the 
last words of that hero, but believed they were 
addressed to myself. " My young friend, 
(said he, as he turned to leave me), do your 
duty, for the salvation of our country depends 
on this day's action." 

" He had not moved ten paces before I saw 
him fall. At that moment a shell burst by my 
side, and was thrown several feet into the air, 
and then precipitated violently to the ground. 

" A fragment of the broken shell struck me in 
the breast, and caused a contusion of the 
sternum, and the violent shock my whole sys- 
tem sustained took from me the power of 
motion. 

" Blood gushed from my mouth, nose and 
ears, and I lay covered with dust unable to 
speak or move, but for some time perfectly 
conscious. 

" I remember to have heard col. B — , who 
was my father's friend, exclaim ' William is 
dead then ! well, he died like a soldier.' 



492 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



" I felt the pressure of his hand upon my 
forehead, as he leaned over me ; ' he's gone, 
poor fellow ! but I'll take his sword — the regu- 
lars shall never get that.' 

" This sword was a present from Warren, 
and, though in that awful moment my soul 
seemed fluttering on the verge of eternity, it 
gave me inexpressible pleasure, to find that the 
gift of friendship was likely to be preserved. 

" A faintness now came over me, and I 
heard no more, and for what succeeded am 
indebted to the observation of col. B . 

" The Americans fought with determination 
and bravery until their last round of ammuni- 
tion was expended, and they were reluctantly 
compelled to retreat. 

" My poor Irish soldier, actuated by a senti- 
ment that should immortalize his name, now 
declared l/mt the British should never have his 
captain, alive or dead. He sought among the 
slain for the breathless form of one he loved, 
and at last recognized the object of his search 
among a heap of human bodies, which some 
resolute soldiers, where the breastwork hap- 
pened to be too high, had piled up to stand on. 

" He bore the inanimate body on his shoul- 
der from the scene of carnage ; but unable, 
thus loaded, to keep up with his companions, a 
shot from the pursuers terminated his life, 
when the main body of the retreating army 
was out of danger. 

" Some friends who knew us, passing imme- 
diately after, thought they discovered in me 
signs of returning life, and by their means I 
was conveyed to the hospital." 

By this time the little auditors were in tears, 
and even Warren was awhile forgotten in ad- 
miration of the fidelity of the Irish soldier. 

My father, though a brave man and a sol- 
dier, wept — and though the lapse of twenty 
years has presented new and varied objects to 
my mind, I am not ashamed that a kindred 
tear has blotted the page that records his story. 

Recovering his usual composure, and ad- 
dressing himself particularly to me, my father 
thus continued : 

" What follows is an example oi female he- 
roism and tenderness, if recorded on the page 
of histor)', might form a counterpart to the 
story of the Roman mother, who died from the 
effect of joyful surprise, when her son, whom 
she thought dead, was restored to her arms. 

" My mother received the news that her 
darling had fallen in battle, — but shed no tears. 

" Her son had done his duty, and what more 
in these times of peril could a virtuous mother 
desire ? Agreeably to the primitive custom 
of our fathers the whole family appeared at 



church the next Sabbath, clothed in habili- 
ments of sorrow, and in the note which the 
minister read for the deceased, was an expres- 
sion of triumph that he had fallen for liberty. 

" The next morning as my mother sat by 
her window, intently watching some little 
shrubbery which the hand of her departed 
child had planted, she discovered, through the 
vista of the trees that embowered our peace- 
ful dwelling, a litter, slowly winding along the 
road. 

" The hope of being able to afford relief or 
refreshment to a wounded soldier, drew my 
mother to the little gate that separated her 
own cultivated lawn from the highway. 

"Will you stop and rest.?" said she to the 
man who conducted the litter — " We go no 
farther," was the reply. She heard no more — 
the truth flashed across her mind and she 
fainted. 

" Long and tenderly was I nursed by that 
heroic woman, and though she sympathized in 
every pain I felt, she never breathed a regret 
for the part I had acted, and when I was again 
able to join my regiment, she mingled with her 
parting blessing a fervent prayer that all her 
children might prefer death to slavery." Such 
was my father's tale — could I hear it and ever 
forget that I am a soldier's daughter? Never, 
never. Recollections of patriotism are im- 
pressed on every page of my existence, and 
sentiments of freedom twined with every fibre 
of my heart. 

Sadly as the tenor of my days have passed, 
and sorely as the storms of sorrow have beaten 
on my head, there are hours when the tide of 
impetuous feeling rushes back to the scenes of 
my infancy, and finds, in tracing the lessons 
of paternal love, a kind of half oblivion to my 
cares. Then it is that the spirit of my father 
glows with undiminished ardor, and it is my 
pride and my boast that I am a 

Soldier's Daughter: 



INTERESTING ACCOUNT 

Of Mrs. Gannett, of Sharon, Mass., 
WHO served as a soldier in the con- 
tinental ARMY. 

FROM THE DEDHAM (MASs) REGISTER OF DEC, 183O. 

We were much gratified to learn that during 
the sitting of the court in this town the past 
week, Mrs. Gannett, of Sharon, in this coim- 
try, presented for renewal, her claims for ser- 
vices rendered her country as a soldier m the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



493 



revolutionary army. The following brief sketch, 
it is presumed, will not be uninteresting. This 
extraordinary woman is now in the 62d year of 
her age ; she possesses a clear understanding, 
and a general knowledge of passing events ; 
fluent in speech, and delivers her sentiments in 
correct language, with deliberate and measured 
accent ; easy in her deportment, affable in her 
manners, robust and masculine in her appear- 
ance. She was about eighteen years of age 
when our revolutionary struggle commenced. 
The patriotic sentiments which inspired the 
heroes of those days and urged them to battle, 
found the way to a female bosom. The news 
of the carnage which had taken place on the 
plains of Lexington had reached her dwelling — 
the sound of the cannon at the battle of Bunker 
Hill, had vibrated on her ears ; yet instead of 
diminishing her ardor, it only served to increase 
her enthusiasm in the sacred cause of liberty, 
in which cause she beheld her country en- 
gaged. She privately quitted her peaceful 
home and the habiliments of her sex, and ap- 
peared at the headquarters of the American 
army as a young man, anxious to join his efforts 
to those of his countrymen, in their endeavors 
to oppose the inroads and encroachments of 
the common enemy. She was received and 
enrolled in the army by the name of Robert 
Shitrtliffe. For the space of three years she 
performed the duties and endured the hardships 
and fatigues of a soldier ; during which time, 
she gained the confidence of her officers by her 
expertness and precision in the manual exer- 
cise, and by her exemplary conduct. She was 
a volunteer in several hazardous enterprises, 
and was twice wounded by musket balls. So 
well did she contrive to conceal her sex. that 
her companions in arms had not the least sus- 
picion that the " blooming soldier " fighting by 
their side, was a female ; till, at length, a 
severe wound, which she received in battle, and 
which had well nigh closed her earthly campaign, 
occasioned the discovery. On her recovery she 
quitted the army and became intimate in the 
families of gen. Washington, and other distin- 
guished officers of the revolution. A few years 
afterwards she was married to her present hus- 
band, and is now the mother of several children. 
Of these facts there can be no doubt. There 
are many living witnesses in this countr>', who 
recognized her on her appearance at the court, 
and were ready to attest to her services. We 
often hear of such heroines in other countries, 
but this is an instance in our own country and 
within the circle of our acquaintance. 



ESTIMATE OF THE BRITISH FORCES 

In America, 1775. 

The following was the estimate which general 
Gage laid before the British ministry in 1775, 
of the force which could be raised in the 
colonies, and maintained in the field. 
New England .... 37,000 
New York ..... 11,000 
Pennsylvania and Jersey . . 16,000 
Virginia and Maryland . . 13,000 

Carohnas ..... 5,000 

82,000 



ESTIMATE OF CONTINENTAL TROOPS 

In the field.May, 1776. 

The following was thought to be a pretty accu- 
rate state of the provincial forces in May, 1776. 

In Canada, 9000 continental troops ; com- 
manded by major general Sullivan, and briga- 
diers Arnold and Woedkle. The generals 
Schuyler and Wooster are at Albany, with a 
body of militia, number not exactly known. 

At New York, 12,000 continental troops, 
1 1, coo militia, and the New Jersey brigade 
consisting of 3300 commanded by general 
Washington, major generals Putnam, and 
Gales, and brigadiers Heath, Greene, lord Ster- 
ling, Waterbur)', and Mercer. 

In Jersey and Pennsylvania, a flying camp of 
10,000 men, commanded by brigadiers Mififlin, 
Dean, and Johnson. 

In Virginia, 8000 continental troops. In 
North Carolina 4000 ditto. South Carolina 
1000 ditto. Commanded by major general 
Lee, brigadiers Armstrong, Howe, Moore, and 
Lewis. 

At Boston 2000 continental troops, com- 
manded by major general Ward, and brigadier 
general Spencer. 

By this account there were 36,000 continen- 
tal troops, and 24,300 militia, ready for, and in 
the field ; but there are 20,000 more of the 
militia, the stations of which are not exactly 
known. In all above 80,000 men. 

These accounts of the American armies were 
taken about the latter end of May, 1776. But 
when the congress were informed, that for- 
eigners had been hired, and that general Howe 
intended coming to New York (from Halifax) 
they ordered the number of the continental 
troops to be increased to seventy thousand. 
At the same time, returns of the minute men 
were made, and they were 140,000. 



494 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



EXPENSE 

Of the American Continental army, 
sterling money, may 1 776. 

staff — [sterling money.] 
per diem. 
\. s. d. 
Commander in chief, general ) 

Washington, (for table) (200 
4 Aids-de-camp, 4s. 6d. each 18 o 
I Adjutant general. 18 

I Quarter master general, 12 
I Assistant quarter master 

general, 4 6 

I Pay master general, 13 6 

6 Majors brigade, 4s. 6d. 7 

Secretary to commander 

in chief 9 

Directors of hospitals, iS 

806 

4 Surgeons, 6s. I 4 

1 Apothecary, 6 

2 Mates, and one clerk, 3s. 9 

1 Commissary general, 12 

2 Major generals under 

commander in chief, 

24s. 9d. 296 

4 Aid-de-camps, 4s. 6d. 18 

6 Brigadier generals, 18s. 

9d. 5 12 6 

I Engineer, 9 

4 Sub-engineers, 4s, 6d. 18 

4 Major generals, com- 
manding separate 
armies, 49s. 6d. 9 18 

8 Aid-de-camps, 4s. 6d. i 16 

8 Majors brigade, 4s. 6d. 116 

4 Secretaries, 4s. gd. 19 

4 Deputy adjutant gene- 
rals, 9s. 4dK. I 17 6 

4 Deputy quarter master 

generals, 6s. 1 4 

4 Deputy commissary ge- 
nerals, 6s. I 4 

8 Sub-engineers, 4s. 6d. 116 

9 Brigadier generals, i8s. 

9d-* 885 



41 170 



60 REGIMENTS. 

60 Colonels, 13s. 6d. 40 10 

60 Lieutenant colonels, 9s. 27 

60 Majors, 6s. 18 

540 Captains, 4s. 6d. 121 10 

1080 Lieutenants, 3s. 162 

540 Ensigns, 2s. 54 

2160 Sergeants, is. 3d. 135 

• Including Thompson, who is prisoner. 



1. s. d. 

2160 Corporals, is, id. 117 

540 Drums, is. id. and 540 

fifes, IS. id. 58 10 

30600 Privates, is. 1530 



and Surgeon's mates. 






not included) 




2263 


10 






2313 


8 6 


FLYING ( 


:amp. 






14 Colonels, 13s. 6d. 


9 


9 




14 Lieutenant colonels 


9s. 6 


6 




14 Majors, 6s. 


4 


4 




128 Captains, 4s. 6d. 


28 


16 




256 Lieutenants, 3s. 


38 


8 




128 Ensigns, 2s. 


12 


16 




512 Sergeants, is. 3d. 


32 






512 Corporals, is. id. 


27 


14 8 




256 Drums and fifes, Is. 


Id. 13 


7 4 




8692 Privates, Is. 


434 


12 


10 






520 


JERSEY BRIGADE. 






5 Colonels, 13s. 6d. 


3 


76 




5 Lieutenant colonels. 


9s. 2 


5 




5 Majors, 6s. 


I 


10 




42 Captains, 4s. 6d. 


9 


9 




84 Lieutenants, 3s. 


12 


12 




42 Ensigns, 2s. 


4 


4 




168 Sergeants, is. 3d. 


10 


IC 




168 Corporals, is. id. 


9 


2 




84 Drums and fifes, is. 


id. 4 


II 




2856 Privates, is. 


142 


16 





200 6 6 



MILITIA (in pay.) 
44 Colonels, i8s. 6d. 29 14 

44 Lieutenant colonels, 9s. 19 16 
400 Captains, 4s. 6d. 
800 Lieutenants, 3s. 
400 Ensigns, 2S. 
1600 Sergeants, is. 3d 
1600 Corporals, is. id. 
800 Drums and fifes, is. 
27000 Privates is. 



DAILY ALLOWANCE OF PROVISIONS. 
I lb. fresh beef, or I lb. salt 
fish ; J.^ lb. pork, or 20 oz. salt 
beef; i lb. bread, flour, i pint 
milk, I quart cider or spruce 
beer, per diem each — 3 lb. can- 
dles, 8 lb. hard soap, per -week 

for 100 men — 3 pints pease, I 
pint Indian meal, 6 oz. butter, 

per man a week. This is about 
lod. sterling ration per day. 



90 








120 








40 








100 








86 


13 4 






Id. 43 


6 8 






1350 












14 












5014 


12 






MISCELLANEOUS. 



495 



1. s. d. 
Rations on an average 3 per 
day, for general and other 
officers, 4898 at 2s. 6d. 612 5 o 

Non-commissioned officers, 
and privates, 80,248, at lod. 3343 13 4 
3955 



18 4 



Clothing for continental ar- 
my, flying camp, and Jersey 
brigade, 49,248, 2d. per day. 



8970 10 4 



410 8 



Daily expenses, 9380 18 4 
Nothing of the navy contin- 
gencies, or army extraordina- 
ries, are included. 



GENERAL WAYNE'S ORDERS, 
Issued on the evening previous to the 

ATTACK ON STONV POINT. 

Headquarters, Fort Montgomery. 

Light Infantry — July 15, 1779. 

The troops will parade on beating the as- 
semble. Taking it from the nght, they will 
march on beating the troop, and move by the 
right. Proper halting places will be fixed and 
every officer and non-commissioned officer will 
remain with and be accountable for every man 
of their platoons. No soldier to be permitted 
to quit the ranks on any pretence whatever 
until a general halt is made, and then to be at- 
tended by one of the officers of the platoons. 
As soon as the troops assemble, this order to 
be read at the haad of each : 

The troops will march from Clement's to 
Stony Point, at 1 1 o'clock, and move by the 
right. Every officer and non-commissioned 
officer will remain with and be accountable for 
every man in his platoon. No soldier to be 
permitted to quit the ranks on any pretence 
whatever, until a general halt is made, and 
then to be attended by one of the officers of the 
platoon. 

When the van of the troops arrive in the 
rear of the hill, col. Fabager will form his regi- 
ment in a solid column of half platoons, in 
front, as fast as they come up ; col. Meigs 
will form next in Fabager's rear and major 
Hull in the rear of Meigs, which will be the 
right column ; col. Butler will form a column 
on the left of Fabager, and major Murphy in 
his rear — every officer and soldier will then 
fix a piece of white paper in his hat or cap, to 
distinguish him from the enemy. 

At the word march, col. Flury will take 
charge of 100 determined and picked men. 



properly officered, with their guns unloaded, 
their whole dependence to be on their bayonets, 
will move 20 paces in front of the column by 
the rout No. i, enter the sally port C, he is 
to detach an officer and 20 men a little in front 
of him, whose business it will be to secure the 
sentries, and remove the abattes, and other 
obstructions, for the column to pass through. 
The column will follow close in the rear, with 
shouldered arms, under the command of col. 
Fabager, with gen. Wayne in person ; when 
the works are forced, (and not before) the vic- 
torious troops will as they enter give the watch- 
word, the Fort's our own, with repeated and 
loud voice, driving the enemy from their works 
and guns, which will favor the pass of the 
whole ; should the enemy refuse to surrender, 
or attempt to make their escape by water or 
otherwise, vigorous means must be used to 
compel them to the former, and prevent their 
accomplishing the latter. Col. Butler will move 
by the rout No. 2, preceded by 100 men with 
fixed bayonets and unloaded muskets, under 
the command of major Stewart, who will 
observe a distance of 20 paces in front of the 
column, which will immediately follow under 
the command of col. Butler, with shouldered 
muskets, and will enter the sally-port C. or D. 
The officer commanding the above 100 men 
will also detach a proper officer, with 20 men, a 
little in front, to remove the obstructions — as 
soon as they gain the work, they will also give 
and continue the watch-word, which will pre- 
vent confusion and mistakes. 

Major Murphy will follow colonel Butler to 
the first figure. No. 3, where he will divide a 
little to the right and left and wait the attack 
on the right, which will be a signal to begin and 
keep up a perpetual and galling fire, and en- 
deavor to enter between, and pass the work 
A. A. If any soldier presumes to take his mus- 
ket from his shoulder, attempts to fire or begin 
the battle till ordered by his proper officers, he 
shall be immediately put to death by the officer 
next to him ; for the cowardice and misconduct 
of one man is not to put the whole in danger 
and disorder with impunity. After the troops 
begin to advance to the works, the strictest 
silence must be observed and the greatest at- 
tention paid to the command of the officers ; as 
soon as the lines are secured, the officers of 
the artillery, with their commands, will take 
possession of the cannon, to the end that the 
shipping may be secured and the Fort at Ver- 
plank's Point annoyed, so as to facilitate the 
attack upon that quarter. The general has the 
fullest confidence in the bravery and fortitude 
of the corps he has the happiness to command. 



496 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



The distinguished honor conferred on every 
officer and soldier who has been drafted into this 
corps, by his excellency general Washington, 
the credit of the states they respectively belong 
to, and their own reputation will be such power- 
ful motives for each man to distinguish him- 
self, that the general cannot have the least 
doubt of a glorious victory : And further, he 
solemnly engages to reward the first man 
who enters the works with $500 and immediate 
preference, to the second 400, to the third 3CX3, 
to the fourth 200 to the fifth 100, and will 
report the conduct of every officer and soldier 
who distinguishes himself on this occasion, 
in the most favorable point of view, to his 
excellency, who always takes the greatest 
pleasure in rewarding merit. But should there 
be any soldier so lost to every feeling, every 
sense of honor, as to attempt to retreat one 
single foot, or shrink from the places of danger, 
the officer next to him is to put him immediately 
to death, that he may no longer disgrace the 
name of a soldier, the corps or the state to 
which he belongs. 

As the general is determined to share the dan- 
gers of the night, so he wishes to participate 
the glory of the day, in common with his 
brother soldiers. 

(Signed) A. Wayne. 



GRATITUDE OF GENERAL GATES. 

From the genuine letter of an officer. 

An old soldier of the royal regiment of artil- 
lery, who served me while the i8th regiment 
was at Fort Pitt and the Illinois, on our return 
from that country to Philadelphia, 1772, came 
to me with a happy smile on his countenance, 
and told me he had the honor to receive a let- 
ter from major Gates, and begged me to read 
it. I asked him how he came to correspond 
with major Gates. Please your honor, said 
the old man, major Gates was dangerously 
wounded at Braddock's defeat, and was left 
among the slain. I was wounded also, but made 
a shift to carrj' the worthy captain Gates (he 
was then a captain) off the field. He has often 
told me since that he owed his life to me, and 
charged me at parting, that whenever I thought 
he could in any instance serve me, to write to 
him without reserve ; so please your honor, 
(this is a soldier's dialect to all officers) I am 
now grown old, and worn out in the service, 
and expect to be invalided and sent home, but 
have been long in America, and I like America, 
please your honor ; I accordingly took the lib- 



erty to write to major Gates for his advice, and 
this is his answer. He has also wrote to major 
Hay, to give me every indulgence the service will 
admit of. I hope your honor will give me your 
opinion what is best to be done. I read the 
letter; but had not read far, before I was sensi- 
bly touched with the sentiments of the writer. 
After re-capitulating the ser\-ice the veteran 
had rendered him at Braddock's field, he says, 
"do as you please, respecting your small pit- 
tance of pension. Thou hast served long, but 
thy sen'ice has not brought thee rest for thy 
wounds and infirmities. I find by your letter 
that you wish to continue in America, there- 
fore make yourself easy ; when you receive 
your discharge, repair to my plantation on 
Potomac river. I have got a fine tract of land 
there, which not only furnishes me with all the 
necessaries, but all the comforts of life ; come 
and rest your firelock in my chimney corner and 
partake with me ; while I have, my saviour 
Penfold shall not want ; and it is my wish, as 
well as Mrs. Gates's to see you spend the even- 
ing of your life comfortably. Mrs. Gates de- 
sires to be affectionately remembered to you." 



CAPTAIN CHEESEMAN, 

His death at Quebec. 

In storming the works of Quebec by general 
Montgomer}', the gallant captain Cheeseman, 
of New York, aid to Montgomery, being as 
active as he was brave, the moment he reached 
the picket, placed his hand on one of the pali- 
sadoes, exclaiming to his comrades, " If there 
be any honor in being the first man in Quebec, 
I have it." He sprung over and fell by a shot 
within the picket. 



GALLANTRY 



Of the Rev. Mr. Payson, of Chelsea, 

Massachusetts. 

The Re't'. Mr. Payson, of Chelsea, near 
Boston, a gentleman of the mildest manners, 
soundest learning, and most amiable character, 
who has ever been so warm on the side of 
government, that parson Treadwell, and others, 
on the side of the people, have repeatedly re- 
fused to let him preach in their pulpits : being 
at Lexington, and with his own eyes seeing 
that the king's troops had fired first, and com- 
mitted murder — and, being himself a witness 
of other of their barbarities, could not endure 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



497 



the sight without taking vengeance ; he there- 
fore put himself at the head of a party, and 
with his musket, led them on to the attack — 
engaged, and killed, or wounded, and took 
prisoners, the whole party mentioned in one of 
the accounts, as going up with provisions and 
ammunition for the main body. What will 
government say to this desertion of one among 
many of their warmest friends ? — It seems as 
if the cause was such that no honest man 
could appear in it. 



COLONEL GARDNER. 

His death at Bunker Hill. 

When Colonel Gardner of Brookline was 
brought off from Bunker's Hill, where he was 
mortally wounded, he was asked if he did not 
wish to see his son, who had been also in the 
battle. ' If my son has done his duty, I shall 
be glad to see him.' He was answered that 
his son had done his duty. He saw and em- 
braced him. Bosi. Patriot. 



BRAVERY 

At the battle of Germantown. 

Among numberless feats of valor performed 
by individuals of the American revolutionary 
army, none has pleased me more than the fol- 
lowing, related by an eye witness : — " During 
the heat of the battle at Germantown, while 
bullets flew as thick as hail-stones, one Barke- 
lew (of Monmouth) was levelling his musket at 
the enemy, when his lock was carried away by 
a ball. — Undismayed, he caught up the gun of 
a comrade just killed by his side, and taking 
aim, a bullet entered the muzzle, and twisted 
the barrel round like a corkscrew ! Still un- 
daunted, our hero immediately kneeled down, 
unscrewed the whole lock from the twisted 
barrel, screwed it on to the barrel from which 
the lock had been torn, and blazed away at the 
enemy." Can ancient Sparta or modern Brit- 
ain boast a more brilliant display of cool, 
deliberate, unshaken courage .' This hero is 
still living. 



BENEDICT ARNOLD'S 

Letter to genl. Washington, Palliat- 
ing HIS treason. 

*' On board the Vulture, 5>/^. 25, 1780, 
" Sir — The heart which is conscious of its 
own rectitude cannot attempt to palliate a step 

32 



which the world may censure as wrong ; I have 
ever acted from a principle of love to my coun- 
try, since the commencement of the present 
unhappy contest between Great Britain and 
the colonies ; the same principle of love to my 
country actuates my present conduct, however 
it may appear inconsistent to the world, who 
very seldom judge right of any man's actions. 

" I have no favor to ask for myself. I have 
too often experienced the ingratitude of my 
country to attempt it ; but from the known 
humanity of your excellency, I am induced to 
ask your protection for Mrs. Arnold, from every 
insult and injury that the mistaken vengeance 
of my countr)' may expose her to. It ought to 
fall only on me ; she is as good and as innocent 
as an angel, and is incapable of doing wrong. 
I beg she may be permitted to return to her 
friends in Philadelphia, or to come to me as 
she may choose ; from your excellency I have 
no fears on her account, but she may suffer 
from the mistaken fury of the countr>-. 

" I have to request that the enclosed letter 
may be delivered to Mrs. Arnold, and she per- 
mitted to write to me. 

" I have also to ask that my clothes and bag- 
gage, which are of little consequence, may be 
sent to me ; if required, their value shall be 
paid in money. 

" / have the honor to be, with great regard 
and esteem, your excellency' s most obedient htim- 
ble servant, 

B. ARNOLD. 
"His excellency , general Washington." 

" N. B. In justice to the gentlemen of my 
family, col. Varrick and major Franks, I think 
myself in honor bound to declare, that they, 
as well as Joshua Smith, esq., (who I know are 
suspected) are totally ignorant of any transac- 
tions of mine, that they had reason to believe 
were injurious to the public." 



ANN SEWARD, 

Reflecting on the character of Wash- 
ington. 

Ann Seward, in her monody on the death ot 
Major Andre, thus speaks of the character of 
Washington : 

Oh Washington ! I thought thee great and good, 
Nor knew thy Nero thirst for guiltless blood : 
Severe to use the power that fortune gave, 
Thou cool determined murderer of the brave. 
Remorseless Washington ! the day shall come 
Of deep repentance for this barbarous doom ; 
When injured Andre's mem'ry shall inspire, 
A kindling army with resistless fire. 



498 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Each falchion sharpen that the Britons wield, 

And lead their fiercest lion to the field ; 

Then, when each hope of thine shall end in night, 

When dubious dread, and unavailing flight 

Impel your haste, thy guilt up-braided soul 

Shall wish, untouch'd, the precious life you stole ; 

And when thy heart, appall'd and vanquish'd pride. 

Shall vainly ask the mercy you denied ; 

With horror shalt thou meet the fate thou gave, 

Nor pity gild the darlsness of thy grave. 

Thus does poetic petulance dispense its in- 
vectives. We will now ask who accelerated 
the death of Andre ? Who made the extension 
of mercy toward him an act of mistaken mercy 
and of criminal indulgence.' Unquestionably 
sir Henry Clinton.' Unquestionably the man 
who was propagating these false alarms of 
treason in the American camp. He rendered 
this severe measure for common security per- 
fectly indispensable, as the commander in chief 
could not, at that time, know but what those 
who shared his confidence were the most deeply 
implicated in Arnold's machinations. Was he 
to reprieve the victim, and thus .sanction to his 
surrounding officers the treason of Arnold, by 
his own signature, or to mitigate the severity 
of his fate, and teach them by this example to 
hope for mercy if detected ? It is not meant 
to criminate sir Henry Clinton. Such artifices 
are justifiable in war. That he did, however, 
by the promulgation of such reports, render the 
death of Andre inevitable, it is conceived im- 
possible to doubt. The solicitude of Washing- 
ton to save the life of this unfortunate man was 
such, that he hazarded one of the bravest of his 
own soldiers in the camp of the enemy, for that 
purpose : and nothing but a concurrence of 
unpropitious circumstances, that could not 
have been foreseen by mortal eye, or guarded 
against, if they could have been, prevented its 
accomplishment. It is a singular fact, that while 
the British commander was hastening the 
death of Andre, Washington was exerting him- 
self to ward off that calamity. 



ORIGIN OF "YANKEE DOODLE." 

Interesting History. 

It is known as a matter of history, that in 
the early part of 1755, great exertions were 
made by the British ministry, at the head of 
which was the illustrious earl of Chatham, for 
the reduction of the French power in the pro- 
vinces of the Canadas. To carry the object 
into effect, general Amherst, referred to in the 
letters of Junius, was appointed to the com- 
mand of the British army in North Western 
America ; and the British colonies in America 



were called upon for assistance, who contrib- 
uted with alacrity their several quotas of men, 
to effect the grand object of British enterprise. 
It is a fact still within the recollection of some 
of our oldest inhabitants, that the British army 
lay encamped, in the summer of 1755, °" the 
eastern bank of the Hudson, a little south of 
the city of Albany, on the ground now belong- 
ing to John I. Van Rensselaer, esq. To this 
day vestiges of their encampment remain ; and 
after a lapse of sixty years, when a great pro- 
portion of the actors of those days have passed 
away, like shadows from the earth, the inquisi- 
tive traveller can obsen'e the remains of the 
ashes, the places where they boiled their camp 
kettles. It was this army, that, under the com- 
mand of Abercrombie, was foiled, with a 
severe loss, in the attack on Ticonderoga, 
where the distinguished Howe fell at the head 
of his troops, in an hour that history has con- 
secrated to his fame. In the early part of 
June, the eastern troops began to pour in, com- 
pany after company, and such a motley assem- 
blage of men never before thronged together 
on such an occasion, unless an example may 
be found in the ragged regiment of sir John 
Falstaff, of right merry and facetious memory. 
It would, said my worthy ancestor, who relates 
to me the story, have relaxed the gravity of an 
anchorite, to have seen the descendants of the 
Puritans, marching through the streets of our 
ancient city, to take their station on the left of 
the British army — some with long coats, some 
with short coats, and others with no coats at 
all, in colors as varied as the rainbow, some 
with their hair cropped like the army of Crom- 
well, and others with wigs whose curls flowed 
with grace around their shoulders. Their 
march, their accoutrements, and the whole 
arrangement of the troops, furnished matter of 
amusement to the w^its of the British army. 
The music played the airs of two centuries ago, 
and the tout ensemble, upon the whole, exhib- 
ited a sight to the wondering strangers that 
they had been unaccustomed to in their own 
land. Among the club of wits that belonged 
to the British army, there was a physician 
attached to the staff, by the name of Doctor 
Shackburg, who combined with the science of 
the surgeon, the skill and talents of a musician. 
To please brother Jonathan he composed a 
tune, and with much gravity recommended it 
to the officers, as one of the most celebrated 
airs of martial music. The joke took, to the 
no small amusement of the British corps. 
Brother Jonathan exclaimed it was tuition fine, 
and in a few days nothing was heard in the 
provincial camp but the air of Yankee Doodle. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



499 



Little did the author or his coadjutors then 
suppose, that an air made for the purpose of 
levity and ridicule, should ever be marked for 
such high destinies ; in twenty years from that 
time our national march inspired the hearts of 
the heroes of Bunker Hill, and less than thirty, 
lord Cornwallis and his army marched into 
the American lines to the tune of Yankee 
Doodle. — Albany Statesmatt. 



TARRING AND FEATHERING, 

ORIGINALLY A YANKEE TRICK. 

FROM THE AMERICAN MERCURY. 

This appears from the speech of M'Fingal, 
the tory Sagamore, to the Yankee mob. 

" Was there a Yankee trick ye knew. 
They did not play as well as you ? 
Did they not lay their heads together. 
And gain^<7ar art to tar and feather ? " 

TARRING AND FEATHERING LAWFUL ! 

This appears by the authority of the sen- 
tence which was pronounced on M'Fingal — 
(M'Fingal, by John Trumbull, esq. page 60 — 
1). This sentence, be it remembered, though 
seemingly the order and decree of a committee, 
in fact, had its origin in the brain of a man 
who was a judge of the supreme court, of the 
state of Connecticut. Whether appointed 
judge from this specimen of \\\% judicial knowl- 
edge, or not, is not now in question — but let 
us hear the sentence pronounced on M'Fingal, 
king of the tories. 

" Meanwhile beside the pole, the guard 

A bench of justice had prepared. 

Where, sitting round in awful sort, 

The grand committee hold the court : 

While all the crew in silent awe. 

Wait from their lips the lore o{ law. 

Few moments with deliberation, 

They hold the solemn consultation. 

When soon in judgment all agree. 

And clerk declares the dread decree : 
** That squire M'Fingal, having grown 

The vilest tory in the town. 

And now on full examination. 

Convicted by his own confession, 

Finding no token of repentance. 

This court proceed to render sentence : 

That first the mob a slip-knot single. 

Tie round the neck of said M'Fingal ; 

And in due form do tar him next. 

And feather, as the law directs : 

Then thro' the town attendant ride him, 

In cart with constable beside him. 

And having held him up to shame. 

Bring to the pole from whence he came." 

Vision and prediction of MFingal, king of the 
tories, when in his coat of tar and feathers. 

" Tar yet in embryo in pine 
Shall run on tories' backs to shine : 



Trees rooted fair in the groves of fallows. 
Are growing for our future gallows : 
And geese unhatched, when pluck'd in fray. 
Shall rue the feath'ring of that day." 

M'Fingal by J. Trumbull, esq. page 60. 



LORD EFFINGHAM 



To THE British Secretary of War, re- 
signing HIS COMMISSION IN PREFERENCE 
TO TAKING ARMS AGAINST THE AMERI- 
CAN COLONIES. 

April 12, 1775. 

To Lord Barrington, Secretary at war. 

My lord : — I beg the favor of your lord- 
ship to lay before his majesty the peculiar em- 
barrassment of my present situation. 

Your lordship is no stranger to the conduct 
which I have observed in the unhappy disputes 
with our American colonies. 

The king is too just and too generous not to 
believe, that the votes I have given in parliament 
have been given according to the dictates of my 
conscience. Whether I have erred or not, the 
course of future events must determine. In 
the mean time, if I were capable of such 
duplicity, as to be any way concerned in enforc- 
ing those measures of which I have so publicly 
and solemnly expressed my disapprobation, I 
should ill deserve what I am most ambitious of 
obtaining, the esteem and favorable opinion 
of my sovereign. 

My request therefore to your lordship is this, 
that after having laid those circumstances 
before the king, you will assure his majesty, 
that he has not a subject who is more ready 
than I am with the utmost cheerfulness to sac- 
rifice his life and fortune in support of the 
safety, honor, and dignity of his majesty's 
crown and person. But the very same princi- 
ples which have inspired me with these unal- 
terable sentiments of duty and affection to his 
majesty, will not suffer me to be instrumental 
in depriving any part of his people of those 
liberties which form the best security for their 
fidelity and obedience to his government. As 
I cannot, without reproach from my own con- 
science, consent to bear arms against my fellow 
subjects in America, in what, to my weak dis- 
cernment, is not a clear cause ; and as it seems 
now to be finally resolved, that the 22d regi- 
ment is to go upon American ser\'ice, 1 desire 
your lordship to lay me in the most dutiful 
manner at his majesty's feet, and humbly beg 
that I may be permitted to retire. 

Your lordship will also be so obliging to 
entreat, that as I ■wave what the custom of the 



500 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



semce would entitle me to the right of selling 
what I bought, I may be allowed to retain my 
rank in the army, that whenever the envy or 
ambition of foreign powers should require it, I 
may be enabled to ser\'e his majesty and my 
country in that way, in which alone I can ex- 
pect to serve them with any degree of effect. 

Your lordship will easily conceive the regret 
and mortification I feel at being necessitated to 
quit the military profession, which has been 
that of my ancestors for many generations, to 
which I have been bred almost from my infancy, 
to which I have devoted the study of my life ; 
and to perfect myself in which, I have sought 
instruction and service in whatever part of the 
world they were to be found. 

I have delayed this to the last moment, lest 
any wrong construction should be given to a 
conduct which is influenced only by the purest 
motives. I complain of nothing ; I love my 
profession, and should think it highly blame- 
able to quit any course of life, in which I might 
be useful to the public, so long as my consti- 
tutional principles, and my notions and honor, 
permitted me to continue in it. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
your lordship's most obedient, and most hum- 
ble servant, 

Effingham. 
Adelphi Buildings, April 12, 1775. 



The Guild of Merchants of Dublin, 
Ireland, tendering their thanks to 
Lord Effingham, for his patriotism. 
July 17, 1775. 

At Guildhall, DubHn, 17th of July, 1775, being 
quarter-day of the guild of merchants of the 
said city, the following resolutions were 
agreed to : 

" Resolved, unanimously. That the sincere 
thanks of this Guild be presented to the right 
honorable the earl of Effingham, in testimony 
of our approbation of his public conduct, particu- 
larly exemplified in his refusing to draw that 
sword wlftch had been employed to the honor 
of his country, against the lives and liberties 
of his fellow subjects in America : and honestly 
and spiritedly resigning a commission which he 
could no longer hold consistent with the princi- 
ples of a true Englishman, or of a real friend to 
the interest of Britain." 

" Resolved, That the sincere thanks of this 
Guild be presented to the right honorable 
John Wilk.es, lord mayor of the city of Lon- 
don, for the essential services which he has 
rendered his king and country, by his strenuous 



efforts in the cause of freedom ; and for his 
able, spirited, and judicious defence of the 
right of the people to petition the throne." 

There was to the last resolution a single 
negative given by a Sco/c/iiKan, who has an 
employment in our stamp office. 

" Resolved unanimously. That an address of 
thanks from the Guild be presented to the 
several peers, who (in support of our constitu- 
tion, and in opposition to a weak and wicked 
administration) protested against the Ameri- 
can restraining bills." And the follovkJing 
gentlemen were appointed, with the masters 
and wardens, a committee to prepare the same: 

James Napper Tandy, -Samuel Gamble, 

Henry Hawison, Samuel Stephens, 

Sir Ew'd Newenham, Hugh Crothers, 
John Pere, 

Who prepared the following : 

" We, the masters, wardens, and brethren 
of the guild of merchants in the city of Dublin, 
in common hall assembled, with the most 
unfeigned respect, beg leave to offer to your 
lordship the just tribute of our thanks for your 
noble and spirited, though hitherto ineffectual 
exertions in the cause of liberty and of your 
countr)'. fully evinced in your opposition to 
the oppressive and unconstitutional proceedings 
of a corrupt administration. 

" With equal grief and indignation, we have 
for years beheld repeated innovations on the 
free constitution of these realms, and daily 
invasions of the dearest rights and immunities 
of the subject. We have seen with astonish- 
ment popery established by law in one. and 
encouraged in every part of the empire, in the 
reign of a Protestant prince ; and despotism and 
arbitrary power promoted by every insidious 
machination and open violence, by the servants 
of the crown, in the reign of a monarch who, 
from the throne declared he gloried in being a 
Briton horn ; and whose family was called to 
the throne of these kingdoms to protect the 
Protestant religion, and preserve that constitu- 
tion inviolate for which our ancestors so freely 
bled, and for the invading of which, a tyrant 
was expelled the throne. 

"But while we contemplate with horror the 
universal ruin and devastation in which the 
empire is nearly involved by the wicked devices 
of evil men. we with pleasure survey the steady, 
incorruptible, and patriotic virtues which adorn 
you and shield us : while we boast of such a 
noble band of patriots, while we see united in 
the cause of freedom such a numberof the true 
hereditary guardians of liberty, and of the princi- 
ples of the glorious revolution, we cannot, we 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Sor 



will not despair of seeing once more the valua- 
ble constitution of these countries restored to 
its primitive purity. 

" Permit us therefore to offer your lordship 
our warmest, our most grateful acknowledg- 
ments as Protestants, for your steady opposi- 
tion to the establishment of popery and slavery' 
in Canada ; as freemen, for your manly and 
spirited opposition to the several restraining 
bills ; and your noble efforts in the support of 
American liberty, and in the cause of our suf- 
fering and much oppressed brethren and fel- 
low subjects there : and we have the fullest re- 
liance on your steady perseverance in the same 
principles which have so strongly endeared 
you, not only to us, but to every real friend 
of the British empire and its constituents." 

In testimony, whereof, we have caused the 
seal of our corporation to be hereunto affixed, 
this 17th day of July, in the year of our Lord 
1775- (Seal). 



RESOLUTION OF THANKS 

Tendered by the sheriffs and commons 
TO LORD Effingham, July 21, 1775. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the sheriffs and 
commons be presented to lord Effingham, for 
having chosen gloriously to resign his commis- 
sion, rather than imbrue his hands in the blood 
of his innocent and oppressed fellow subjects." 

Which being enclosed to his lordship by the 
proper officer, the following answer was re- 
ceived : 



Lord Effingham's answer, August 14, 
I77S- 

" Sir: — I have been favored with your letter 
of the 2 1 St of July last enclosing the copy of a 
resolution of the sheriffs and commons of the 
city of Dublin. 

"Next to the testimony of a man's own con- 
science is, in my opinion, his greatest happi- 
ness to have the approbation of the wise and 
honest among his fellow subjects. 

" The former of these can, I think, be no 
other way enjoyed, than by a strict adherence 
to those principles, which, at the revolution, 
established our civil and religious liberties ; 
and it is easy, sir, for you to conceive, but 
beyond my abilities to express what I felt, at 
my conduct's being judged, by so independent 
and respectable an assembly as the sheriffs and 



commons of the city of Dublin, deserving of 
the latter. 

" I am, with truth and respect, sir. your most 
obedient humble servant, Effingham. 

The Holmes, Aug. 14, 1775. 



LETTER 

From a gentleman in America to a 
member of the british parliament. 

Philadelphia, Dec. 34, 1774. 

The following letter from a gentleman in 
America, to a member of the British parlia- 
ment may be depended upon as authentic : 

" The proclamation forbidding the exporta- 
tion of gunpowder and fire arms to America, 
seems intended to take away from the colo- 
nies the power of defending themselves by 
force. I think it my duty to inform you, that 
the said proclamation will be rendered ineffec- 
tual by a manufactory of gunpowder, which 
has lately been set on foot in this province, the 
materials of which may be procured in great 
perfection among ourselves, and at an easier 
rate than they can be imported from Great 
Britain. There are moreover gun-smiths 
enough in this province, to make one hundred 
thousand stand of arms in one year, at 28^-. 
sterling a-piece, if they should be wanted. It 
may not be amiss to make this intelligence as 
public as possible, that our rulers may see the 
impossibility of enforcing the late acts of par- 
liament by arms. Such is the wonderful mar- 
tial spirit which is enkindled among us, that 
we begin to think the whole force of Britain 
could not subdue us. We trust no less to the 
natural advantages of our country than to our 
numbers, and military preparations, in the con- 
fidence and security of which we boast. The 
four New England colonies, together with 
Virginia and Maryland, are completely armed 
and disciplined. The province of Pennsylvania 
will follow their example in a few weeks. Our 
militia will amount to not less than 60,000 men. 
Nothing but a total repeal of the acts of parlia- 
ment of which we complain, can prevent a 
civil war in America. Our opposition has now 
risen to desperation. It would be as easy to 
allay a storm in the ocean, by a single word, as 
to subdue the free spirit of Americans, without 
a total redress of their grievances. May a 
spirit of wisdom descend at last upon our 
ministry, and rescue the British empire from 
destruction ! We tremble at the thoughts of a 
separation from Great Britain. All our glory 



502 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



and happiness have been derived from you. 
But we are in danger of being shipwrecl<ed 
upon your rocks. To avoid these, we are wil- 
Hng to be tossed, without a compass or guide, 
for a while, upon an ocean of blood. Wish- 
ing you success in your disinterested labors to 
promote the happiness of this country, I am, 
sir, with much esteem for your firmness, your 
most obedient humble ser\'ant." 

— Alinon's Remembrancer. 



PETITION 



Of the native Americans residing in 
London to his Britannic majesty, 
IN 1774- 

FROM THE BOSTON PATRIOT. 

Messrs. Editors: — Having recently been 
employed in searching for old records, I met 
with a manuscript copy of the following petition 
of a number of native Americans, who were 
then in London, to his Britannic majesty, in 
the year 1774. If you think it sufficiently in- 
teresting to publish, you are at liberty to do it. 
Among the number of signers is the late Arthur 
Lee, of Virginia, a gentleman whose life and 
character seem to be but little known at the 
present day, although he was one of the firmest 
patriots of the revolution, and his services, 
though not conspicuous, yet were eminently 
beneficial to the cause he had espoused. 

It will be remembered, that the bills there 
alluded to are the last of the series of those 
acts of the British parliament which produced 
a crisis, and were the immediate cause of the 
war of the revolution • 

To the king's most excellent majesty. 

The petition of several natives of America, 
most humbly sheweth : 

That your petitioners, being your majesty's 
most faithful subjects, are obliged to implore 
your gracious interposition, to protect them in 
the enjoyment of those privileges which are the 
right of all your people. 

Your majesty's petitioners, have already 
seen, with unspeakable grief, their earnest 
prayers rejected, and heavy penalties inflicted, 
even on the innocent among their countrj'men, 
to the subversion of every principle of justice, 
without their being heard. By this alarming 
procedure all property was rendered insecure ; 
and they now see in two bills (for altering the 
government of the Massachusetts Bay, and the 
impartial administration of justice there) the 
intended subversion of the two other grand 



objects of civil society and constitutional pro- 
tection, to wit, liberties and life. 

Your petitioners most humbly represent to 
your majesty, that, to destroy or assume their 
chartered rights, without a full and fair hearing, 
with legal proof of forfeiture, and the abrogat- 
ing of their most valuable laws, which had 
duly received the solemn confirmation of your 
majesty's royal predecessors, and were thence 
deemed unchangeable, without the consent of 
the people, is such a proceeding as renders the 
enjoyment . of every privilege they possess 
totally uncertain and precarious. That an ex- 
emption of the soldiery from being tried in the 
Massachusetts Bay, for murder or other felony, 
committed upon your majesty's subjects there, 
is such an encouragement to licentiousness 
and incentive to outrage, as must subject your 
majesty's liege people to continued danger. 

Your petitioners and their countrymen have 
been ever most zealously attached to your 
majesty's person and family. It is therefore 
with inexpressible affliction that they see an 
attempt, in these proceedings against them, to 
change the principle of obedience to govern- 
ment, from the love of the subjects towards 
their sovereign, founded on the opinion of his 
wisdom, justice and benevolence, into the dread 
of absolute power and laws of extreme rigor, 
unsupportable to a free people. 

.Should the bills above mentioned receive your 
royal sanction, your majesty's faithful subjects 
will be overwhelmed with grief and despair. 

It is therefore our most earnest prayer that 
your majesty will be graciously pleased to sus- 
pend your royal assent to the said bills. 

And your petitioners, etc., 
Stephen Sayre, WilUiam H. Gibbs, 

William Lee, William Blake, 

Arthur Lee, Isaac Motte, 

Edmund Jennings, Henry Lawrence, 
Joshua Johnson, Thomas Pinckney, 

Daniel Bowley, John T. Grimpke, 

Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Reade, 
Thomas Buston, Philip Neyle, 

Edward Bandcroft, Edward Fenwicke, 
Thomas Brondfield, Edward Fenwicke. jr. 
John Boylston, John Peroneauf, 

John Ellis, William Middleton, 

John Williams, William Middleton, jr. 

John Alleyne, Ralph Irard, jr., 

Ralph Irard, William Heyward. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



503 



LETTER 

From a late London paper, copied from the 
Maryland Gazette of date 1776, ridiculing 
the idea that manufactures could be carried 
on in America, 

All the articles of news lately published, 
that seem improbable, are not mere inventions. 
Some of them, I can assure you, on Ihe faith of 
a traveller, are serious truths. And here give 
me leave to instance the various numberless 
accounts the news writers have given us (with 
so much honest zeal for the welfare of poor 
old England !) of the establishing manufactures 
in the colonies to the prejudice of those of this 
kingdom. It is objected by superficial readers, 
who yet pretend to some knowledge of those 
countries, that such establishments are not 
only improbable but impossible ; for that their 
sheep have but little wool, not in the whole 
sufficient for a pair of stockings a year to each 
inhabitant ; and that, from the universal dear- 
ness of labor among them, the working of iron 
and other materials, except in some few coarse 
instances, is impracticable to any advantage. 
Dear sir, do not let us suffer ourselves to be 
amused with such groundless objections. The 
very TAILS of the American sheep are so 
laden with wool, that each has a cart or wagon, 
on four little wheels, to support and keep it 
from trailing on the ground. Would they 
caulk their ships.' Would they fill their beds? 
Would they even litter their horses with wool, 
if it was not both plenty and cheap ? And 
what signifies dearness of labor, where an 
English shilling passes for five and twenty } 
Their engaging three hundred silk throwsters 
here in one week for New York was treated as 
a fable, because, forsooth, they have no silk 
there to throw. Those who made this objec- 
tion, perhaps, did not know, that, at the same 
time the agents from the king of Spain were at 
Quebec contracting for 1000 pieces of cannon, 
to be made there for the fortifications of 
Mexico, with 25,000 axes for their industrious 
logwood cutters, and at New York engaging 
an annual supply of warm floor carpets for 
their West India houses — other agents from 
the emperor of China were at Boston, in New 
England, treating about the exchange of raw 
silk for wool, to be carried on in Chinese junks 
thro' the straits of Magellan. And yet all this 
is as certainly true as the account, said to be 
from Quebec, in the papers of last week, that 
the inhabitants of Canada are making prepara- 
tions, for a cod and whale fishery this summer 
in the upper lakes. Ignorant people may 



object that the upper lakes are fresh, and that 
cod and whale are salt water fish : But let 
them know, sir, that cod, like other fish, when 
attacked by their enemies, fly into any water 
they think they can be safest in ; that whales, 
when they have a mind to eat cod, pursue them 
wherever they fly ; and that the grand leap of 
the whale in that chase up the falls of Niagara 
is esteemed by all who have seen it, as one of 
the finest spectacles in nature ! — Really, sir, 
the world is grown too incredulous : Pendulum- 
like, it is ever swinging from one extreme to 
another. Formerly, every thing printed was 
believed, because it was in print : Now things 
seem to be disbelieved, for just the very same 
reason. Wise men wonder at the present 
growth of infidelity ! They should have con- 
sidered, when they taught people to doubt the 
authority of newspapers, and the truth of pre- 
dictions in almanacs, that the next step might 
be a disbelief in the well-vouched accounts of 
ghosts and witches, and doubts even of the 

truth of the A n creed. 

Vour htanble servant, 

A Traveller. 



AN ADDRESS, 



Of American loyalists to the King and 
Parliament, 1782. 

From the London Chronicle, March 9, 1783. 
The humble and dutiful declaration and ad- 
dress of his majesty's American loyalists, to 
the king's most excellent majesty, to both 
houses of parliament and the people of Great 
Britain. 

We, his majesty's most dutiful and faithful 
subjects, the loyal inhabitants of America, who 
have happily got within the protection of the 
British forces, as well as those who, though 
too wise not to have foreseen the fatal tendency 
of the present wanton and causeless rebellion, 
yet, from numberless obstacles, and unexam- 
pled severities, have hitherto been compelled 
to remain under the tyranny of the rebels, and 
submit to the measures of congressional usur- 
pation ; animated with the purest principles of 
duty and allegiance to his majesty and the 
British parliament, beg leave, with the deepest 
humility and reverence, on the present calami- 
tous occasion of public and national misfortune 
in the surrender of lord Cornwallis, and the 
army under his lordship's command, at York- 
Town, humbly to entreat that your majesty, 
and the parliament, would be graciously 



504 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



pleased to permit us to offer this renewed testi- 
mony of loyalty and attachment to our most 
gracious sovereign, and the British nation and 
government ; and thus publicly to repeat our 
most heart-felt acknowledgments for the infinite 
obligations we feel ourselves under for the 
heavy expenses that have been incurred, and 
the great national exertions that have been 
made, to save and rescue us, and your Ameri- 
can colonies, from impending ruin, and the 
accumulated distresses aud calamities of civil 
war. For such distinguished proofs of national 
ease and regard, we confess ourselves unable 
to make that adequate return which our hearts, 
replete with the most dutiful and grateful sen- 
sations, most willingly offer, but which we have 
not words sufficient to express. Our sufferings 
as men, and our duty as loyal subjects, point 
out to us at once, the propriety, in our present 
situation, of thus publicly repeating our assur- 
ances, that we revere, with a kind of holy 
enthusiasm, the ancient constitution of the 
American colonies ; and that we cannot but 
lament every event, and be anxiously solicitous 
to remove every cause of suspicion, that might 
have the most distant tendency to separate the 
two countries, or in any remote degree to lessen 
the claim we have to the present aid and con- 
tinued exertions of Great Britain ; especially if 
it should arise from any misrepresentation or 
distrust, either of our fidelity or numbers, to 
entitle us to the future countenance and pro- 
tection of that sovereign and nation, whose 
government and laws, we call God to witness, 
that, in the integrity of our souls, we prefer to 
all others. The local prejudices of birth and 
education, and the weight of past and happy 
experience, conspire together to render, in our 
breasts, most sacred and inestimable, our rela- 
tion to British subjects and British laws. We 
deem it more valuable than life itself, and 
under the most trying circumstances, have 
invariably resolved, in defiance of every hazard, 
to assert our rights ; and, as far as in our 
power, in opposition to every other state and 
kingdom in the world, to adhere to the nation 
and country from which we sprung ; and to 
which with honest pride and gratitude, we 
acknowledge that we owe both our natural and 
political existence. 

Unhappy, indeed, for ourselves, and we can- 
not but think unfortunately too for Great 
Britain, the number of well affected inhabitants 
in America to the parent country, cannot, for 
obvious reasons, be exactly ascertained. But 
there are facts from which the most undoubted 
and undeniable conclusions may be inferred, 
and to which, for want of other evidence, we 



must recur, resting our appeal upon such proofs 
to the unerring and unbiased decision of truth 
and candor. 

The penalty under which any American sub- 
ject enlists into his majesty's service, is no 
less than the immediate forfeiture of all his 
goods and chattels, lands and tenements ; and 
if apprehended, and convicted by the rebels, of 
having enlisted, or prevailed on any other per- 
son to enlist into his majesty's senice, it is con- 
sidered as treason, and punished with death : 
Whereas, no forfeiture is incurred, or penalty 
annexed, to his entering into the service of con- 
gress ; but, on the contrary', his property is 
secured, and himself rewarded. 

In the former case, he withdraws himself 
from his family and relations, without any pos- 
sibility of receiving any assistance from or 
affording any relief to either. In the latter, he 
is subject to no such peculiar self-denials, and 
real distresses. — The embodying provincial 
corps in New- York, and sending them on ser- 
vices to Savannah — or in Philadelphia, and 
ordering them to Pensacola, when they might 
be more usefully employed in the province 
where they were raised ; the drafting troops 
from the corps, and from under the command 
of officers with whom they enlisted, to form 
new corps, and to give a command to other offi- 
cers, are all measures which have had their dis- 
couraging effects on the recruiting service. 

The desultory manner also in which the war 
has been carried on, by first taking possession 
of Boston, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Ports- 
mouth, Norfolk, in Virginia, Wilmington, in 
North Carolina, etc., etc., and then evacuating 
them, whereby many thousand inhabitants have 
been involved in the greatest wretchedness is 
another substantial reason why more loyalists 
have not enlisted into his majesty's service, or 
openly espoused and attached themselves to 
the royal cause ; yet, notwithstanding all 
these discouraging circumstances, there are 
many 7nore men in his viajestys proz'incial 
regiments than there are in the continental 
seri'ice. Hence it cannot be doubted but 
that there are more loyalists in America than 
there are rebels ; and also, that their zeal 
must be greater, or so many would not have 
enlisted into the provincial ser\ice, under such 
very unequal circumstances. Other reasons 
might be enumerated, why many more 
have not enlisted into his majesty's provincial 
service, if we were not prevented from it by 
motives of delicacy and tenderness to the char- 
acter of the person to whose management the 
business of that department was principally 
committed. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



505 



We also infer from the small number of 
militia collected by general Greene, the most 
popular and able general in the senice of con- 
gress, in the long circuitous march he took 
through many of the most populous, and con- 
fessedly the most rebclliotis counties in that 
country, that there must be a vast majority of 
loyalists in that part of America, as well as 
elsewhere. The presumption becomes stronger 
from a consideration of the well known seduc- 
tion and compulsion which were made use of 
by the rebel generals, and other officers, in 
order to embody the militia, as well as from the 
manner in which the militia are there mentioned 
by general Greene, in his public despatches in 
the course of one month. In that of the loth 
of March, he says : — " Our militia have been 
upon such loose and uncertain footing, ever 
since we crossed the Dan, that I could attempt 
nothing with confidence." In his next of the 
i6th, in giving his account of two brigades of 
militia, consisting of three captains, ten subal- 
terns, and 561 rank and file, he returns two 
captains, nine subalterns, and 592 rank and 
file missing, besides one regiment, of which he 
could get no return, and adds, "those missing 
are supposed to have gone home." According 
to the report of the generals and field officers, 
very few were killed or taken ; most of them 
having thrown away their arms, and aban- 
doned the field early in the action. In that of 
the 30th, he writes, " that nothing but blood 
and slaughter have prevailed among the whigs 
and tories ; and their inveteracy against each 
other must, if it continues, depopulate this part 
of the country." Surely, whole brigades throw- 
ing away their arms, and returning home, and 
all that sort of conduct, must carry with it the 
most presumptive evidence, not only of their 
disaffection to the measures of congress, but of 
their loyalty and attachment to his majesty, and 
the British nation and government ; especially 
if you take into the account this well known 
fact, that the rebels have recruited the conti- 
nental army, and in all instances assembled the 
militia, by deceiving some, terrifying many, and 
driving more, to assist in their military opera- 
tions. On the contrary', the service of the loy- 
alists has in all cases been ready and vol- 
untary; and in many unsolicited, and in some 
unnoticed, if not rejected. 

If it should be said, if such is the number and 
disposition of the loyalists in America, how 
comes it to pass that they have not been of 
more importance to his majesty's service .' We 
answer, might it not with equal propriety be 
enquired why his majesty's forces have not 
more fully answered the just expectations of 



the nation ? And might not the question with 
greater propriety be put to his majesty's com- 
manders in America.' A due deference to 
whom, we trust, will be thought the most 
decent apology for our waiving the mention of 
many more of the true and undeniable causes 
which we have it in our power to assign. And 
permit us to add, that it is only from modesty, 
and a wish to avoid both the appearance and 
imputation of selfish ostentation, that we de- 
cline entering into a particular enumeration of 
such proofs of allegiance and fidelity, from the 
conduct and sufferings of American loyalists, 
as have never been equalled by any people, in 
any age, or in any country. We cannot, how- 
ever, refrain from hinting at some incontestible 
advantages the loyalists have been of, ii\ aftord- 
ing supplies to the royal army, — by acting as 
guides and pilots, and (independent of those 
employed in the provincial line) as militia and 
partisan troops. As corps of Refugees, they 
have been too often distinguished by the zeal 
and gallantry of their behavior, to need the 
mention of any particular instance ; if they did, 
we might refer to the affair of the Block-house, 
opposite Fort Knyphausen, where captain 
Ward, with about 70 Refugees, withstood and 
repulsed the attack of general Wayne, at the 
head of three chosen brigades of continentals. 
As a militia, acting by themselves (for we take 
no notice of the many thousands that, at differ- 
ent times, particularly in Georgia and South 
Carolina, have attached themselves to the royal 
army) a small party some time ago, under the 
command of one Bunnion, went from Long 
Island to Connecticut, and there surprised and 
took prisoner a rebel major general, named 
Silliman, and several other officers. 

A party of militia also not long ago went 
from Wilmington, in North Carolina, 60 or 70 
miles into the country, and took major general 
Ashe, with two or three field officers, and some 
other persons, and brought them prisoners to 
his majesty's garrison at Wilmington. Another 
party of militia lately went near 200 miles up into 
the country from Wilmington, to a place called 
Hillsborough, and with a body of 6 or 700 
militia, attacked a party of rebel troops, who 
were there as a guard to the rebel legislature, 
then sitting at that place, and took the rebel 
governor, Mr. Burke, several of his council, 
II continental officers, and about 120 of the 
troops prisoners, whom the militia delivered to 
major Craig, who commanded the king's troops 
at Wilmington. Other more voluntary alerts, 
performed by the loyalists in South Carolina 
and elsewhere, might be mentioned without 
number. Surely such are not timid friends! 



5o6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



We defy the most incredulous opposer of 
American loyalty, as well as the most deter- 
mined advocate for congressional usurpation, to 
point out a single instance wherein the likes 
has been done, or attempted by the rebel militia; 
or that they have in any instance voluntarily 
assembled in such numbers, or attempted any 
military achievements whatever, without the 
express orders and coercion of their tyrannical 
rulers. 

The establishing civil government, and form- 
ing a militia in a colony as soon as the rebel 
army is drove out of it, is the best measure 
that can be adopted to make the loyal inhabit- 
ants importantly useful to the king's interest. 
It is the highest political absurdity that ever 
was thought of, to imagine that a colony is to 
be retained, and the peace and good order of 
government restored by the force of arms and 
martial law, and that too without the partial aid 
and concurrence of its inhabitants. And it is 
equally preposterous to expect that aid and 
concurrence, without some regard is paid to 
the prejudices and inclinations of the people. 
They should be treated with confidence and 
honored with notice, by being appointed to all 
offices of civil government. The protective 
authority and persuasive influence of which is 
the only measure that can extend to, and con- 
nect the people of a British province in one 
common interest and voluntary submission. A 
province, thus restored to the influence of civil 
government and the e.xertions of the militia, 
the natural force of the country, the royal 
army might proceed to the next, ever keeping 
the rebel forces in front. Thus province after 
province might and would be speedily reclaimed 
to their former happy and most eligible situa- 
tion of British subjects. 

The policy of prosecuting the American war 
is strikingly obvious for more reasons, but 
particularly as it affords the most encouraging 
hope that can possibly be held out to his ma- 
jesty's loyalists to persevere in their principles 
and exertions, at the same time that it affords 
a number of safe ports to the royal navy during 
the war. It is also political, in order to pre- 
vent vast numbers of distressed people from 
going to England, and throwing themselves 
and families, helpless and ruined, upon na- 
tional bounty for maintenance and support. 
It is humane and just, from a consideration of 
the repeated declarations that have been made, 
that ■' it was the gracious and firm resolution 
of his majesty and the British nation to pre- 
serve, in every just and necessary measure, for 
the redemption of his majesty's faithful Ameri- 
can subjects from the tyranny and oppression 



of congress, and restoring them to the protec- 
tion and benefit of British laws." The impor- 
tance the possession of some part, if not the 
whole of the revolted colonies, must be of. as 
an asylum for loyalists, as well as the weight it 
would be of in fixing the preliminary articles, 
and influencing the definitive treaty, whenever 
such an event should take place, strongly en- 
forces the political propriety and necessity of 
the American war. It also appears to be a 
political and necessary measure, in order to de- 
tain the rebel forces in the revolted colonies ; 
for there can be no doubt, if his majesty's 
troops were withdrawn from thence, but their 
views and operations would be immediately 
turned towards the province of Quebec to the 
northward, and the British West-India islands 
to the southward, and when the contiguity of 
the one, and the proximity of the others to the 
revolted colonies is considered, it is not im- 
probable to suppose, from the connection now 
subsisting between America and France, Spain 
and Holland, but that, by the united forces of 
those powers in those adjacent islands, co- 
operating with the Americans, that the British 
islands must be immediately taken ; and that 
all the continental possessions of Great Brit- 
ain would soon after be irrecoverably lost. If 
we take into our view the effect the evacuation 
of America must have upon the minds of peo- 
ple, and the unavoidable intercourse there has 
been, and must continue to be, from the mutual 
wants and supplies of each other, it would be 
folly to imagine, but that many of the inhabi- 
tants of Quebec, and the Islands, would, from 
various motives, and with different views, under 
such circumstances, contribute in some meas- 
ure towards facilitating their own reduction, 
and hastening the surrender to some other 
power. If Great Britain can maintain a naval 
superiority in the American seas, the continent, 
with proper conduct, is undoubtedly retainable. 
If she cannot, her insular possessions in Ameri- 
ca are still less tenable than her continental ; 
for this plain reason, that the former are more 
assailable by naval force than the latter. Con- 
sequently, the prosecution of the American 
war with magnanimity and vigor appears to us 
the best, if not the only measure for re-anima- 
ting his majesty's loyalists in America, to a 
strenuous exertion, of their most distinguished 
endeavors, for discouraging the efforts of the 
rebels — for dispiriting the hostile powers of 
Europe, and for maintaining the dignity, and 
preserving the exterior territories of the British 
nation and empire. 

Relying with the fullest confidence upon na- 
tional justice and compassion to our fidelity 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



507 



and distresses, we can entertain no doubts but 
that Great Britain will prevent the ruin of her 
American friends, at every risl< short of certain 
destruction to herself. But if compelled, by 
adversity of misfortune, from the wicked and 
perfidious combinations and designs of nu- 
merous and powerful enemies abroad, and 
more criminal and dangerous enemies at home, 
an idea should be formed by Great Britain of 
relinquishing her American colonies to the 
usurpation of congress, we thus solemnly call 
God to witness, that we think the colonies can 
never be so happy or so free as in a constitu- 
tional connection with, and dependence on 
Great Britain ; convinced, as we are, that to-be 
a British subject, with all its consequences, is 
to be the happiest and freest member of any 
civil society in the known world — we, there- 
fore, in justice to our members, in duty to our- 
selves, and in fidelity to our posterity, must not, 
cannot refrain from making this public declara- 
tion and appeal to the faithful subjects of every 
government, and the compassionate sovereign 
of every people, in every nation and kingdom 
of the world, that our principles are the prin- 
ciples of the virtuous and free ; that our suffer- 
ings are the sufferings of unprotected loyalty, 
and persecuted fidelity ; that our cause is the 
cause of legal and constitutional government, 
throughout the world ; that, opposed by princi- 
ples of republicanism, and convinced, from 
recent observation, that brutal violence, merci- 
less severity, relentless cruelty, and discretion- 
ary outrages are the distinguished traits and 
ruling principles of the present system of con- 
gressional republicanism, our aversion is un- 
conquerable, irreconcilable. — That we are 
attached to monarchical government, from 
past and happy experience — by duty, and by 
choice. That, to oppose insurrections, and to 
listen to the requests of people so circum- 
stanced as we are, is the common interest of 
all mankind in civil society. That to support 
our rights, is to support the rights of every 
subject of legal government ; and that to 
afford us relief, is at once the duty and secu- 
rity of every prince and sovereign on earth. 
Our appeal, therefore, is just ; and our claim to 
aid and assistance is e.\tensive and universal- 
But if, reflecting on the uncertain events of 
war, and sinking under the gloomy prospect 
of public affairs, from the divisions and con- 
tests unhappily existing in the great councils 
of the nation, any apprehensions should have 
been excited in our breasts with respect to the 
issue of the American war, we humbly hope it 
cannot, even by the most illiberal, be imputed 
to us as an abatement of our unshaken loyalty 



to our most gracious sovereign, or of our unal- 
terable predilection in favor of the British nation 
and government, whom may God long protect 
and preserve, if, in consequence thereof, we 
thus humbly implore that your majesty, and 
the parliament, would be graciously pleased, in 
the tenderness of our fears, and in pity to our 
distresses, to solicit, by your ambassadors at 
the courts of foreign sovereigns, the aid of 
such powerful and good allies, as to your 
majesty and parliament, in your great wisdom 
and discretion, may seem meet. Or if such a 
measure should in any manner be thought in- 
compatible with the dignity and interest of our 
sovereign and the nation, we most humbly and 
ardently supplicate and entreat, that, by depu- 
ties or ambassadors, nominated and appointed 
by your majesty's suffering American loyalists, 
they may be permitted to solicit and obtain 
from other nations that interference, aid and 
alliance, which, by the blessing of Almighty 
God, may, in the last fatal and ultimate 
extreme, save and deliver us, his majesty's 
American loyalists, who, we maintain, in every 
one of the colonies, compose a great majority 
of the inhabitants, and those too the first in 
point of opulence and consequence, from the 
ruinous system of congressional independence 
and republican tyranny, detesting rebellion as 
we do, and preferring a subjection to any 
power in Europe, to the mortifying debase- 
ment of a state of slavery, and a life of insult, 
under the tyranny of congressional usurpation. 



HISTORY OF JOHN BULL'S CHILDREN. 

[We find the following in the "Maryland 
Gazette," of August, 1776, into which it was 
copied from the " London Chronicle." Those 
who have read the history of the " Foresters," 
will easily take up the idea, that the design 
of one of those articles may have been copied 
from the other. We have followed the copy, 
as it was printed at the time. It will amuse 
those who know enough of history to under- 
stand it, and perhaps provoke some to read 
that they may understand.] 

I, sir Humphry Polesworth, who formerly 
gave the world a true and faithful account of 
John Bull, and of his mother, and sister, and 
wives, and his servants, now write the history 
of his children, and how they were got, and 
how they were educated, and what befel them. 
Courteous reader, if thou hast any curiosity to 
know these things, read the following chapters 
and learn. 



5o8 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Chap. I. Of seven natural children, which 
John Bull had in his younger days by Doll 
Secretary, his mother's maid ; namely, three 
boys, John, jun. or Master Jacky, Yorky, and 
Jerry ; four girls, Penelope, Mary, Virgey, and 
Caroline. How the old lady would suffer no 
bastards in her family ; and how the poor in- 
fants were turned adrift on the fish ponds as 
soon as born ; how they landed on the western 
shore, and were there nursed by a wild bear, all 
under the green wood tree. 

Chap. IL How John disowned them, and 
left them to get over the children's disorders 
the best way they could, without paying a far- 
thing for nurses, or apothecary bills ; and how, 
as soon as they had cut their eye teeth, and 
were able to walk alone, John claimed them 
for his own. 

Chap. III. How Master Jacky turned fisher- 
man and ship-carpenter ; Yorky and Jerry drove 
a great trade ; Miss Penny dealt in flour, called 
the Maid of the Mill, and never courtseyed to 
any body : How Mary and Virgey set up a 
snuff-shop, and Caroline turned dry-salter, and 
sold indigo ; how they all flourished exceed- 
ingly, and laid out every penny they earned in 
their father's warehouse. 

Chap. IV. Of two children more, which John 
had afterwards in lawful wedlock, viz.. a boy 
which he called Georgey, after his great patron, 
and a girl, which he called Peg, after his sister 
Margaret ; how he crammed them with sugar- 
plums, and how they remained sickly, ricketty 
brats at this day. 

Chap. V. How young Master Baboon, old 
Louis' only son, fell in love with Miss Virgey ; 
and how he came behind with intent to ravish 
her ; how she squealed and alarmed her dad. 

Chap. VI. How John called for his stick 
and his barge, and crossed the pond to save 
his daughter's virtue ; how young Louis gave 
him a confounded rap on his fingers, and drove 
him back, and then at his daughter again. 

Chap. VII. How her brother Jack came to 
her assistance, and threw young Louis on his 
back ; how old Louis Baboon flew to help his 
son, and carried lord Strutt along with him ; 
how John Bull returned and mustered all his 
children at his back, and to it they went. 

Chap. VIII. How they had a long tustle ; 
how John's children saved their old dad from 
a broken head, and helped to seize young 
Louis and tie him ; how the old folks agreed 
to leave young Louis in custody, and drink 
friends themselves ; and how John made his 
children pay a share of the reckoning without 
giving them any of the drink. 

Chap. IX. How John in his cups bragged 



of his exploits, and said he had done all him- 
self, and his children nothing ; how he made 
choice of fair George, the gentle shepherd, for 
his house steward, because he could tell, with- 
out the book, that two and three made five, 
and had the multiplication table by heart. 

Chap. X. The whole stewardship of fair 
George ; how he neglected to protest Louis 
Baboon's note of hand on the day of payment, 
released lord Strutt from a mortgage on his 
manor of Eastland ; how he took an aversion 
to cider, and would allow none to be drank in 
his family ; how he rummaged every man's 
chest for pen, ink, and paper, and obliged those 
he catched writing to stand a-top of the table, 
with a wooden neckcloth under their chin, 
while he counted sixty times sixty : and how 
this is called the gentle shepherd's benefit of 
clergy unto this day. 

Chap. XI. How fair George took an antip- 
athy to John's children, because he said they 
put nothing into the box at Christmas ; and 
when they came to pay their shop accounts, 
they brought in their money at the back door ; 
how he advised John to brand them on the far 
buttock, as they do stray cattle, that he might 
know them to be his own. 

Chap. XII. How John's children rode res- 
tiff, and swore they would not have the broad 
R. stampt on their b-ck s-des : how John, in 
heating the irons, burnt his own fingers most 

d ly ; how all his neighbors laughed, and 

fair George could not find him a plaster. 

Chap. XIII. How John, in a passion, 
kicked fair George down stairs, and rung up 
other ser\'ants ; how they advised him to con- 
sult his wife ; and how Mrs. Bull bid him let 
his children alone ; that, Iho' born in sin, they 
were his own flesh and blood, and needed no 
stamp to shew it ; how John took her advice, 
and let the irons cool again ; and how some 
suspected if John's fingers had not smarted, he 
would not have complied so soon. 

Chap. XIV. A dialogue on education, be- 
tween fair George and lame Will ; how Will 
proved it to be both cruel and impolitic to pinch 
children till they cry, and then pinch them for 
cr>'ing ; and how George answered and said 
nothing. 

Chap. XV. How John, by means of his 
new servants, became beloved of his children, 
and respected by his neighbors ; how he 
obliged Louis Baboon to beat down the wall of 
Ecclesdown castle, because it overlooked his 
pond, and harbored sea-gulls to gobble up his 
fish ; how he made him also pay up his note of 
hand, and how lord Strutt — 

But, Mr. Printer, I have given you enough to 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



509 



judge of the general plan of this history. 
Pray let me have your opinion as to the publi- 
cation. My notion at present is, to send it 
abroad in six-penny numbers, and engage the 
country carriers to take it down ; it may pass 
for political an hundred miles from town. 



CASE OF ASGILL, 

An officer in the English guards, con- 
demned TO DEATH BY THE AMERICANS 

in reprisal for the execution by the 
British, of Capt. Huddy. 

The following narrative and letters we have 
copied from the correspondence of baron 
Grimm. The baron was led to notice it 
from its being made the ground-work of a 
French tragedy called Abdir, by Saimigny. 
represented at Paris in January, 1789. 

— Bost. Dai. Adv. 

You can well remember the general interest 

which sir Asgill inspired, a young officer 

in the English guards, who was made prisoner 
and condemned to death by the Americans in 
reprisal for the death of captain Huddy, who 
was hanged by order of capt. Lippincott. The 
public prints all over Europe resounded with 
the unhappy catastrophe, which for eight 
months impended over the life of this young 
officer. The extreme grief of his mother, the 
sort of delirium which clouded the mind of his 
sister, at hearing the dreadful fate which men- 
aced the life of her brother, interested every 
feeling mind in the fate of that unfortunate 
family. The general curiosity in regard to the 
events of the war, yielded, if I may say so, to 
the interest which young Asgill inspired, and 
the first question asked of all vessels that ar- 
rived from any port in North America, was 
always an enquiry into the fate of that young 
man. It is known that Asgill was thrice con- 
ducted to the foot of the gibbet, and that thrice 
general Washington, who could not bring 
himself to commit this crime of policy without 
a great struggle, suspended his punishment : 
his humanity and justice made him hope that 
the English general would deliver over to him 
the author of the crime which Asgill was con- 
demned to e.xpiate. Clinton, either ill advised, 
or insensible to the fate of the young Asgill, 
persisted in refusing to deliver up the barba- 
rous Lippmcott. In vain the king of England, 
at whose feet this unfortunate family fell down, 
had given orders to surrender up to the Amer- 
icans the author of a crime which dishonored 



the English nation ; George III. was not 
obeyed. In vain the states of Holland en- 
treated the United States of America the par- 
don of the unhappy Asgill. The gibbet, 
erected in front of his prison, did not cease to 
offer to his eyes those dreadful preparatives 
more awful than death itself. In these cir- 
cumstances, and almost reduced to despair, 
the mother of the unfortunate victim bethought 
herself that the minister of a king armed 
against her own nation might succeed in ob- 
taining that which was refused to her king. 
Madame Asgill wrote to the count de Ver- 
gennes a letter, the eloquence of which, inde- 
pendent of oratorical forms, is that of all 
people and all languages, because it derives its 
power from the first and noblest sentiment 
of our nature. 

The two memorials which are subjoined 
merit being preserved as historical monuments. 

Letter from lady Asgill to the compte 
DE Vergennes. 

" Sir — If the politeness of the French court 
will permit a stranger to address it, it cannot 
be doubted but that she who unites in herself, 
all the more delicate sensations with which an 
individual can be penetrated, will be received 
favorably by a nobleman, who reflects honor 
not only on his nation, but on human nature. 
The object on which I implore your assistance 
is too heart-rending to be dwelt upon ; most 
probably the public report of it has already 
reached you ; this relieves me from the burden 
of so mournful a duty. My son, my only son, 
dear to me as he is brave, amiable as he is be- 
loved, only nineteen years of age, a prisoner of 
war, in consequence of the capitulation of York 
Town, is at present confined in America as an 
object of reprisal. Shall the innocent suffer 
the fate of the guilty } Figure to yourself, sir, 
the situation of a family in these circumstances. 
Surrounded, as I am, with objects of distress, 
bowed down by fear and grief, words are want- 
ing to express what I feel, and to paint such a 
scene of misery ; my husband, given over by 
his physicians some hours before the arrival of 
this news, not in a situation to be informed of 
it ; my daughter, attacked by a fever accompa- 
nied by delirium, speaking of her brother in 
tones of distress, and without an interval of 
reason unless it be to listen to some circum- 
stance which may console her heart. Let your 
sensibility, sir, paint to you my profound, my 
inexpressible misery, and plead in my favor ; a 
word from you, like a voice from heaven, 
would liberate us from desolation, from the 
last degree of misfortune. I know how far 



510 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



general Washington reveres your character. 
Tell him only that you wish my son restored to 
liberty, and he will restore him to his despond- 
ing family ; he will restore him to happiness. 
The virtue and courage of my son will justify 
this act of clemency. His honor, sir, led him 
to America ; he was born to abundance, to in- 
dependence, and to the happiest prospects. 
Permit me once more to intreat the interfer- 
ence of your high influence in favor of inno- 
cence, and in the cause of justice and hu- 
manity. Despatch, sir, a letter from France to 
general Washington, and favor me with a copy 
of it that it may be transmitted from hence. I 
feel the whole weight of the liberty taken in 
presenting this request. But I feel confident, 
whether granted or not, that you will pity the 
distress by which it is suggested ; your hu- 
manity will drop a tear upon my fault and blot 
it out forever. 

" May that heaven which I implore, grant 
that you may never need the consolation which 
you have it in your power to bestow on 

" Theresa Asgill." 

It was to this letter that young Asgill owed 
his life and liberty. His mother was informed 
almost at the same instant, that the minister of 
the king of France had written to general 
Washington to procure the pardon of her son, 
and that his request had been granted. If any 
thing can convey an idea of the mournful sen- 
timents to which this parent was a prey during 
eight months, it is that sentiment which her 
gratitude inspires in the letter addressed to the 
count de Vergennes, on hearing she owed the 
restoration of her son to his interference ; the 
greatest talents never produced any thing 
more noble or equally affecting. 

Second letter of lady Asgill to 

THE COMPTE de VERGENNES. 

" Exhausted by long suffering, overpowered 
by the excess of unexpected happiness, con- 
fined to my bed by weakness and languor, bent 
to the earth by what I have undergone, my 
sensibility alone could supply me with strength 
sufticient to address you. 

" Condescend, sir, to accept this feeble effort 
of my gratitude. It has been laid at the feet 
of the Almighty ; and believe me, it has been 
presented with the same sincerity to you. sir, 
and to your illustrious sovereign ; by their august 
and salutary intervention, as by your own, a son 
is restored to me, to whom my life was attached. 
I have the sweet assurance, that my vows for 
my protectors are heard by heaven, to whom 
they are ardently offered. Yes, sir, they will 



produce their effect before the dreadful and 
last tribunal, where I indulge the hope that we 
shall both appear together; you to receive the 
recompense of your virtues ; myself, that of my 
sufferings. I will raise my voice before that 
imposing tribunal. I will call for those regis- 
ters, in which your humanity will be found 
recorded. I will pray that blessings may be 
showered on your head, upon him who, avail- 
ing himself of the noblest privilege received 
from God, a privilege no other than divine, has 
changed misery into happiness, has withdrawn 
the sword from the innocent head, and restored 
the worthiest of sons to the most tender and 
unfortunate of mothers. 

" Condescend, sir, to accept the just tribute 
of gratitude due to your virtuous sentiments. 
Preserve this tribute, and may it go down to 
your posterity as a testimony of your sublime 
and exemplary beneficence to a stranger, whose 
nation was at war with our own, but whose 
tender affections had not been destroyed by 
war. May this tribute bear testimony to my 
gratitude long after the hand that expresses 
it, with the heart, which at this moment vi- 
brates with the vivacity of grateful sentiments, 
shall be reduced to dust ; it shall bear out to 
offer you all the respect and all the gratitude 
with which it is penetrated. 

"Theresa Asgill." 



CONFESSION 



Of Captain William Cunningham, for- 
merly British provost marshal, New 
York City. 

The following is copied from the American 
Apollo. No. 7, Friday, February 17, 1792, 
vol. I. printed at Boston, by Belknap and 
Young, State street, (a weekly paper in form 
of a pamphlet.) 

" The life, confession, and last dying words 
of captain William Cunningham, formerly Brit- 
ish provost marshal, in the city of New York, 
who was executed in London, the loth of 
August, 1791. 

" I, William Cunningham, was born in Dub- 
lin barracks, in the year 1738. My father was 
trumpeter to the Blue dragoons, and at the 
age of 8 years I was placed with an officer 
as his servant, in which position I continued 
until I was 16, and being a great proficient in 
horsemanship, was taken as an assistant to the 
riding master of the troop, and in the year 1761, 
was made sergeant of dragoons ; but the peace 
coming the year following, I was disbanded. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



511 



Being bred to no profession, I took up with a 
woman who kept a gin shop in a blind alley, 
near the Coal Quay ; but the house being 
searched for stolen goods, and my doxy taken 
to Newgate, I thought it most prudent to de- 
camp ; accordingly set off for the North, and 
arrived at Drogheda, where, in a few months 
after, I married the daughter of an exciseman, 
by whom I had three sons. 

" About the year 1772, we removed to New- 
ry, where I commenced the profession of a 
scowbanker, which is that of enticing the me- 
chanics and country people to ship themselves 
for America, on promises of great advantage, 
and then artfully getting an indenture upon 
them ; in consequence of which, on their arrival 
in America, they are sold or obliged to serve a 
term of years for their passage. I embarked 
at Newry in the ship Needham for New York, 
and arrived at that port the fourth day of Au- 
gust, 1774, with some indented servants I 
kidnapped in Ireland, but were liberated in 
New York, on account of the bad usage they 
received from me during the passage. In that 
city I used the profession of breaking horses, 
and teaching ladies and gentlemen to ride, but 
rendering myself obnoxious to the citizens in 
their infant struggles for freedom, I was obliged 
to fly on board the Asia man of war, and from 
thence to Boston, where my own opposition to 
the measures pursued by the Americans in 
support of their right was the first thing that 
recommended me to the notice of gen. Gage ; 
and when the war commenced, I was appointed 
provost marshal to the royal army, which placed 
me in a situation to wreak my vengeance on 
the Americans. I shudder to think of the mur- 
ders I have been accessory to, both li'ith and 
without orders from goa.iermncnt, especially 
while in New York, during which time there 
were more than two thousand prisoners starved 
in the different churches by stopping the ra- 
tions, which I sold. 

" There were also two hundred and seventy- 
five American prisoners and obnoxious persons 
executed, out of all which number there were 
only about one dozen public executions, which 
chiefly consisted of British and Hessian de- 
serters. The mode for private executions was 
thus conducted ; — A guard was dispatched from 
the provost, about half after 12 at night, to the 
Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the 
upper barracks, to order the people to shut 
their window shutters and put out their lights, 
forbidding them at the same time to presume 
to look out of their windows and doors, on 
pain of death ; after which, the unfortunate 
prisoners were conducted, gagged, just behind 



the upper barracks, and hung without cere- 
mony, and there buried by the black pioneer 
of the provost. 

" At the end of the war I returned to Eng- 
land with the army, and settled in Wales, as 
being a cheaper place of living than in any of 
the populous cities, but being at length per- 
suaded to go to London, I entered so warmly 
into the dissipations of that capital, that I soon 
found my circumstances much embarrassed. 
To relieve which, I mortgaged my half pay to 
an army agent, but that being soon expended, I 
forged a draft for three hundred pounds ster- 
ling on the board of ordnance, but being de- 
tected in presenting it for acceptance, I was 
apprehended, tried and convicted, and for that 
offence am here to suffer an ignominious death. 

" 1 beg the prayers of all good Christians, 
and also pardon and forgiveness of God for the 
many horrid murders I have been accessory to. 
" William Cunningham." 



ADVANCE OF INSURANCE 
In London, November, 1776. 

insurance. 
London, Nov. 1776. — The great number of 
captures raised the insurance on vessels home- 
ward bound, from the West Indies, to twenty- 
three per cent. The losses upon the West 
India trade, amount, at this time, to sixty-six 
per cent, viz : 

Insurance, /. 23 

Fall in price of rum and sugars, owing ) 
to the North American demand be- > 1 1 
ing cut off. ) 

One fourth of ships taken, 25 

Delays to market, 7 

/.•66 



WASHINGTON 

In search of a pen-knife. 

In Caldwell's life of Greene, p. 65, there is a 
fac simile of the following curious epistle : 

October yth, 1 779. 
" Dear sir, I have lost — and cannot tell how — 
an old and favorite pen-knife, and am much 
distressed for want of one — if you have any in 
your stores, please send me one — if you have 
not, be so good as to get one immedia.tely. 
Perhaps Mr. Bailey could furnish me. One 
with two blades I should prefer, when choice 
can be had. I am, dear sir, 
" Your most obedient, 

" Geo. Washington." 



512 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



WEIGHT OF GREAT CHARACTERS. 

AUGUST 19, 1783. 

Wm'ght at the SCALES at West Point. 

General Washington, 

General Lincoln, 

General Knox, 

General Huntington, 

General Greaton, 

Colonel Swift, 

Colonel Michael Jackson, 

Colonel Henry Jackson, 

Lieutenant Colonel Huntington, 

Lieutenant Colonel Cobb, 

Lieutenant Colonel Humphreys, 

The above memorandum was found in the 
pocketbook of a deceased officer of the Massa- 
chusetts line. 



209 lbs. 

224 

280 

132 

166 

219 

238 
232 
186 

22 1 



TICONDEROGA. 



The following is not a revolutionary docu- 
ment, but an article that may well be preserved 
in this collection ; and, being specially re- 
quested, we insert it with pleasure. 

From the Hartford Times. — The following 
statement or return, exhibiting a minute and 
accurate account of the loss in killed and 
wounded sustained by the British and Ameri- 
can forces under the command of general Aber- 
crombie, in the memorable disaster or defeat 
at Ticonderoga, July, 1758, was, as it purports, 
made out soon after the battle, by Judah Wood- 
ruff, who was a captain of the provincial forces, 
and belonging to Farmingfton, in this county. 
The original document has been preser\'ed in 
the family, as a precious memorial of their an- 
cestor, for sixty years, and was handed to us 
by his son. It is undoubtedly the most authen- 
tic and correct statement of that unfortunate 
affair, which exposed our frontiers to the mur- 
derous and cruel outrages of a savage foe, and 
filled the whole colonies with consternation 
and dismay, which at this day is to be found ; 
and in every point of view is worthy of preser- 
vation. We recommend its insertion to the 
editor of the Baltimore Weekly Register, as 
that work is probably the most permanent and 
valuable place in which it can be deposited. 

We have printed it verbatim, and preserved 
the same orthography, to exhibit an idea of 
the provincial dialect of that day. 

The British regiments are distinguished 
numerically, and by their commanders. The 
1st and 4th battalions called " royal Ameri- 
cans," were troops enlisted in the colonies by 
British officers. The " Prouinshals," or pro- 



vincials, consisted of the militia of the colonies 
which were detached, or volunteered for the 
ser\'ice. It will be seen that, with the excep- 
tion of lord Murray's regiment, which was 
nearly cut to pieces, the loss of the provincials 
was as great as that of any one regiment. 
They must therefore have been actively en- 
gaged. 

A return of the killed, wounded, arid missing 
of his Majesty's forces at Carelong or Ticon- 
deroga, July Zth, 1758. 




C 

3 
H 

D 


u). -; "< c o- 

S: : 3>»-»q, 

. . . ^'2 . ?■ 3 
: : : B n. : : D- 

■-.wnwi- 


rr 

a a. 


50 



2 
n 
z 




- 




: -: : 


: 1 Killed. 


Brigadier 
Generals. 










Wounded. 


» 




: --: 




Killed. 


Colonels. 


U 




I H • • 




KUled. 


Majors. 


OJ 






Wounded. 







tn 




.: 


Killed. 


Captains. 


£ 


I O^M wo* U M4>.4>.4>. 


Wounded. 


i 


I ^ M M H H H • ^ * 


Killed. 


Lieut'ts. 


OJ 



; :::..„;. = „ 1 


Wounded. 


u. 




• 10 M H • 


Killed. 


Ensigns. 


^O 


. M : 1 c 


J M H J h 


M 


Wounded. 
Killed. 


- 




. M - • 




Wounded. 
Killed. 


Quarter 
Masters. 


M 


'■ : i»i 


« : : M 




Wounded. 


vS 


• ui . • 


«</i M C 




Killed. 




S 


. ^ • c^-u jk 0, o,w w ] 


Wounded. 




. 1 
- 1 


0>iy. (ji ,n M t/1 01 « 


Killed. 


Rank and 
File. 


■^ 




Wodnded. 

i 


•M..-t*JM'0*OJ I 


Missing. 


\v 
S 
V 
G 


T 

ou 
jm 
Joe 
eo 


le numb 
ndcd, i: 
total 18 
jdruflT, A 
rge. 


er kilk 
69.— T 
23- T 

LUgUSt 


d, 5 
he 
hisd 
ye 


15 men. 
lumber m 
rawn out bj 
15: 1758 


rhe number 
ssing 39— 
,' me, Judah 
— Att lake 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



513 



INDEPENDENCE OF THE YANKEES. 

About the time of the burning the British 
government schooner Caspce, at Newport, a 
few years previous to the revolution, admiral 
Montague, who then commanded the ships of 
war at Boston, took several of his officers and 
proceeded to Newport, to make personal in- 
quiry into the affair. On his return to Boston, 
not far from Dedham, a charcoal cart obstructed 
the passage of the coach, when the coachman, 
feeling much consequence from his exalted 
station, in driving a British admiral, and know- 
ing that his master was to dine that day with 
Mr. B., called, in an insolent manner, to the 
collier to turn out and make way for admiral 
Montague ! — who, (not at all intimidated by 
the splendid equipage, imposing manner, and 
rich livery of the knight of the whip,) replied 
that he was in the king's highway, and that 
he should not ' turn out ' for any one but the 
king himself, and thanked fortune that he had 
the law to support him. The admiral, finding 
an altercation had taken place, on discovering 
the cause, told his coachman to get down and 
give the fellow a thrashing, but the coachman 
did not seem disposed to obey his commander. 
One of the officers in the coach, a large athletic 
man, alighted, reproached the coachman with 
being a coward, and was proceeding to take 
vengeance of the coal driver, who, perceiving 
so potent an adversary advancing, drew from 
his cart a stake, to use as a weapon of defence, 
and placing himself between his oxen, in an 
attitude of defence, he exclaimed — " Well, I vow, 
if I must, darn me I but I'll tarnish your laced 
jacket if you don't keep of." — By this time the 
admiral and the other officers had left the 
coach, and finding that no laurels were to be 
obtained in such a contest, he made a concilia- 
tory proposition, and condescended to ask that 
as di favor, which he had ordered his coachman 
to obtain by force. — " Ah ! now," said the collier, 
"you behave like a gentleman, as you appear, 
and if you had been as civil at first, I vow I 
would have driven over the stone wall to oblige 
you. But I won't be drove ; / vow /■won't." — 
The coal driver made way, and the admiral 
passed on. 

When he arrived at Mr. B.'s he related the 
occurrence with much good humor, and ap- 
peared much gratified with the spirit and in- 
dependence of the man. Mr. B. assured the 
admiral, that ■' the collier had exhibited a true 
character of the American people, and that the 
story he had then related was an epitome of 
the dispute between Great Britain and her 
colonies. Let the king ask of us our aid, and 



we will grant more than he will demand ; but 
we will not be ' drove,' we will not be taxed by 
the parliament." 

Had the government of Great Britain been 
as conciliatory to Americans, as the honest 
good hearted Montague was to the collier, we 
should probably now be subjects of George 
IVth ! — " The ways of heaven are dark and 
intricate." — We should still be servile depend- 
ents. We should not have a beautiful star- 
spangled banner, peeping into every port in the 
world, in pursuit of enterprise and wealth. — We 
should not now have merchants whose capital 
in trade is equal to that of a province, and 
making magnificent presents in support of 
literature and science that would do honor to 
princes. Let Americans be thankful for these 
mercies, and a thousand others, and study to 
appreciate them. 



GENERAL PUTNAM, 

In the Colonial War with the 
French. 

During the late war, when general Amherst 
was marching across the country to Canada, 
the army coming to one of the lakes, which 
they were obliged to pass, found the French 
had an armed vessel of twelve guns upon it. 
He was in great distress : his boats were no 
match for her ; and she alone was capable of 
sinking his whole army in that situation. 
While he was pondering what should be done, 
Putnam comes to him, and says, "general, 
that ship must be taken." Aye, says Amherst, 
I would give the world she was taken. " I'll 
take her," says Putnam. — Amherst smiled, and 
asked how ? " Give me some wedges, a beetle, 
(a large wooden hammer, or maul, used for 
driving wedges) and a few men of my own 
choice." Amherst could not conceive how an 
armed vessel was to be taken by four or five 
men, a beetle, and wedges. However, he 
granted Putnam's request. When night came, 
Putnam, with his materials and men, went in 
a boat under the vessel's stern, and in an in- 
stant drove in the wedges behind the rudder, 
in a litrie cavity between the rudder and ship, 
and left her. In the morning, the sails were 
seen fluttering about ; she was adrift in the 
middle of the lake ; and being presently blown 
ashore, was easily taken. 



514 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



KOSCIUSCO. 

The following is not a revolutionary paper, but 
it relates to a noble volunteer in the cause of 
liberty in the new world, and a fearless advo- 
cate for the freedom of his native land in the 
old ; and a preservation of the eulogium upon 
him is due to his services. It was delivered 
at Warsaw on the 14th Nov. 1817, by M. 
Von Neiincewiuz, who was his bosom friend. 
The translation here used was made for the 
" Republican Citizen," published at Fred- 
erick town, Maryland. 

This mournful solemnity, these funeral rites ; 
these blazing tapers, this assembly of dejected 
knights and people, the doleful voice of the 
venerable divine, all, all conspire to impress 
upon us, a strong perception of our great, our 
irreparable loss. What can I add to the acute- 
ness of your feelings, or how dilate upon the 
ardent expressions of the reverend ministers 
of religion ? Alas it does not appertain to 
these grey hairs, to this enfeebled voice, to a 
mind blunted with years, and weakened by 
infirmities, to eulogize the man, who was coura- 
geous and generous in war, and amiable in 
peace. But such was your desire ; unmindful 
of the restraints and difficulties under which I 
labor, I will endeavor to comply, and, although 
myself overwhelmed with grief, will become 
the interpreter of this universal mourning. 

Great and destructive have been the losses 
sustained by our country in the lapse of a few 
years ; but we have felt none with such keen 
anguish, as that which we now bewail in the 
decease of our beloved Kosciusco. To men- 
tion the name of Kosciusco, the pattern of vir- 
tuous citizenship ; to depict his love of countiy, 
which continued to blaze out whilst there was 
a breath of life remaining ; his fearless intre- 
pidity in battle ; his manly fortitude in adver- 
sity ; his patient endurance of suffering ; his 
Roman uprightness of deportment ; his delicate 
modesty, — that inseparable accompaniment of 
real worth — is to awaken a thousand pleasing, 
but alas ! also numberless painful emotions in 
the breast of every native of Poland. 

Ere history shall record our misfortunes, 
and exhibit, in their true light, the merits of 
this truly great man, be it permitted to us, his 
contemporaries, to notice, in condensed brevity, 
his noble actions, and the principal incidents of 
his life. 

Thaddeus Kosciusco, descended from an 
ancient family in the palatinate of Brescia, in 
Lithuania proper, received the rudiments of his 
education in the military academy founded by 
Stanislaus Augustus. The commandant of 



that academy, prince Adam Czatorski, soon 
remarked the uncommon military genius of 
the youth, together with his predilection for 
the science of war, and in consequence, sent 
him into France to complete his studies. To 
the latest moments of his life, Kosciusco grate- 
fully remembered the obligations which he 
owed to the bounty of his benefactor. The 
abject, impotent and submissive situation of 
Poland, at that period, engendered dejection 
and despair in his youthful breast. He left his 
country and repaired to a foreign land, there to 
fight the battles of independence, when he 
found that her standard would not be raised 
in the land of his birth. As the companion of 
the immortal Washington, he fought bravely 
from the Hudson to the Potomac, from the 
shores of the Atlantic to the lakes of Canada. 
He patiently endured incredible fatigue ; he 
acquired renown, and, what was infinitely more 
valuable in his estimation, he acquired the love 
and gratitude of a disenthraled nation. The 
flag of the United States waved in triumph over 
the American forts, and the great work of lib- 
eration was finished ere Kosciusco returned to 
his native country. 

Just at that period Poland awoke ; but alas ! 
awoke too late from her deplorable lethargy. 
She had proclaimed the memorable constitu- 
tion of the third of May, and determined to 
acknowledge no laws but her own. Hence the 
inimical attack, hence the desolating wars 
which ensued. Say, ye few remaining wit- 
nesses — say, ye fields of Zielenice and Dubinki, 
did not Kosciusco, did not the Poles contend 
with a valor worthy the sons of Poland? It 
was not that our feeble force was overpowered : 
No — it was by the stratagems and wiles of our 
enemies that our arms were wrested from our 
hands, and the burning desire for the combat 
smothered ; aye, smothered ! for in a short time 
the dismemberment of our territory, and the 
contemptuous, the scornful treatment which we 
received, exasperated the feelings of our people. 
The e.xcess of their misfortunes and sufferings 
roused them to an effort of noble and almost 
frenzied desperation. His enraged countr)-men 
grasped the sword and placed it in the hands 
of Kosciusco ! 

The fraternal bonds which unite us to another 
nation, the protection of one common sove- 
reign, and the gratitude due to Alexander, for- 
bid that I should enlarge upon the occurrences 
of the memorable war which followed. The 
army of Kosciusco was not composed of war- 
riors, arrayed in 'the pride of military pomp.' 
No ! he led troops of irritated peasantry to the 
field of glory, peasantry, armed with the imple- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



515 



merits of husbandry, against experienced and 
veteran soldiers ! How many battles, sieges, 
dreadful nocturnal sallies and skirmishes did 
they sustain? The earth was ensanguined 
with the blood of the commandants ere it 
furnished them with graves. 

The result of all these sacrifices, sufferings 
and exertions, were inhuman fetters. The cap- 
tivity continued two years, and would have 
lasted yet longer ; nor wouldst thou, Kosciusco, 
have ended thy days in Solothurn's free walls — 
nor would you, ye weeping sons of Poland, have 
again enjoyed the sweet smiles of liberty, but 
would have dragged out the miserable remnant 
of your lives in dark and mouldering dungeons, 
had it not been for the magnanimous interfer- 
ence of Paul I. The first act of his reign was 
to burst the fetters of i^venty thoicsa7id Poles. 
Thanks to the venerable shade ! The name 
of Paid cannot be mentioned by a native of 
Poland, without feelings of genuine gratitude ! 

When Kosciusco was liberated, he did not 
turn his steps to that depressed and mourning 
country', which had already become as a strange 
land to him. No ; he turned his eyes to that 
distant shore, where in his youth, he had min- 
gled in the combat for liberty and independ- 
ence ; to that land which he knew would re- 
ceive him as one of her own children. Although 
covered with scars and crippled, he did not 
permit the fatigues and dangers of the voyage 
to dishearten him. He embarked for America; 
and, during this voyage, the ocean had nearlv 
become the grave of our hero. A vessel, 
belonging to a fleet of merchantmen, returning 
from Jamaica, was separated from her com- 
pany in a dark night, and whilst sailing with 
the greatest rapidity, struck the American ship. 
Masts, rigging and sails were instantly entan- 
gled. Two large vessels lay beating forcibly 
against each other. Great was the tumult, 
noise and disorder upon deck — death stared us 
in the face. Kosciusco viewed the scene, at 
this dismaying and terrifying moment, with his 
usual serenity and composure ; but his last hour 
had not yet arrived. Providence had ordained 
that he should survive to see that day on which 
the generous Alexander proclaimed the resto- 
ration of the kingdom of Poland. We escaped 
this imminent danger with the loss of the main- 
mast, and torn sails, but the voyage was, in con- 
sequence of the disaster, protracted to seventy 
days. At length we espied the happy shores 
of the land of freedom. Pennsylvania, the 
country of Penn and FRANKLIN, received 
Kosciusco into her bosom. After suffering 
such accumulated miseries, this was the first 
happy and joyful moment. The members of 



congress, then in session — his old compatriots 
in arms — his friends and acquaintances, and 
the citizens generally, hailed his arrival with 
unaffected pleasure. The people surrounded 
the carriage of him who had been one of their 
favorite chiefs, who had suffered so much in 
their cause, accompanied him to his lodgings. 
Not only in America, but in every European 
city through which he passed after his libera- 
tion, in Stockholm, in London, and in Bristol, all 
those who cherished in their hearts a love of 
liberty, and a regard for her defenders, thronged 
about him and gave him the most lively demon- 
strations of their esteem. Oh ! it was grateful 
to the heart of a Polander to perceive, in the 
honor and respect with which his chief was 
received, esteem and commiseration for the 
fate of an unjustly destroyed nation. 

Was it the delusion of hope or the wish to 
have the advantage of The best medical advice, 
that induced Kosciusco to visit the shores of 
Europe once more .' If it was hope, soon, alas! 
did he perceive its fallaciousness and vanity, 
and the inutility of human exertions. He 
rejected the bustle and applause of the world, 
and, if I may so express myself, enclosed him- 
self in the mantle of his own virtues and re- 
tired to the rural solitude of a farm. Here 
agriculture was his employment, his solace, 
and his delight.— He left his peaceful retire- 
ment, for the first time, to thank the illustrious 
Alexander for the restoration of the Polish 
name. His aversion to public employment, 
which had increased with age, his love of sol- 
itude and quiet, led him into Switzerland. 
There in the city of Solothurn, it pleased the 
.\lmighty to call his virtuous soul, from the 
scene of his sufferings and trials, to the abode 
of the blessed. He died as it became a christian 
and a soldier, with a firm reliance on his God, 
with complacency and manly fortitude. Poor 
as his prototypes, Phocion and Cincinnatus, 
he forbade all pomp and show at his funeral ; 
and that man, who in the field of battle had 
commanded thousands of armed warriors, was 
carried to the last repository of frail mortality, 
upon the shoulders of six^oor oId_raen. 

Peace to thy ashes, thou virtuous man ! 
receive the last and parting laments of thy 
sorrowing countrymen ; receive the parting 
address of him, in whose arms thou hast so 
often reposed thine aching head. If thy native 
countr)' do not receive thy mortal remains into 
her lap. while thy liberated spirit dwells in the 
Scmie abode with THE LAST ROMAN,* then may 
thy memorv' be immortal amongst us. May thy 

* VXxSmusKom&nQrMm^Marcus yitnius Brutus has been 
so called. 



5i6 



PRINCIPLES AND ACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



statue be placed in the sanctuarj' of the Lord, 
in order to perpetuate the lineaments of thy 
face, the benevolence of thy heart, and the 
f urity of thy soul. May thy cenotaph be like 
thy life, plain and unostentatious, with no 
inscription but thy name ; that will be all suffi- 
cient ! Whenever a native or stranger shall 
with tearful eyes behold it, he will be compelled 
to exclaim, " That was the man who did not 
permit his countrymen to die ingloriously, and 
whose virtues, magnanimity, intrepidity and 
f atriotism, immortalized himself and his be- 
loved country. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF GORDON'S 
History of the American Revolution. 

I believe it is Voltaire who says, that the 
publishing of history does not depend on its 
truth. The only question the publishers ask, 
is — " Will it sell," which brings to my recol- 
lection some circumstances relative to Gordon's 
history of the American Revolution. 

In the year 1784, I became acquainted with 
an English gentleman, whose prejudices against 
our country were as violent as they had been 
previous to his emigration in favor of it. One 
day when he was inveighing most bitterly 
against our conduct and institutions, he men- 
tioned, with great asperity, the tarring and 
feathering of John Malcom, (a British custom 
house officer), before the revolution, whose 
only crime he said, was chastising an impudent 
boy. I told him. that if Mr. Malcom had not 
have drawn his sword on the boy, no notice 
would have been taken of his conduct. I did 
not however attempt to justify the deed, as it 
was condemned by good men of bat/i parties ; 
yet I insisted, that the character of the town 
or country ought not to be implicated, as it 
was done in the night by a very fern disorderly 
persons in disguise, who, if they had been dis- 
covered, would have been amenable to, and 
punished by the laws. I then related to him 
the conduct of colonel Nesbit, of the 47th Brit- 
ish regiment, w'ho caused an innocent country- 
man to be tarred and feathered, and carted 
publicly through the streets at noon day, with 
a guard of grenadiers, and the band of the 
regiment playing " Yankee doodle," and ///>«- 
self at the head of the party, in defiance of 
those laW'S he was sent to protect and enforce. 
My English friend seemed to think I was mis- 
taken in \\\t person of col. Nesbit, and thought 
iit impossible that a colonel of one of his ma- 



jesty's regiments could be guilty of such an 
outrageous act. A few days after this conver- 
sation, we met at Dr. Gordon's (the author of 
the history of the American Revolution), who 
then lived at Ro.xbury. I introduced the sub- 
ject again, when Dr. Gordon spoke of Nesbit's 
conduct in the strongest terms of reprobation, 
and, on being asked whether he had noticed 
the event in his history, he produced the manu- 
script, and read to me a detail of that transac- 
tion, which, with the observations and reflec- 
tions connected with it, would make three or 
four pages of his work. 

In 1790 I embarked for England, where I 
was introduced to a relation of Dr. Gordon, of 
whom I inquired how the doctor had succeeded 
in his history ? He smiled and said, " It was 
not Dr. Gordon's history ! " On my requesting 
an explanation, he told me, that on the Doctor's 
arrival in England, he placed his manuscript in 
the hands of an intelligent friend, on whom he 
could depend, who, (after perusing it with care) 
declared that it was not suited to the meridian 
of England, consequently would never sell. 
The style was not agreeable — it was too favor- 
able to the Americans — above all, it was full 
of libels against some of the most respectable 
characters in the British army and navy — and 
that if he possessed a fortune equal to the duke 
of Bedford's, he would not be able to pay the 
damages that might be recovered against him, 
as the truth would not be allowed to be pro- 
duced in evidence. The doctor had returned 
to his native country, and expected to enjoy 
" otium cum dignitate." Overwhelmed with 
mortification, and almost with despair, he asked 
the advice of his friend, who recommended 
him to place the manuscript in the hands of a 
professional gentleman, that it might be new 
modelled, and made agreeable to English 
readers ; this was assented to by the doctor, 
and the history which bears his name was com- 
piled and written from his manuscript, by an- 
other hand. 

If any of our historical or antiquarian socie- 
ties could obtain Gordon's original manuscript, 
it would be an invaluable document. 

On hearing the foregoing narration, I had 
the curiosity to look into Gordon's history to 
learn what the " professional gentleman " had 
said of col. Nesbit and his exploits, when, to 
my surprise, I found he had devoted only a few 
lines to that subject, vol. I, page 307, American 
edition. The whole of this statement evinces 
that all histories published in England, in 
which that country is concerned, cannot con- 
tain the whole truth. 

[Another writer agrees generally in the fact. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



517 



as to certain alterations in Gordon's history — 
but states that the author, indignant at the 
purgation, went to worlc and re-wrote his his- 
tory ; the latter is thought to have been much 
less perfect than the original copy. The writer 
last alluded to, says — ] 

" If Dr. Gordon was co}npelled to leave out 
of his book some atrocious truths from dread 



of the pains and penalties of the British laws 
and customs, he on the other s\At, voluntarily, 
left out some matters to the discredit of Amer- 
ica, which things he read to me from his man- 
uscript at his residence in Roxbury. I refer 
here particularly to the subject of negro slavery. 
He was also persuaded to soften his harsh 
picture of the illustrious Exempt." 



^/. . 



IND EX. 



A. 



Adams, John loi, loa, 104, 105, 106, 107, 487 

Adams, Mrs. John 105, 106 

Adams, Samuel 94. 9S1 122 

Address to people of New Hampshire 13. 14 

" Provincial Congress. New York 173 

** Mechanics, New York 174 

** Legislature, New York iSa 

*' Assembly, New York 182 

'* citizens to Washington 1S7 

** citizens to Gov. Clinton i83 

'* of inhabitants of New Jersey 191 

** of County Commissioners of Penn 204 

** M. L'Abbe Bandoll 232 

" by Dr. Benjamin Rush 234 

" to people of Maryland 36S, 269 

*' to the British Empire 316 

"■ to inhabitants U. S., by Congress 405-408 

Aggressions of Great Britain, resistance to, in S. C... 321 

Alexander, Mathew 315 

Ally, Hyder, ship 488, 489 

Americans, Native, address to the King 503 

American Loyalists, address to the King 503-507 

Amherst, General 513 

Appeal to be released from military service 241 

Appropriation of money by people of New Jersey.... 191 

Arrest of citizens in Philadelphia 235 

Arrest of a member of Legislature of Delaware 243 

Arms of the U. S 409, 410 

Arnold, Benedict 144, 232* 497 

Articles, staple, reduction in value in Conn 142 

Asgil, Sir a 509, 510 

Asgil , Theresa 509, 510 

Assembly of N. C, address to Governor 312, 313 

Astley, Sir Edward 417 

Austin, Jonathan W 5i» 56 

Avery, Ebenezer 143 



B. 

Bancker, Evert 1S6 

Bandoll, M. L'Abbe 233 

Baptists, of Va., Patriotic address of 285, 286 

Barlow, Joel, oration of. 145 

Barney, Commodore Joshua 488 

Bartlett, Josiah 13 

Battle of Lexington 113, 117 

Benson, Robert 177 

Bentley, Rev. Dr , 482 

Boston, massacre of citiiens 15-17 

*' Orations i7-79» 490 

" Destruction of tea 96 

" Proscribed of m 

" Old South Church 113 

*' OfiFensive treatment of citizens 117 

'* Evacuation of. 128 

*' Possession of, by Washington 129 

'* Speeches of inhabitants of, to representatives 

in Congress..... 133 



Boston, address of Independent Sons of. 133 

Boston Port Bill, action thereon in Maryland 258, 259 

Botetourt County, Va., address of Freeholders 286 

Boudinot, Elias 195 

Boyer, John 286 

Breckinridge, Judge 229 

British troops, outrages committed by, in Virginia 290 

British forces, estimate of. 493 

British Parliament 410-460 

Bullock, Gov. Archibald 103, 391-393 

Bull's. John, children, history of. 508, 509 

Burgoyne, Gen 118, 122, 178, 179, 197 

Burke, Edmund, speech of 429, 453 

Burning of Benedict Arnold in effigy 332 



Cambden, Ship, Lord 257 

Campbell, Lord Wm., S. C, address of. 320 

Caswell, Richard 314 

Champe, John 307-310 

Chase, Mr 103 

Charge of Judge Jay to Grand Jur>', N. Y 180-182 

Charges, Judge Drayton, Grand Juries, S. C 327-374 

Chatham, Earl, speeches of 410, 411, 455-460 

Cheesman, Capt 496 

Christie, James, memorial of. 362-364 

Church, Dr. Benjamin, oration of 34-37 

Church, Old South, Boston 112 

Churches of New York 190 

Clark, Abraham 195 

Clarke, Gen. George Rogers 307 

Clinton, Gov. George 188 

Colcock, John 327 

Committee of New York to Lord Mayor of London.. 171 

Commons, House of 414 

Congress, Provincial, Mass 99 

" " "■ address of 109,117,118 

Congress, Stamp Act, New York Journal of 155-169 

'* Continental 395-410 

" Eloquent speech delivered in 395, 396 

" Declaration of Independence discussed. .397-402 
" Retaliation on Prisoners of War, Resolu- 
tions of. 402, 403 

Connecticut 141-155 

" Pensioners, Revolutionary 150 

Continental Navy 483-489 

'^ Congress 395-410 

'* troops, estimate of 493 

'* Army, expense of 494, 495 

Convention of Va., proceedings of. 288, 290, 291 

Cooper, Dr. Samuel 102 

Cooper, Mr 475 

Cornwallis, Lord 232 

Cortland, Pierre Van 186 

Court Martial, Providence, R. 1 140 

Cranch, Richard 102 

Cropper, Gen. John 5^0, 311 

Cumberland Co., Va., Freeholders of. 276 



520 



INDEX. 



Cunningham, Wm.^ confession of. 510, 511 

Curtis, Major 152 

Cushing, Thomas 05 

Cushiog, Mr 94 

Cushman, Rev. Mr., address of. 151 

Cutts, Samuel 13 

D. 

DalnTnple, Col < 16 

Dartmouth, Earl of, letter 364 

Davenport, M at 284 

Davie, Gen. Wm. R 315 

Dawes, Thomas, Jr., oration of 67-72 

Dayton, Stephen, Jr 391 

Deane, Silas 476 

Debate, exciting, in Congress 397-403 

Debate in Legislature of Virginia 277-280 

Declaration of resistance, Mass 127 

** " Deputies, Pa 223 

'* *' Rights, Va 301 1 303 

** *' Independence, N. C 3^-316 

■ >* " Independence discussed in Congress 

397-402 

Delaware 239-255 

Delegates, elected by General Court of Mass 98 

Despatch, Sloop of War 482 

Dickinson, John 253 

Dickinson, Jonathan 239 

Domestic manufactures recommended in Mass no 

■*' " ** "Conn 141 

'' '* ** " Penn 208 

" *' " " Md 260 

'* "•' Va 381, 282 

Draj'ton, Wm. Henry, Chief Justice, S. C 327-374 

Duckett, John 360, 261 

Dunmore, Lord, proclamation of. 286-288 

" " His letter to Gen. Howe 287 

Dutch Church 190 

Dwight, President, address of 153 



Edes, Peter , 490 

Effingham, Lord 499-501 

Election sermon, Connecticut 145 

Ellery, Wm. R. J 141 

Elliott, Sir Gilbert 418 

Ellis, Welbore 415 

Elmer, Doctor 239 

Elmer, Jonathan 195 

Enthusiasm of people of Pennsylvania 211,212 

Estaing, Count de 136 

Eulogium delivered by Judge Breckenbridge 329 

Expenses, Continental Army 494 



Fanchett, Abbe 482 

Farmer, John 114 

Farmer, speech of 230 

Fasting and Prayer, day of, Georgia 391 

Female, Patriotic 116 

First sea fight LN82ir83 

Flag, Union , J,. . 293 

Fleming, Wm >., . 276 

Folsom, Nathaniel 13 

Fox, C 418 

Franklin, Benjamin 325, 474-483 

Franklin, Gov. William 203 

Franklin, Wm 475 

Fredericksburg, Va., Patriotic action of Council of.. 283 

Freeholders, Botetourt Co., Va., meeting of. 203 

Frenchmen in America 136 

Fuller, Mr 414 



Gadsden, Christopher, Georgia 374 

Gage, Gen. Thomas 99, 122, 142,462 

Gannett. Wm 492,493 

Gardner. Col ^^ 

Gates, Gen. Horatio ,24^ 405 

General Assembly, S. C 3^5 

Georgia 390-394 

Germantown, Bravery at Battle of •.., 497 

Gifts, citizens of Penn 236 

Goodrich, Mr jg 

Gordon's History of the Revolution in America. ..516, 517 

Graham, Gen. Joseph 315 

Gr^nd Juries, S. C 327-353 

Gray, Mr j^ 

Greene, General 228 

Griswold, Fort, massacre of troops at 143 

Groton, Connecticut A 143 



Hackborn, Benjamin, oration of 46-51 

Hale, Capt. Nathan 153 

Hall. John igo 

Hallowell, Mr 15 

Hamilton, Andrew 239 

Hancock, John 396, 464 

*' " excluded from pardon 122 

" "■ oration of 38-43 

Hand, Col. Elijah 199 

Hanover County, Va 285, 286 

Harris, James 315 

Harris, Mr 417 

Harrison, Col 388 

Hartford, Conn 150 

Harvard College 131 

Harvey, Capt., speech of 437-429 

Haslett, Col. John 348 

Hawley, Major Joseph 107, 137 

Henry, Patrick 238, 377, 285. 292,293 

Hill, Henry 238 

Hill, Mark L 487 

Home manufactures recommended in Mass no 

" " Conn 141 

** ** " *' Maryland 360 

" '* *' Va 281,282 

Hooper, Wm 314 

Hostilities commenced by king's troops, Va 285, 286 

House of Representatives, Mass 87, 94, 98, 99, 139 

Howard, Benjamin Jk 258 

Howe, Gen. Wm 287, 353,354, 476 

Howe, Viscount Richard 353, 354 

Hughes, Jos 314 

Humiliation, day of, ordered 396 

Hunter, Mr. Darlington, S. C 389, 390 

Hutchinson, Gov., of Mass 16, 79, 87, 96 

I. 

Importation of British goods, opposition to 255 

Indians, Mohawk 98 

Independent Sons of America 133 

Inhabitants, N. Y., meeting of. 170 

Insurance, advance of 511 



Jack, James 314 

Jasper, Sergeant 393, 394 

Jay, Judge, charge of 180-183 

Jay, John 468 

Jefferson, Thomas 282-284, 48' 

Jenkinson, C 416 

Johnston, Capt, John 258 

Johnston, Gov 411, 414, 416, 417 

Jones, Commodore Paul 484 

Jury, an honest loc 



INDEX. 



521 



N. 



Kent, Benjamin 

Kosciusko, Gen. Thaddeus.... 



Lacer.Gen • 

Ladd, Dr., oration of 

La Fayette, Gen 

Langdon, John 

Laurens, Henry 

Ledyard,CoL Wm.. 

Lee,Capt. Ezra 

Lee, Gen 

Lee, Richard H 

Lee,Thos. S 

Letter 



PAGE 
. , , . I02 

.514-516 



227-a2q 

383-385 

270 

13 

320 

143 

154 

. .118-122, 14° 
..280, 397.40° 

272 

III 



PAGE 
48^-489 

Naval engagements ....• ^gj 

Naval forces, Contmental -^ ^g^ 

>' " British ^89 

Naval Power, Salem, Mass '.'.'.".!".'.!!".'.'.. ..482-489 

Navy, Continental .'.'.'.'.".' i3. '4 

New Hampshire ' ' 191-301 

New Jersey 195 

" Legislature •••■■ 155-190 

New York , ij„* ..i<;s-i68 

f. " stamp Act Congress held at..... ■■•••■■■55^^^ 

Nicola, Nicholas ■■■■■_ ^^ 107,300 

Niles, Hezekiah ■■■■ 241 

Nixon, Thomas, Jr '.'...'.'.'. 312-318 

North Carolina ' 416 

North, Lord 



e, inob. ^ ii» 

Iter to a friend in Lo°don^ •■ •••■••■ "^ „f 

.. of Committee of New ^"'^^°^°] ....,,,, ^^2 



Manifesto, Patriotic • • • • • " ' ' • 

Manufactures, Home, recommended Mass 



London 113-117 

Little, Mr 190, 200 

Livingston, Dr ,j,^ 192, 197 

Livingston, Gov. W m •• ,„ 

Livingston, P. V. B •■■ 239 I 

Lloyd, Judge ■■'■_■ 239 

Logan, James ' 435 

Lords, House of 286 

Louis, Col. Andrew •• ,7^0 

Lovell. James, address of '"'',', 359 

Lux, Wm 

M. 
Maiden, Mass., resolutions of inhabitants 

110 

Conn '41 

Penn ''°' 

" ,. Va .-• »Bi,382, 503 

489 

Marine battery "■■ 388, 389 

Marion, Gen '" 255-27^ 

Maryland 15-14° 

Massachusetts .■■,■■'„' '. 73-94 

.' House of Representatives ^^ 

" General Court of ...109,11° 

• • Provincial Congress.... f''!''L' ...11° 

.> Recommending domestic manufactures. .. . ^^^^ ^^^ 

" Address to inhabitants of. ••• _^g 

>' Resolutionof ''""' 125 

» Proclamation General Couit ^^_^^ 

Massacre °f •='"""\°f '*°'c;°°;;old;'or'Groion,Conn. M3 

Massacre of troops at Fort Griswoi , ^^^^^ ^ Preston, Capt 

Mason, George, of Va... ■■••••• 6,.6j 

Mason, Jonathan, Jr., oration of ■■• ^^^ 

Masonic Lodge, Phila ••■• ,,8 

Mawhood, Col. Chas '^ 2^5 

Mays, John 176 



Oath, prescribed by Gen. Lee in R. I^ 
,, ' ^ ,i '■ Lord Dunmore in 



Va 



the Committee of Virginia. 

Ordinance relating to t«^^°°--;;nons'va". !'.'.' 
Outrages committed by British troops, Va. . . . 



140 

. .ago, 291 

292 

324 

290 



239 

] 103 

410-460 

■■""_. 3M, 325 

York and Philadelphia. 173 

236 

voman 



Palmer, Anthony ... 

Palmer, J 

Pariiament, British . 

Parsons, James , 

I Pastoral letter. Synod of New 

of '3. mUc gifts of people of Pennsylvania^ 

4°4,4°5 I Patriotic sentiments 01 an American w on! 

Patterson, Wm ... 

Paxton, Charles 

Payson, Rev. Mr ,gi 

Pendleton, Edmund •"■■■_■ 3S6, 387 

Pendleton, Judge .....■•••• _' 453-455 

Penn, Gov., examination ot •••■• ^,3 

Penn, W illiam ' '^ 201-339 

Pennsylvania . 
Pensioners, Re 
Persons scrupulou^ojbearmg^a^s^..^^^^^^^^.^^^^. 



213 

191 
15 

496, 497 



' . _ri ..infT arms 



McEwen 



M.... 



.223.409 



McKean, Thomas ,,2 

McMasters, Samuel '■' 174-176 

Mechanics of New York. ... . •••••••• ' ' 3x3-316 

Mecklenberg Co., Va., resolutions of • 3^^^^^ 

Memento to Amencans •■••• ^jj 

Merryman, John " 321 

Middleton, Henry '"' ,53 

Miller, Capt • • 240 

Militia, act to establish •• ,,, 

Militia officers, resignation ot...... 

Minot, George Richard, """o" °f; J ' " " \\ ,6,.,68 

Minister, Church of England, letter "f-" ;;;;;_. .^^5,, 

Miscellaneous Articles j,^ 

M'Knitt. J '""' 488 

Monk, General, ship '57 

Moore, Wm., Jr ^64 

Morris, Col 324, 225 

Morris, John, Jr 30-32 

Morton, Perez, oration of 



Petition of Native ^„^ 

Philadelphia, proceedings relative '°^^- ■;—:..■ ■ '2 

Pickering, John 455-4'° 

Pitt, Wm. , speech of '.'.'...'."." 324. 3=5 

Powell. G. G ■■ 417, 4'8 

Pownal, Gov • WV- ' 337-374 

Presentments, Grand Jury, b. <-■■••• ■•• ^g 

■]]'""." 337 

Private beneficence ^^^^ ^03 

Prisoners of war, retaliation o" ■ • ■ ' • ' ,.324 

Proceedings General Assembly S.C.. _^^ 

Proclamation of thanksgiving. Mass ^^^ 

" General Court, Mass ,30177 

" Gen. Washington '^' _'^^ 

^r::^^:l^t^-Ma;;;aii;eui ;.:::;::::;:;;;;- 

Provincial Congress, N.C 320,331 

„ " Georgia 
Putnam, Gen. Israel 



39> 
513 



R. 

Ramsey, Dr. David, oration of. •;;;;;■■; 

Randolph, John 

Randolph, Peyton 

^:rri'vS:Se=;:conn:... 

^:^;!:^^ofoM.-Umes;B^;^^; 



374-383 

383 

238 

^ 240 

142 

229 

'.'. 13S 

23B 



522 



INDEX.. 



PAGE 

Remonstrance of citizens of Phila. against arrest 225 

Resignation of militia officers 177 

Resolutions Provincial Congress, S. C 331, 333 

Retaliation on prisoners of war 4o3> 403 

' ' Recommended to the people 403 

Revolution, American, Gordon's History of. 516, 517 

Revolution, enthusiasm of people in support of. 211 

Rhode Island T40, 141 

Ridgely, Capt. Charles 259 

Robertson, Gen. James 177 

Rochambeau, Count de 270-272 

Rodney, Caesar 155, 245, 254 

** Caesar R 245, 354 

" Thomas 245, 254 

Royal proclamation. Gov. Josiah Martin, N. C....317, 318 

Russell, Mr 16 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, address of. 234 

Rutledge, John 331, 337 

s. 

Salt, opposition to monopoly 334 

Saville, Sir George 414 

Scudder, Nathaniel 195 

Seamen, list of British 483 

Selkirk, Lady 484 

Sermon on situation, American affairs 213 

Seward, Ann 497, 498 

Shipley, Rev. Dr. Jonathan 419 

Small, Dr 383 

Smith, John 357 

Smith, Rev. Wm., D. D., sermon of 213 

Soldier's daughter, recollections of a 490-493 

Soldier, Female 493, 493 

Soldiers, Revolutionary, of Conn 153 

Sons of Liberty, Association of 169, 170 

South Carolina 319-390 

Speech of an honest farmer 320 

Stamp Act Congress held in N. Y 155-168 

Stamp Act Congress 245 

Stamp Act, resistance to, S. C 319 

Stay of Proceedings of civil suits, Va 380, 381 

Stevens, John 197 

Stiles, President, election sermon 145 

Submarine battery 154 

Sullivan. John 13 

Sutton, Sir Richard - 418 



T. 

Tarleton, Col., the Tor>' 388 

Tarring and feathering 499 

Tazwell, John 291 

Tea, action in Delaware in relation to 339 

Tea, destruction of, Boston Harbor 96-98 

Tea, opposition to importation of, in Philadelphia .... 203 

Thanksgiving Proclamation, Mass 134, 409 

" " Congress ....408, 409 

Thatcher, Peter, oration of 43-46 

Thompson, Charles 208, 338, 403 

Thompson, Ebenezer 13 

Ticonderoga 512 

Tilton, Dr. James 239-342 

Timothy. Peter 321, 335 



PAGS 

Toasts drank, gathering Revolutionary pensioners ... 15a 

Toppan, Christopher 13 

Treason, defining it 324 

Treasury, Public, N. J 191 

Trumbull, John loi, 499 

Trumbull, Jonathan, Gov 141, 143 

Trj'on, Wm 143 

Tudor, Mr 16 

Tudor, Wm., oration of. 56-61 

Tucker, Commodore Samuel 4S5, 486 

Tucker, Samuel 191 

Turtle, marine 489 

Tustin, Dr 188 

Tyrannicide, Brig of War 483 

u. 

United States, Coat of Arms 409, 410 

" " Flag 293 

V. 

Vergennes, Compte de 510 

Virginia 277-311 

*' called to arms 292, 293 

Voltaire 480, 516 

w. 

Ward, Mr , 4?^ 

Warren. Dr. Joseph 20,, 24 30, 32, 33 

Washington, Gen. George 129, 130, 131, 173, 

174* '77. 187, 227, 250, 251, 392, 399, 461, 474, 497, 498, 511 

Wayne, Gen. Anthony ...23S, 495, 496 

Weare. Meseach 13 

Weight of great characters 512 

Welsh, Dr. Thos., oration of 75 

Wentworth, Hon. John 13 

Whipple, Wm 13 

Wilkes, John, speech of 435-427 

Williams, John 143 

Williamsburg, Va.. delegates assembled at 273-375 

" " Instructions to delegates 275, 276 

" " Removal of arms 284 

*' '* Patriotic demonstration of con- 
vention 293 

Williamson, Hugh 315 

Witherspoon. John 195 

Wraxall, Sir N. W 296 

Wright, Sir James, Governor of Georgia 313, 390, 391 

Wyley , John 3S8 

Wyley, Samuel 388 

T. 

Yankee Doodle, origin of. 498, 499 

Yankees, Independence of. 513 

Yorktown, Va., Battle of 293-295 

" " Surrender at 395 

" " Anecdote relating to same 396 

'* " Effect of intelligence of surrender in 

England 296-298 

" '* Letter of Washington relating to same 299 
Young, Sir George 416 



]\Sl 



-0 V^il^^ 



